REPORTS SUBMITTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL 4, 1893.

Transcription

1 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. REPORTS SUBMITTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL 4, REPORT OF TREASURER OF THE CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, FOR THE YEAR ENDING APRIL 4, Balance on, hand, April, 1892, $ Receipts, S, 1 *) 0 5 $3, Expenditures, $3, Balance on hand, $3,86o 83 RECEIPTS. Balance, $ Dues, Material sold, Journals sold, Interest, 2, Total receipts, $3, EXPENDITURES. Salaries, $ I,5 7 J 7 House expenses (including postages), Gas, Water Water meter and repairs, $57 00 Water rent, Printing and stationery, Journal, Fuel, Interest, Museum, Repairs, Investment, Lectures, Balance on hand, The income for the past year, as compared with last, has decreased $305.75, due largely to the smaller amount of dues collected. The collections show a falling off of $ The income from investments during the year decreased $42.56.

2 Trustees' Report. 7 The expenditures have increased above those of the previous year over $1,400, as follows: Salaries, $ House expenses, Water rent, Repairs, Museum, $i, These expenditures were necessary to put the Museum in good shape, and have been to the great advantage of the Society, and vastly increased the usefulness of the Museum to the public. The item of $22.85 f r investment, w r as paid to the Trustees by the Treasurer, to make up a sum wanted to invest a small balance remaining in the hands of the Trustees. The interest on the Society's outstanding notes has been paid, with the exception of that on one note, owing to the absence of the holder from the country. The Treasurer would respectfully call attention to the necessity of making provision to meet the notes of the Society as they mature. The first of these will be payable in two years from next June, and all of the $2,100 outstanding by March in the year following. A sinking fund should be provided for. All of which is respectfully submitted, DAVIS h. JAMES, Treasurer. TRUSTEES' REPORT. CINCINNATI, April 4, To THE BOARD OP DIRECTORS OF THE CINCINNATI SOCI- ETY OF NATURAL HISTORY : Gentlemen The undersigned Trustees of the Society beg leave to submit their annual report, showing the funds of the Society invested as follows : MORTGAGES ON REAI, ESTATE. FROM. Date. Time. Interest. Par Value Martin Byrnes, April 12, 1887, 1 yr., 6 cj c $4, W. S. Baker, May 9, 1888, 3 yrs., 7 $ 1, Caroline Blymyer et al, Nov. 23, 1887, 2 yrs., 6%. /o 8,000 00

3 8 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. From. Date. Time. Interest. Par Value Mary S. Orange, Dec. 22, 1880, 3 yrs., 6 c/ c 2, John A. Bigelow, Aug. 31, 1889, 2 yrs., 6 % 1, Joseph M. Story, Nov. 30, 1889, 3 yrs., 6 % 1, Margaret A. Shields, Dec. 3, 1889, 3 yrs., 6 c/ c 4, Henry Snow, Dec. 12, 1891, 3 yrs., 6 <f c 2, Alvin Knop, Jan. 18, 1892, 4 yrs., 6 </ 0 6, Hester V. Froome et al, Mar. 16, 1892, 5 yrs., 6 % 3, Harry Falquet, June 14, 1892, 3 yrs., 6 % > 2, Hester V. Froome, additional,.. Sept. 16, 1892, 4^yrs.,6 % John S. Dempsey, Mar. 1, 1893, 2 yrs., 6 c j c, 2, Total Mortgages, $37, BONDS AND NOTES. Cincinnati Southern 7-30 bonds, $2, One Cincinnati deficiency bond (1901), 4 %, One Cincinnati deficiency bond (1905), 4 $>, One Procter & Gamble gold bond at 108)^, ($1,095.85).... 1,00000 Eight shares ($50 each) Cincinnati St. R. R., at 106% ($427.00) Total bonds,. $4, RECAPITULATION. Real estate mortgages, $37, Bonds and notes, 4, Total, $41, Since the last annual report of the Trustees, the loans to Anthony Costello and Richard Oliver have been paid, and also the loan to Aaron A. Ferris. The amounts received from these loans have all been re-invested in mortgages, or bonds, shown by the foregoing report. It will be observed that the par value only is given of the securities held by the Trustees. All of the bonds held by the Trustees represent a premium, and are readily salable in the market for at least the premium paid. The funds have all been invested, and the Trustees, in order to make a purchase in a round sum of the last securities purchased, obtained from the Treasurer of the Society an advance in the sum of twenty-two dollars and eighty-five cents ($22.85). This last named sum was used in the purchase of the eight (8) shares of the Street Railway stock. The Trustees thought best to invest in the bonds and stock, for the reason that it is now very difficult to obtain satisfactory

