xlviii : Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
less to actual work done in that field than to the stimula- 
tion he inspired in specialists of that department. In 
1859, he published a paper that concerned itself with the 
elevation of Saint Louis above sea level, which, aside 
from its general interest and scientific value, was espe- 
cially important in that Saint Louis was then the point 
upon which were based the computations for determining 
the altitudes of such places in the far west as were vis- 
ited by the early exploring expeditions of Nicollet, Fre- 
mont, Owen and Emery. Engelmann, after a series of 
barometric observations in 1853, determined a directrix 
of 404.9 feet for the city of Saint Louis—a figure which 
differed by only 7.8 feet from the later 412.7 feet mark 
as determined by precise leveling of government depart- 
ments, and by only 2.2 feet from the original 410.5 of 
Nicollet, which was made in 1841 by barometric deter- 
minations based upon data furnished by Engelmann him- 
self. While the contributions of Engelmann seem slight 
when compared with masterly authorities in botany and 
meteorology, they are, nevertheless, a valuable index of 
the breadth of the man, of the keen interest he took in 
the natural sciences, and of his mental caliber and scien- 
tific training. 
Professor Nipher, in a paper, ‘‘Eingelmann’s Work in 
Meteorology,’’ told how Engelmann began his meteoro- 
logical observations when he first settled in Saint Louis, 
and how he continued them for nearly fifty years. Dr. 
Nipher explained how this long series of observations 
enables us to determine the normal rainfall and tempera- 
ture for Saint Louis, and how they, in turn, are useful 
in fixing extremes of temperature and rainfall. In 1861 
Engelmann published the results of his rainfall observa- 
tions, which show that June is by far the month of great- 
est precipitation; and he pointed out that the June rise 
in the Mississippi is not due to the melting of snows in 
the mountains, but to heavy and widespread spring 
rains. The fact that Engelmann gave attention to the 
rate of rainfall is noteworthy because that is a quantity 
which must be considered in the design of bridges and 
other structures that are to carry flood water. After 
remarking that Engelmann made an early study of the 
