892 



SCIENCE 



[S. S. Vol.. XXVI. Xo. 678 



is that scientific 'vvork is not economically 

 self-supporting. Scientific men are not 

 paid directly for the research work they 

 do, and means must be found by which 

 scientific work shall be supported. The 

 fourth is closely connected with this— the 

 need to keep science in touch with the gen- 

 eral public, whence it must obtain its re- 

 cruits and its support. 



We can not therefore doubt that a na- 

 tional association for the advancement of 

 science will be maintained, and that it will 

 grow in importance and influence. It is 

 the part of each scientific man to support 

 the existing organization, to exercise pa- 

 tience when the complexity of the imme- 

 diate situation does not admit of easy solu- 

 tion, and to do his share toward improving 

 the conditions. Not only all scientific men, 

 but also all those who wish well to science, 

 should appreciate the privilege of member- 

 ship in the American Association and the 

 desirability of attending the approaching 

 meeting at Chicago. 



HISTORY OF THE FORMER STATE NAT- 

 URAL HISTORY SOCIETIES OF ILLINOIS "^ 



The history of scientific organization is 

 a part, merely, of the history of scientific 

 progress, and that is a part of the history 

 of the progress of civilization, and espe- 

 cially of education; and the subject which 

 I am to present is no exception to this rule. 

 It is difficult to omit from even a brief 

 abstract of the history of the Illinois nat- 

 ural history societies all reference to the 

 character and status of the general move- 

 ments of which they were scarcely more 

 than by-products, and still to leave in the 

 account enough significance to make it 

 'An address given on the occasion of a meeting 

 called to establish the Illinois Academy of Sci- 



worthy of presentation here. Under these 

 circumstances I shall be governed by the 

 reflection that we are to-day looking for- 

 ward and not back — that we are preparing 

 for the future and not studying the past — 

 and that we are hence practically inter- 

 ested in what has come and gone only as it 

 may help us to bring a new thing into being 

 in a way to secure its permanent continu- 

 ance and its normal growth. There have 

 been two state natural history societies in 

 Illinois, one founded in 1858 and the other 

 in 1874. The first was the result of a pro- 

 posal by an entomologist. Dr. Cyrus 

 Thomas, afterwards state entomologist of 

 Illinois, made at a meeting of the State 

 Teachers' Association at Bloomington in 

 1857. The second sprang iip as a sequel 

 to the sessions of a summer school of 

 natural science held at the State Nor- 

 mal School, at Normal, and had for its 

 first president the state geologist, A. H. 

 Worthen, and for its first secretary the 

 present writer, then in charge of the mu- 

 seum of the old society in the State Normal 

 building. 



The first society was chartered by the 

 state legislature in 1861 ; held its tenth and 

 last annual meeting in 1868; published, in 

 1861, Volume I., series 1, of its Transac- 

 tions (in Volume IV. of the Transactions 

 of the State Agricultural Society, and 

 again, in a second edition, in 1862, as a 

 separate pamphlet, a rare copy of which I 

 hold in my hand) ; formed a museum of 

 natural history which was housed in the 

 building of the State Normal School at 

 Normal; and held two final business meet- 

 ings in Bloomington, May 26 and June 22, 

 1871, for the transfer of its museum to the 

 state in accordance with a provision of law 

 passed by the general assembly of that 

 year. This museum, held by the State 

 Board of Education "for the use and bene- 

 fit of the state," was gradually trans- 

 formed, in due time, into the present State 