4 Report of Curator of Photographic Section. 9 loans on real estate. The loans that have been made since our last report, on real estate mortgages, have all been made payable in gold, as far as the principal is concerned. The Trustees suggest that a committee be appointed to examine the securities held by the Trustees. Respectfully submitted, AARON A. FERRIS, P. M. BIGNEY, Tr tistees. REPORT OF CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHIC SECTION. CINCINNATI, April 4, THE CINCINNATI SOCIETY OE NATURAL HISTORY : Gentlemen As Curator of the Photographic Section of this Society, I beg to submit the following report for the year just ended: This Section now numbers 102 active members, having added to its membership during the past year seven, having lost by death two, by resignation seven, and by dropping from membership on account of the non-payment of dues nine. On May 30, 1892, our Annual Outing took place/ and was attended by over one hundred members. The Section and its friends spent the day at the town of Batavia, and the occasion was one of the most enjoyable yet participated in. On March 17, 1893, our Annual Exhibition was given at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, but owing to the exceedingly inclement weather, was not as fully attended as it otherwise would have been, yet the exhibition was witnessed by four hundred and twenty-seven members and their friends. The standard of excellence heretofore shown in the work of the Section was fully maintained, and in some respects improved upon, and the interest shown by the members has not in the least diminished. And, although we have lost in membership, from causes already stated, the Section is in a very flourishing condition. The suggestions submitted by the Curator at the last annual meeting have been acquiesced in by the Executive Board of

5 io Cincinnati Society of Natural History. the Society, and our members beg to return thanks to the Board of Officers for the noticeable improvement in the condition of the Section. Very respectfully, T. B. COLLIER, Curator Photographic Section. REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF MUSEUM. CINCINNATI, April 4, OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY : Ladies a?id Gentlemen Not quite a year has elapsed since your honorable Society saw fit to call the undersigned to it, as its Director of the Museum; almost ten months, to a day, have gone by since the actual relationship began. What has been accomplished during this interval of time? What are the plans for the ensuing year? Such are your mental questions. In conjunction with the officers of the Society, we shall try to satisfactorily answer them. Before doing so, however, permit us to state that whatever has been done, was suggested and followed out for the best interests of the Society as we were able to see them. If mistakes have been made, they were due to error of judgment, and as such, we trust you will bear with them, and in the coming months assist us to overcome and correct them. The cleaning and re-arranging of the several rooms were the main objects of the Summer months. How successfully it has been accomplished, you have been able to judge during your visits to the Museum. Our aim has been to unite all the various collections of each class, and as rapidly as possible types will be selected to constitute our displays. In detail, we would call your attention to the changes in the several departments, to-wit: The mammals have been removed from the second floor to the new large room over the lecture hall. All, save the very larger specimens (which are to be found in the fourth story

6 Report of Director of Museum. 11 front room), have been arranged in the long case against the north wall. The west wall cases contain the fish exhibit, while the entire floor space is occupied by the palaeontological collections in flat show cases. The front room of the fourth story contains the large plaster casts (surrounded and protected by an iron railing), along with the larger mammals and birds, remains of prehistoric animals and the osteological collection. The room formerly occupied by the ichthyological collection is now devoted to the department of botany, while the room jointly shared by the botanical specimens and insects is now -exclusively entomological. The departments of ethnology and mineralogy occupy the large room on the third floor, while the specimens pertaining to ornithology, oology and invertebrate zoology, are to be found in the large room on the second floor, which was formerly occupied by the mammals and birds. After removing the mammals to the upper story, the large and unsightly cases, which formerly contained them, were displaced by flat show cases. A large sky-light was put in the roof over the large room on the fourth floor, thus converting this dark and almost useless room into one of the brightest and best in the building. The crowded condition of our rooms, even after these changes, will soon necessitate the use of numerous drawercases, for filing the bulk of our collections, so as to be of easy access to actual students. As it is, our displays are so crowded as to injure their availability and proper labeling, while our basement contains numerous specimens that ought to be made available to students. The relabeling of specimens and preparation of corrected catalogues will be continued as time permits, as has been done with the mammals. New methods have been introduced into the office, by which complete and accurate records will be kept of all transactions therein. The lack of such records has already cost the officers many hours of labor, not to mention the intrinsic loss to the Society itself.

7 12 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. The correction of gur periodical exchange list, the completion of broken sets and re-checking of bound and unbound publications, not already catalogued, has consumed a goodly portion of the Winter months. The annual free lecture course for this year (1893) consisted of seven lectures by eminent scientific men. These were well attended, the six already given averaging an attendance of about 150 persons. Twenty-six hundred and eighty persons have visited the Museum since September 1, 1892 (the day the doors were opened after the Summer's cleaning), an average of 383 per month, thirteen per day. The largest month was March, 1893, with 494 visitors, while Columbus day, October 21, 1892, was the largest day, with 121 visitors. So, if interest in the Museum and appreciation of its advantages can be taken as an index, we are certainly in a healthy condition. One of the past features of the Society, its educational work we refer to the Lyceum of Natural History ought to be revived at the earliest possible moment, as it would be of great and permanent advantage to the Society in adding younger members to its lists. We speak thus positive^, because of the great interest shown in the work by many of our high school pupils, who would take advantage of a practical course in natural history. Last Sunday (April 2, 1893,) for the first time in the history of the Society, were its doors thrown open on Sunday afternoons. Thirty-six (36) persons took advantage of this opportunity to visit the Museum and study our collection. How beneficial it will prove to the Society remains to be seen. But, judging from other museums, we will be the gainers, and further, we owe it to those among us who can not visit us on week days. In the future, as in the past, everything that can be done for the Society and science will be done. But we need the help of each one of you. Atterid the meetings regularly, visit the Museum, and bring in new active members. Respectfully submitted, SETH HAYES, Director of the Museum.