Page:A Short History of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1909).djvu/46

28 publication, exploration, discovery or research in the sciences of geology and paleontology. The bronze medal was awarded annually until 1899, when the deed of trust was modified so as to provide for the conferring of a gold medal once every three years.

An appropriation of $50,000 for building purposes was received from the Legislature in 1889, and plans for the extension of the building, involving an outlay of $239,000, were considered. A second appropriation for a like amount was secured in 1891.

An invitation from the University of Pennsylvania to remove the buildings to a plot of ground in West Philadelphia, immediately adjoining those of the University, was received in 1889, and after mature consideration was declined by a vote of 68 to 3. A second proposition, with a like intent, was quite as decidedly rejected the following year.

The formation of an Ornithological Section was authorized in May, 1891.

The last meeting presided over by Dr. Leidy was that of March 10, 1891. His death, on April 30, inflicted on the Academy the greatest loss it had ever sustained. He had served the society most devotedly for forty-six years in almost every position within its gift. The range of his scientific accomplishments was indicated at the memorial meeting held May 12th, when his work in vertebrate anatomy was considered by Dr. Harrison Allen, in invertebrate anatomy by Dr. Henry C. Chapman, in paleontology and geology by Professor Angelo Heilprin, in mineralogy by Joseph Willcox, and in botany by Dr. James Darrach. An appreciative biographical notice was prepared by Dr. Chapman in which his claims to permanent recognition as one of the greatest naturalists of America, and indeed of the world, were ably sustained. A bibliography attached to the memoir credits him with 553 papers dealing with topics in almost every department of natural history. A bronze statue in commemoration of his standing in the scientific world