Salzburg'; 'Specimens of Productus from the Carboniferous limestone of St, Louis Co.'; 'A weasel'; 'Specimen of a grizzly bear '; 'An interesting suite of Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils, specimens in zoology, and Indian curiosities'; 'Two specimens of horned frogs from South-West Missouri'; 'Indian curiosities . . . also a fine specimen of fossil turtle (Testudo Oweni) from Nebraska'; 'Specimen of Heliophyllum Halli, a Chaetetes, and a Spirifer'; 'A specimen of tarantula, found. . . seventy miles below St. Louis' and 'A tarantula and a centipede from Texas, also shells from North Alabama,' He was better able than any other member to afford material assistance to the academy in its early days, through his connection with the medical school, and promptly offered to the new body a meeting room in the building of the O'Fallon Dispensary, connected with the Medical School, and the use of the collections in his hands. He was made chairman of the committee on comparative anatomy.
Nathaniel Holmes[1] was a lawyer of wide interests and versatile talents who later removed to Cambridge as Royal Professor of Law in Harvard University, He was promptly elected corresponding secretary, and held that office for many years, making a practice of intelligently reading the more important of the academy's exchanges—for the reception of his analyses of which a special order of business was established. It was mainly through his efforts that the academy was placed on the mailing lists of foreign bodies at a time when it had nothing to offer in exchange, and in this way he contributed more, perhaps, than any other member to perpetuating it when its life flagged.
Moses M. Pallen[2] was one of the active physicians of the city, and a professor in the St. Louis Medical College. He was made chairman of the committee on herpetology and ichthyology.
Simon Pollak, who died in St. Louis a few weeks ago, at a very advanced age, was an active physician.
Charles W. Stevens was a physician, an excellent anatomist and a professor in the St. Louis Medical College. He was made chairman of the committee on mammalogy, and, before the end of the year, recording secretary.
William M. McPheeters, still living in St. Louis, and the sole survivor of the founders of the academy, was a physician of broad interests and a professor in the St. Louis Medical College. He was made chairman of the committee on entomology.
Hiram A. Prout[3] was a physician. He was made chairman of the curiously devised committee on chemical geology and malacology. He appears to have taken an active part in most of the meetings that he attended.
Benjamin F. Shumard[4] was a physician and also a professional geologist well known as an authority on paleontology. He was at this time occupied with the geological survey of the State, and soon after the organization of the academy was made state geologist of Texas. He was naturally chosen as chairman of the committee on paleontology and geology.
George Engelmann[5] was likewise a practising physician, who found much time for scientific research. He was a recognized authority on botany, and, among other interests, cultivated meteorology, and he was justly regarded as the leading scientist of the west. He was the first president of the academy, was frequently reelected to that office, and stimulated many of its activities.
