Page:A Short History of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1909).djvu/45

Rh Professor Angelo Heilprin succeeded Charles F. Parker as Curator in October, 1883, and was immediately appointed Curator-in-Charge. He had begun his studies in the Academy in 1879, on his return from Europe, where he had received a solid scientific training under Huxley in the Royal College of Mines, London, and subsequently in Geneva, Florence and Vienna. While serving as a Jessup Fund student he was engaged in the arrangement of the collection of fossil invertebrata. He suggested as Curator a number of enterprises in which he took more interest than in the routine duties of his executive office. He began the formation of collections illustrating the natural history of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, advocated the opening of the museum on Sundays, organized popular courses of lectures, gave effective assistance in securing appropriations from the Legislature in 1889 and 1891, inaugurated a series of evening receptions and conducted expeditions to Florida, Bermuda, Yucatan and Mexico. He was also the leader of the auxiliary party which accompanied the North Greenland expedition sent out under Lieutenant Peary in 1891, and he commanded the Peary Relief Expedition of the following year.

The meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Philadelphia in 1884, may be regarded as a notable event in the history of the Academy, under whose auspices it was held. It was probably the most important meeting of the kind held in America up to that time.

In their report for 1884, the Curators make special mention of the Rev. Henry C. McCook's gift of specimens of insect and araneid architecture, with justice regarded as a collection of unique value. Dr. McCook had been elected Vice-President in 1882 to succeed Mr. Vaux. He served until 1900, taking a special interest in the Department of Instruction, the initial activity of which was almost entirely due to his enterprise and zeal. His collections, illustrating the anatomy and natural history of ants and spiders, were made during the prosecution of his studies in the brief intervals of exacting professional duties.

The Academy, in 1888, accepted from Mrs. Emma W. Hayden an endowment of a memorial to her husband, Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden. Provision was first made to confer a bronze medal and the balance of interest on the fund as a recognition of the best