The Natural Science Association of Staten Island 



Walter C. Kerr 

 Ex-President of the Natural Science Association of Staten Island, 1892-99. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



The most important historical fact connected with this association is 

 that it exists and that it is really alive. There is a fine distinction be- 

 tween "existing" and "living'." We know that mummies exist, and we 

 have heard of associations organized for various purposes which still 

 retain their form and being, but so far as any one knows they contain 

 no red blood. 



The next most important historical fact is that it is better, more 

 prosperous, and more firmly rooted than it has been at any time du- 

 ring the quarter century that it has lived. 



Many associations have histories that taper the wrong way. They 

 start with the enthusiasm of the few, extend to the mediocrity of the 

 many, and then decline to the lethargy of the uninterested and 

 uninteresting. 



This association represents no lost arts. It has been a perpetuator 

 of constant interest in the things for which it stands. It has always 

 had a small coterie of loyal men, who through its minor ups and downs 

 have been the embodiment of its real strength and existence in a way 

 that cannot but excite the admiration of any one versed in what 

 makes and unmakes such organizations. 



When we remember that this little body has held together for twenty- 

 five years today without a fixed home, with but little concrete or 

 physical token of existence, with motives that could scarcely inspire 

 appreciation by the people of things of which they were mostly ignor- 

 ant, and amid the tremendous pressure of a busy world clamoring for 

 attention to everything under the sun, — it is somewhat remarkable that 

 it should have grown, prospered, and come to its quarti-centennial an- 

 niversary in the condition in which the Association appears tonight. 

 The reason is that the real Natural Science Association existed not on 

 paper, nor in a building, nor in any appeal for help, approval or ag- 

 grandizement, but it existed primarily in the desire, minds, and motives 



