Increase Allen Lapham.. — Winchell. 29 
many years as president of its Board of Trustees. He 
assisted in the organization of the Young Men's Associa- 
tion. He was the first and most liberal contributor to the 
cabinet of the State University. He was one of the founders 
of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and of the Wisconsin 
Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. He was one of the 
original members of the American Ethnological Society, an 
active member of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, an honorary member of the Royal Society 
of Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen, a member of the 
American Philosophical Society, and of most of the Scientific 
and Historical Associations of the United States. In I860 
Amherst College (Mass.) conferred on him the degree of 
Doctor of Laws. 
The Doerninger meteorite, often known also as the Wiscon- 
sin meteorite, was brought to light largely through his 
agency. A farmer brought a sixteen-pound piece to the city 
from a locality about thirty miles northwest from the city of 
Milwaukee, and found his way to a hardware store, where 
Mr. Doerninger was struck by the peculiar appearance of the 
iron. On applying the proper acid to a roughly polished 
surface he was gratified to see the appearance of beautiful 
Widmannstattian figures. Mr. Doerninger reported the facts 
to the Natural History Society and presented the piece to 
the society. Two smaller pieces were acquired subsequently 
and a full account of the occurrence was printed. 
"At this time Dr. Lapham first heard of the find, and in con- 
sideration of his many valuable services to the Natural History 
Society the Board of Directors resolved to present him with a 
piece not to exceed two pounds in weight.* * * Dr. Lap- 
ham had been informed exactly of the location of the farm, 
and although on his first visit the farmer would under no 
conditions part with his property, still Dr. Lapham succeeded, 
by the aid of his well-known amiability, persistency and a 
considerable roll of greenbacks, in softening the farmer's 
heart.'" It was the wide distribution among scientists made 
at once by Lapham, that brought this meteorite to notice in 
scientific publications. In examining a polished piece re- 
turned to him by Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, he noticed certain 
♦Records of the Natural History Society, Dec. 7, 1868. 
