56 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 



W. Felt, Prof, Cope and myself. On the morning of the 

 proposed trip Cope came to my house after me before I 

 was up. He seemed much interested in all we had to 

 show him. 



Prof. Cope was a German looking sort of a man, 

 with black beard and eyes. His appearance was neat. 

 He was of wiry build, a good conversationalist, a trav- 

 eled-polished student and gentleman. 



When the old Scientific Association, the parent of 

 the present Academy of Science and Letters, was in its 

 second year, having some money in the treasury, we de- 

 cided to secure some noted man for a course of lectures. 

 At the suggestion of D. H. Talbot, one of our charter 

 members, correspondence was begun with Alfred Eussell 

 Wallace, the great English scientist, who was then in 

 this country. The result of the correspondence was that 

 Mr. Wallace, after finishing an engagement in New York 

 State, came out to Sioux City and gave us a course of 

 four or five lectures upon the subject of Evolution.^ We 

 threw the lectures open to the public, and they were 

 well received. 



Several of us became quite well acquainted with 

 Mr. Wallace during his stay of a week in Sioux City, 

 We found him a typical English gentleman in every 

 particular. He was a much traveled man of wide ac- 

 quaintance. He understood himself and had confidence 

 in himself. Though nothing of a society man he was 

 easily approached by friends. Only those who felt an- 

 tagonized by his views had any reason to feel his reserve. 



Polite, genteel, neat in dress, he stood six feet high 

 and was built in proportion. At the time of his visit 

 here he was wearing a closely cropped beard. 



Wallace was not an orator, not even a smooth 

 speaker. He spoke carefully, without notes, and always 

 kept within bounds. His lectures were strictly scientific. 

 It was what he said, rather than how, that attracted. 

 He was a pleasing conversationalist, one not given at all 



1. Mr. Wallace delivered but three lectures before the associa- 

 tion. They were entitled, "The Darwinian Theory," "The Origin and 

 Uses of Colors in Animals," and "Oceanic Islands." This was in the 

 spring of 1887. 



