BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 19 



Morse of Salem, Mass. who came at the generous invitation of 

 Mr. Henry A. Richmond to speak on the purpose and value of 

 Scientific Societies. 



And so the Society found itself fairly embarked upon the 

 second quarter of its useful life comfortably and safely housed 

 and with renewed vitality. It seemed indeed an especial good 

 fortune that the Young Men's Library and the collections of the 

 three sister organizations were thus secured in safety, for on 

 the 1 8th day of March, 1887, the building which they had oc- 

 cupied for so many years, regarding which its occupants had 

 grown so fearful and which had now become "The Richmond" 

 hotel, was destroyed by fire and the terrible loss of life which 

 then occured cast a gloomy shadow over the whole community 

 and all its rejoicings. It seemed a singular fact that this was 

 the Library's second close escape from destruction, for the 

 American block which it had occupied for several years was 

 burned January 25th 1865, just fifteen days after the removal to 

 St. James' Hall. 



The rooms provided for the Society of Natural Sciences 

 and now opened by it for free public use, were in the base- 

 ment of the new building and included an assembly room for 

 public lectures and the Society meetings. Other rooms were 

 devoted to geology, mineralogy, botany and the various exhib- 

 its of scientific possessions, one room being given to the 

 remarkable collection of fossils from the water lime group 

 near Buffalo presented by Mr. Lewis J. Bennett, so long the 

 warm and generous friend of the Society, comprising 323 

 valuable specimens, and unique in the large number and 

 variety of specimens of the Eurypterids of which many are 

 types, making it the most complete and valuable collection 

 of water lime fossils in existance. For sixteen years these 

 basement rooms were the Society's home and as collections 

 grew and the library increased in size it became impossible 

 to find room and valuable exhibits were of necessity stored 

 away until in 1902 the Buffalo Historical Society which had 

 occupied the upper floor of the Library building found a new 

 home in the beautiful marble structure which the State of 

 New York erected in Delaware Park for the Pan-American 

 Exposition. With their departure the Society of Natural 

 Sciences was kindly permitted to occupy the upper floor as 

 well as the basement, to the great relief of all concerned. 



