xl Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



held, thanks to them, among its older and younger sisters. 

 Unfortunately not one of them has been spared to be here 

 and rejoice with us to-night, although we are fortunate enough 

 to still count among our ranks some gentlemen who have been 

 members of the Academy almost as long as it has been in 

 existence. 



We, being familiar with its history, know what struggles 

 and crises, what — if I may say so — children's diseases the 

 Academy had to go through. Cognizant of these facts and 

 yet seeing that the Academy has reached 50 years of exist- 

 ence, we cannot but feel proud of the undaunted spirit and 

 the constancy of purpose with which these men and their suc- 

 cessors have battled for the high aims of this Academy and 

 held up the standard in spite of adversity. 



The aims of an Academy of Science are such, that the 

 average citizen is very far from appreciating them at their 

 worth, yet we are fortunate in having a goodly number of 

 members who, though not themselves engaged in scientific 

 work, show sufficient interest in it to be willing to share the 

 small burdens this membership imposes, for the sake of the 

 good that is to come out of it. Would that there were more 

 of their kind I Those, however, who are with us know that 

 the workers in this Academy seek no material gain, but are 

 each and every one imbued with the sole desire to apply their 

 intellectual forces, each one in his special sphere of work, to 

 help to increase knowledge, which is truth. Our only re- 

 ward lies in the satisfaction of the work itself and we may 

 well point to our 15 volumes of published Transactions, with 

 a feeling of satisfaction and the consciousness that the 

 Academy of Science of St. Louis has, through its working 

 members, from its start gained and held an honored place in 

 the scientific world. 



It is almost a custom to compare the life of an organiza- 

 tion like ours with the life of man. I refrain from doing so 

 and only wish to make this one point : When a couple have been 

 married for 50 years, we call the fiftieth anniversary of their 

 wedding the golden one. In like manner the daily press have 

 referred to this our fiftieth birthday as our golden jubilee. 



