62 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. i8&. 



bureau of publication and exchange wbich 

 brought into correspondence the scientific 

 workers of the world. In Cincinnati, a city 

 rejoicing in a neighborhood which yields 

 the most multifarious vestiges of a past 

 life, a museum had been organized, and 

 here Anthony, a pupil of the elder Agassiz, 

 held sway over a local group of concholo- 

 gists. In Albany the fruits were chiefly 

 garnered of the classic survey of this State, 

 that, inaugurated in 18.36, marked an era 

 in the history of geological science in this 

 country, and deciphered an alphabet in 

 geological formations that has been applied 

 to all its other sections. In Chicago a 

 museum under the genial inspirations of 

 Stimpson had assumed mature dimensions. 



There were clubs of collectors in ISTew 

 York, and the K. K. Club of Brooklyn is 

 yet pleasantly remembered by its older citi- 

 zens, who may have there displayed before 

 envious eyes a rare cyprtea, a precious 

 volute, an unsurpassed cone or a unique 

 olive. A philosophical society had, indeed, 

 expired in ISTew York after issuing an ex- 

 haustive claim to continued existence. The 

 New York Lyceum succeeded it, and here 

 Torrey, Draper, Wheatley, Eedfield and 

 Dekaj' created the elements of a scientific 

 association. In 1865 its collections of con- 

 siderable value were destroyed by the flames 

 which razed to the ground the old Medical 

 School of the University, but later it sprang 

 into prominence under N'ewberry, and 

 maintains to-day a prolific scientific vigor 

 under the guidance of Julien, Osborn, Brit- 

 ton, Kemp, Dean and Doremus. 



Such preparatory stages brought into no- 

 tice the enthusiastic designs of Mr. Water- 

 house Hawkins, an anatomist of repute and 

 an artist whose imagination had reached an 

 extreme point of fertility from the study of 

 extinct forms of life. Mr. Hawkins cap- 

 tured the ear or the fancy of the officials of 

 the Department of Parks, who involved 

 their own rather mundane designs upon 



Manhattan Square with Mr. Hawkins' ter- 

 rifying restorations, and the result of this 

 somewhat incongruous union was to be a 

 sort of Sydenham Palace. Here was to be a 

 bear-pit, amphitheatrical and boundless, 

 surrounded with caves surprisingly natural,' 

 above this was contemplated a huge circus 

 of rock becomingly wild and impressive, 

 while a company of beavers, beyond this 

 Rabelaisian structure, were to buUd dams 

 fast and large enough for the sensational 

 needs of a metropolitan audience. We 

 read in the Evening Mail, Wednesday, Octo- 

 ber 27, 1869 : " Caves with graceful ten- 

 ants will surprise at every turn, tiny cas- 

 cades will tumble down the rocks, wonders 

 of the finny tribes will glisten in minia- 

 ture lake and sedgy pool, and among the 

 shadowy foliage overhead rare birds of 

 gorgeous plumage will talk to us in un- 

 known tongues." At this point Mr. Hawk- 

 kins came in. There was to be a gloomy 

 and half subterranean receptacle for his 

 restorations, a sort of fossil catacombs 

 wherein the visitor, suppressing his dismay 

 and encouraging his understanding, would 

 wander about through shapes of pre- Adam- 

 ite existence, and escape again into the light 

 of day like Marcellus and Bernardo, ' dis- 

 tilled almost to jelly with the act of fear.' 

 New York was spared this unnecessary and 

 theatrical episode. 



E. L. Stuart, E. J. Steward, Theodore 

 Eoosevelt and H. Haines established the 

 American Museum of Natural History. 

 Professor A. S. Bickmore was associated 

 with its very first years, having been en- 

 gaged as its first Superintendent, while the 

 venerable name of John David Wolfe as 

 its first President, supported by a long list 

 of prominent citizens, guaranteed it the 

 requisite recognition in the State Legisla- 

 ture. Without pausing to recall the un- 

 eventful days of its inconspicuous life in 

 the old arsenal in Central Park, I pass to 

 that summer day in 1874 when the corner 



