of the city. The organization got off to a good start, and soon 
had over a hundred members. It had quarters at the Medical 
College, and there it maintained a museum open to the public. 
The leading member was Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, a teacher at 
the medical school, and when the museum was forced to close for 
lack of funds, meetings continued to be held in his laboratory. 
Over the span of life of the Cleveland Academy, a variety of 
papers on natural history were given by Dr. Kirtland, Dr. John 
S. Newberry, and Colonel Charles Whittlesey — all men of national 
reputation as geologists and natural scientists. Science enthu- 
siasts among the city's physicians and business men also read 
papers . 
Many of the papers appeared in the short-lived Cleveland 
publication, the Annals of Science , in the newspapers, and in 
the Ohio Farmer , the agricultural periodical of which John 
Kirkpatrick, 
was editor 
Vhile the museum of the Academy was 
and 
and 
and faculty of Western Reserve College, with which the 
was 
The Academy of Natural Science of Cleveland disappeared 
about 1859, but it had served a useful local purpose. The 
stresses of the Civil War, the lack of money with which to 
broaden either the museum or the publication program, the 
transfer of Western Reserve College from Hudson to Cleveland 
all meant that increasingly scientific activity would be the 
concern of the professional. 
last 
and 
Science of St. Louis^^ and 
The period of 
tue loou s was one of economic prosperity and national expan- 
sion. The continental area of the United States had been ex- 
tended to the Pacific and the present boundaries with Canada 
and Mexico had been agreed upon. The California gold rush con- 
tinued. Domestic manufacturing developed rapidly, the iron and 
steel industry got firmly on its feet, and the West was explored 
t r ansc ont inent al 
Both St. Louis and 
tions. Both had developed industry and had become flourishing 
markets for the distribution of all kinds of commodities 
systems upon which thev were located, and 
look 
243 
