KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 529' 
After some discussion on this point, the whole matter was referred to the 
executive committee, consisting of the secretary, treasurer, president and curators. 
The question of the next place of meeting was also referred to this com- 
mittee. 
Professors St. John and Carruth being absent, Messrs. Chase and Savage 
were appointed to fill their places as curators and members of the executive com- 
mittee. 
The following new names for membership were presented to the society and 
accepted, after which the meeting adjourned until 7:30: 
R. R. Moore, H. R. Bull, Mara Becker, D. C. Tillotson, C. H. Hallowell, 
Topeka; E. H. S. Bailey, Prof. Nichols, Dr. J. A. Lippincott, Lawrence; Thos. 
P. Fenlon, W. M. Fortiscue, Leavenworth; W. A. Kellerman, J. T. Willard, 
Manhattan; Ambrose WelHngton, Carney; Dr. E. M. Turner, Norton; J. L. 
Meade, Wichita. 
Evening. — In the evening at 7:30 the members of the Academy assembled 
in the Senate Chamber to listen to the address of the retiring president. Dr. A. 
H. Thompson, of Topeka. Quite a large number of visitors were present, and 
the audience was very attentive throughout. Dr. Thompson's subject was, "The 
Origin and History of the Kansas Academy of Science," and it was admirably 
handled. Without being tedious it was comprehensive and complete, going back 
to tne early history of the State when geological investigations were first made in 
1855 by Major Hawn. In 1858 Prof. G. C. Swallow, of Missouri, and Prof. F. 
B. Meek made a report upon the "Rocks of Kansas." In 1864 Prof. E. F. 
Mudge made his first annual report as State Geologist. This last named gentle- 
man, whose name will ever be held in high esteem among scientific men of the 
United States, will be especially revered in Kansas as the father of its scientific 
work. To his memory Dr. Thompson pays full tribute in the following words : 
"But there is one man to whom we are more indebted, perhaps, than to all 
other causes combined, for all that we have and all that we are. Our origin, 
our maintenance during the years of our struggling and uncertainty and all our 
final success, are due to his enthusiasm, devotion and energy. One who was 
at once the best, the wisest, the grandest man whose name ever graced the an- 
nals of science in Kansas. I refer of course to Professor Benjamin F. Mudge. 
Any mention of the Academy or of its past work or purposes without naming 
Professor Mudge would be, to use a vulgarism, "like the play of Hamlet with 
Hamlet left out." The name and work of the Academy is inseparable from the 
name and work of Prof. Mudge. The Academy was his child and its very exist- 
ence is due to the affection he had for it and the care he bestowed upon it. 
It is an honor of which we shall ever feel proud, that our organization should 
have been the care of such a man ; that he was mindful of it in the days of its 
weakness; that its prosperity gratified him and that he considered its welfare be- 
fore all other societies which were honored by his membership. 
Personally, the fullest praise can do scant justice to his many superior qualities 
of mind and heart; words cannot portray his delightful presence, his genial face, 
