Ixviii Tram. Acad, Sci. of St. Louis. 



actions of The Academy of Science of St. Louis in an article by Yandell and 

 Shumard, and others in the Contributions to the Geology of Kentucky, pub- 

 lished somewhere about 1847; and I am informed by persons who are 

 capable of judging of the scientiflc value of the collection that it is prob- 

 ably one of the best of its kind, if not the best, in this country. It is also 

 an interesting fact, in connection with the acquisition of this collection, 

 that the Shumard collection, to which this is complementary, is in the 

 possession of Washington University, thus making both collections ac- 

 cessible in St. Louis to any student in that line of research. The acquisi- 

 tion of this collection again emphasizes the need of a fire- proof building. 



I desire to state, for your information the terms on which the collection 

 was secured. It was purchased from the widow of Dr. Yandell, for $1,000. 

 Of this amount, a quarter, that is, $250, was paid as a cash payment, and this 

 ^250 has already been subscribed by members and friends of the Academy. 

 Three notes were given, authorized by the Council au'i signed by the officers, 

 payable respectively in one, two and three years, for $250 each. It is earn- 

 estly hoped that the members of the Academy will interest themselves in 

 securing subscriptions during the year to enable the Academy to pay these 

 notes as they mature, without encroaching on the current funds of the 

 Academy, which are needed for current expenses, of which we have only 

 too many. 



I have very little more to say with reference to the actual work of the 

 Academy. I do, however, wish to congratulate the Academy upon the quality 

 and the quantity of the work which it has been doing during the past year, 

 under great difficulties and with very limited means. It is very desirable 

 that the membership of the Academy should be largely and speedily incr ased. 

 The increase in membership during the past year has been considerable. 

 You have heard from the report of the Treasurer that 59 new members have 

 joined the Academy. The present membership is 286, an increase over the 

 membership at this time last year of 33. I will call your attention again to 

 the remarks which I made at the last annual meeting of the Academy, which 

 you will find published at the end of the last volume of the Academy's Trans- 

 actions, with reference to the persistence of the members in the Academy's 

 list. We find by studying the record that, while new members join in con- 

 siderable numbers, on the average they do not remain with the Academy a 

 very long time; consequently, unless we have a continuous flow of new 

 members, the supply is likely to be soon exhausted, and, since we are com- 

 pelled to depend almost wholly upon the dues which members pay in order 

 to meet our current expenses, it is easy to see that, unless effort is made to 

 keep the membership up, it will not be possible to continue very long the 

 work of publication of the Transactions on the scale on which it has been 

 undertaken. On the other hand, I am happy to be able to say that we have 

 more members of The Academy of Science of St. Louis to-day than ever 

 before in its history, and I think that with the same effort that has been 

 made that number will continually grow. I only wish to urge upon you the 

 necessity of earnest and continuous effort in this direction. 



