12 HISTORICAL SKETCH 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science had been compelled by the vicissitudes of the Civil War 

 to discontinue its meetings after that held at Newport, R. I., 

 in i860. In August 1866 at the invitation of the Buffalo 

 Society it held its fifteenth meeting in this City, its sessions 

 being held in St. James* Hall and in the rooms of the Young 

 Men's Association in the American Block. It was welcomed to 

 Buffalo by Judge Clinton in an address in which he claimed for 

 our good city "a deep respect for literature, for art, for science, 

 and a longing to make it as famous in letters as it is prosperous 

 in commerce and manufactures". The meeting which lasted 

 several days proved to be very interesting and once more the 

 American Association was started on its forward career and 

 when, ten years later, the Buffalo Society again extended its 

 invitation to the great Association, it remembered the earlier 

 kindness and accepted gratefully, holding its twenty-fifth meet- 

 ing here during the week beginning August 23rd 1876. That 

 was a famous meeting. The Centennial Exposition at Phil- 

 adelphia had brought many savants from foreign countries 

 who were present here in numbers and Thomas A. Huxley 

 addressed the Association in the Common Council Chamber 

 where the general meetings were held; the sectional meetings 

 finding suitable rooms provided at the Central High School. 

 There were reception parlors arranged at the Tifft House and 

 evening sessions at St. James' Hall. Our good people flocked 

 to these gatherings where they might hear from some of the 

 greatest minds in the world. The effect of the meeting was all 

 that could be desired. It left behind it an enthusiasm for study 

 and perhaps for a time at least, many of our young men forgot 

 their more material strivings in a new found eagerness for the 

 things of the mind and the spirit. Again, in 18S6, the American 

 Association accepted our Society's invitation and met here at a 

 time when the new building which it now occupies was being 

 erected, and still once more in 1896 for the fourth time, the 

 Association came here to hold its forty-fifth annual meeting and 

 were welcomed by Dr. Roswell Park, then President of the 

 Buffalo Society. 



At all times the financial resources of the Society have 

 been very limited and it is a matter of no small wonder that, 

 notwithstanding this, so much has been accomplished in scien- 

 tific work. The annual dues from members have never been 



