8 HISTORICAL SKETCH 



has grown so that there is now $24,827.50 in the hands of the 

 trustees. 



August 20, 1866 Charles Linden was appointed by the 

 Society as its custodian , thus beginning a connection, the 

 memory of which is cherished by all who knew him and marked 

 by the beautiful bronze tablet with bas-relief portrait which 

 occupies a prominent place on the walls of the Museum. Charles 

 Linden was an extraordinary man. Born at Breslau, Germany, 

 about 1831, educated first at the gymnasium there and then 

 taught by his own efforts in the book of nature, both as a 

 student and later as a teacher of science he was an enthusiast 

 who had the rare gift of inspiring others. 



Modest and unpretending in his ways, a seafaring life 

 led him to the American lakes and to Buffalo where he found 

 friends. Among these was Mr. Ottomar Reinecke, one of the 

 Society s founders and himself a veteran naturalist, who quickly 

 recognized his capacity for scientific work and brought him to 

 the attention of the Society and its President Judge Clinton, so 

 that his appointment soon followed. Three years later he was 

 called to the Central High School as teacher of science and as 

 such continued until his death February 3rd, 1888. For seven 

 years however, he was the Custodian of the Society's collections 

 and labored faithlully for their growth and for its welfare. It 

 was through his efforts that the Bodemeier Collection of birds 

 was brought from Europe and secured for the Society, the 

 members of the Board of Managers subscribing at one of their 

 meetings the necessary amount for its purchase. Each year 

 as summer came the spirit of the explorer seized him and he 

 wandered now to Florida, to Hayti, to Europe, to Brazil, to 

 Labrador, to many strange and out of-the-way places whence 

 he returned always richly laden with additions to the Museum 

 collections. No man was ever more beloved by his pupils and 

 his friends. Earnest, unselfish and helpful, the uplift of his 

 example cannot be forgotten. 



In 1901 a bronze tablet in memory of Charles Linden 

 was placed upon the walls of the Central High School and in 

 the appreciative address made on that occasion by Mr. Henry 

 P. Emerson, Superintendent of Education, he said 



"As a teacher Mr. Linden was remarkable for patient 

 industry, for original methods of presenting truth, for his famil- 

 iar and Socratic intercourse with his pupils, and for unswerving 



