l8 HISTORICAL SKETCH 



slowly moved onward toward completion, and on the 7th of 

 February, 1887 was formally opened to the public with fitting 

 inaugural exercises. The venerable and beloved Bishop of 

 Western New York, Rt. Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, D. D. 

 offered the dedicatory prayer closing with this solemn dedication. 



"In the name of God, Amen: We pronounce this house 

 opened and devoted to the good of human minds and spirits: 

 and may the blessing of the Father and of the Son and of the 

 Holy Ghost rest upon it, henceforth and forevermore. Amen." 



Following the inaugural address of Mr. Jewett M Rich- 

 mond, President of the Young Men's Association and that of 

 Hon. Sherman S. Rogers of the Fine Arts Academy, Prof. 

 David S. Kellicott, President of the Society of Natural Sciences 

 spoke on its behalf, calling public attention to what the Society 

 had accomplished in the first quarter of a century of its existence 

 then just ended and followed his brief historical sketch by a 

 consideration of some of the reasons, so far as the public is 

 concerned, why it and its kindred societies exist, claiming justly 

 that they are educators in the broadest sense and their purpose 

 to encourage investigation, to discover and make known the 

 facts and laws of Nature, that knowledge which becomes of 

 more and higher importance as society advances, calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that here its discussions are public, its valuable 

 collections and its large scientific library always freely open for 

 profitable study, inviting the good people of Buffalo to a more 

 thorough acquaintance and a deeper general interest in its 

 work, ending with the words "The Society is your own, one of 

 your educators, know it, respect it, cherish it." 



There had been no small labor in moving the collections 

 and their cases from the old building into the beautiful home 

 now provided for them, but when this had been accomplished 

 and the collections again arranged and displayed it seemed as 

 if our public spirited men and women had indeed proved them- 

 selves to be that which Judge Clinton with prophetic eye had 

 claimed for them in his welcoming address to the American 

 Association in 1866 and had made good that "respect for lit- 

 erature, for art and for science" which he asserted as their 

 attribute at that time. When the collections had been placed 

 the rooms were formally inaugurated on the evening of June 14, 

 1887, when after proper words of welcome by the President Prof. 

 Kellicott, an able address was delivered by Prof. Edward S. 



