MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 153 



letters and the resolutions of the academy* will aid materially 

 in securing an adequate building for which there is now a bright 

 prospect. 



REPORT OF ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON 

 RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE STATE MUSEUM. 



March 1st, 1909. 



WHEREAS, the Illinois State Museum of Natural History in its more than 

 fifty years of existence has become the repository of many thousand valuable scien- 

 tific objects. 



WHEREAS, the present housing of these objects is inadequate, unsightly and 

 dangerous, since they are crowded, exposed to dust and in danger of fire. 



WHEREAS, the museum should preser\-e and exhibit material showing the 

 work of many scientific departments, such as the Geological Survey, Soil Survey, 

 Water Survey, Laboratory of Natural History, Highway Commission, etc. ; and 

 should preserve the records of vanishing animals and plants and exhibit the oils, 

 coals, clays, cements, fluxes, abrasives, metals and other minerals of the state which 

 thov<?h so abundant are absolutely limited and capable of exhaustion. 



WHEREAS, the museum thus gives a forcible and concrete appeal for the con- 

 servation of our natural resources, and is an institution of great importance, both 

 from an educational and practical point of view. 



BE IT RESOLVED by the Illinois Academy of Science that an institu- 

 tion of such scientific and commercial importance should be adequately cared for 

 by the State, and that commodious quarters shovdd be provided as soon as prac- 

 ticable in a new building in Springfield. 



BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Illinois Academy of Science, as 

 an organization and as individuals, hereby expresses its earnest wish that the present 

 state legislature take steps to pro\-ide such a building for the museum either alone 

 or with other appropriate State Departments. 



S. A. FORBES. 

 A. R. CROOK. 

 T. C. HESSLER. 

 Committee. 



'The resolutions were as follows : 



