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therefore am constrained by reason of these public duties to decline the 

 invitation to be present at the meeting of tbe Academy of Science. I want 

 to say, however, just one word to tbe members of tbe Academy, and that 

 is a word of congratulation on tbe work which bas been accomplished by 

 the Indiana Academy of Science in the quarter of a century which has 

 passed. 



I do not believe that any state association in the country of a sim- 

 ilar character has accomplished so much, nor has brought together a band 

 of men more devoted to research, more single in purpose and more enthu- 

 siastic in the pursuit of scientific truth. Many of the members of the Asso- 

 ciation have from time to time gone out into other parts of tbe country to 

 pursue their work in other States. Not one of them, I believe, has lost 

 his love for tbe" Academy nor parted with his devotion to its cause and 

 welfare. 



1 have been reading lately some of tbe early history of Indiana in its 

 political and literary development. I should like to suggest that some mem- 

 ber of the Society, before the data are scattered and while it is still pos- 

 sible to derive from the mouths of living witnesses important facts, should 

 write the history of early scientific education in Indiana, beginning with 

 the work of the Owens at New Harmony, almost a hundred years ago, and 

 bringing it up to tbe era of tbe establishment of the new science, say about 

 to 1875, or 1880. To write the work of scientific research of Indiana in 

 the last twenty-five years would be too much of an undertaking for any 

 one man, but tbe greatest interest would attach to a history of the scien- 

 tific development of Indiana from the time of its beginning, or a little after, 

 up to the date which I have mentioned above. I feel sure that there are 

 enthusiastic and industrious members of the Society who would undertake 

 to do this, either by collaboration or by helping some one who would vol- 

 untarily assume the burden of the work. Scientific men of Indiana whose 

 experience goes back of 1S75 might contribute personal recollections of 

 scientific development which would prove of intense interest. The scien- 

 tific work of the early colleges of Indiana is worth tbe most careful study 

 and would make interesting chapters iu the history of those days when 

 the study of science was not considered to be a requisite for a liberal edu- 

 cation as it is at the present time. The story of the work of such men as 

 R. T. Brown. E. T. Cox, Dr. Levette, John Coburn, and others of that class 

 would make most interesting contributions to a work of this description. 

 At the present time when there is so much interest in the early political 

 and literary history of the State it seems to me the scientific history should 

 not be neglected. 



I had hoped to present and read some paper of a scientific character 

 at the meeting, but as this is not to be, I should like to present in lieu 

 thereof this suggestion, which I hope will be given due consideration, be- 

 cause if it can be carried out it will be historical as well as a scientific 



