The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
RARE COLLECTIONS LOST.
SPECIMENS IN THE ACADEMY OF
SCIENCE CAN'T BE REPLACED,
James Lick Endowed 1t and 1t Had Built
Up q Museum Rich in Type Specimens
Gathered Up by Famous Naturalists
-Occupied Fine Building in Market st.

VCCuGhSu FhAO u ~
Among the losses to San Francisco which
cannot be replaced no small place In the
record Is occupied by the destruction OF
the collections Of the California Academy
OF Sciences. 1t was housed in a magnificent
building erected for it's use on Market street,
Just above Fourth, a short walk from the
Palace and in the heart Of the city's activity.
Adjoining il at the rear on the side street
was the hall Of the Society Of Pioneers,
the two forming a dual monument to James
Lick, an argonaut OF 40, who scattered
his t~estamentary requests blindly broad
| cast upon objects with which he had no
sympathy.
The millions which James Lok left 1t
made the academy unique, Without the
need Of calling for Government aid 1t could
draw upon it's W Golfers, upon the rentals
Of many blocks Of city lands. upon the
interest OF funds wisely invested by trustees
with whose body the leading fnanciers
of San Francisco we're proud to serve,
such men as the late Col. Fred Croker,
Timothy Hopkins, Gray, Coleman. With
its own vast backing 1t was ablet to reward
research, to prosecute long investigations,
to equip expeditions.
Not even the Carnegie Institution with
it's almost unlimited research fund occupies
quite the same position, for that has no
museum to attract the interest OF those
who like to wander through corridors OF
collections in all the lines OF nature study,
nor does 1t open it's doors to courses OF
popular" lectures on the varied industr les
OF scientific research or to regular meetings
at which opportunity is afforded for the
| presentation OF valuable papers followed
by debates. But in San Francisco the
Academy OF Sciences kept open house
for the entertainment and instruction
Of the people.
Long before James Lick gave it It's great
| endowment the California Academy OF
Scienoes had been leading a life OF useful
ness, As early as 1858, less than four years
| after the first goldseekers landed on the
foreshore Of Yerba Buena. a devoted lew
formed this organization. Poor as they we're
thew scraped together small sums OF money
to publish their proceedings, slim pam
phlets OF the volumes Of the Transactions OF
| the California Academy Of Sciences, bro
chures that for their later rarity have long
commanded most extravagant prices. Great
names appear in those early volumes, signed
IN naners which nave left their mark upon
the scientific record: Gibbons, will his
great and long disputed discovery OF the
sweetwater perch Of the Sacramento that
bring forth the fry alive; Albert Kellogg
whose whole life was given over to the
study Of the trees Of the high Sierra; Gibbs
In mineralogy; the two LIE Contes IN geology
and eeophysics; Davidson in the measure
ments Of the earth and the watching OF the
stars; Cooper and Stearns and Dali IN the
study of the creatures of the sea-such a
list Of IN as would be found to embrace
leaders in the ranks Of naturalists.
THAI there was such a society in the heat
of pioneer lays could not escape notice.
II amused the a%rgonauts; sometimes 1t made
them generous in a patronizing sort or
nav. and they went down into their pockets
FOR q stray slug or 80 to give the scientific
men the chance to publish yet a few more
ma pes with fattering Inscriptions that this
or that PAPER was published at the cost OF
Goldman. OF Crocker, OF Mills or OF some
other thriving merchant. Bret Harte
watched them with his CHEEKY gaze and to
the world was given Abner Dean of Angels
and the chunk OF Did red sandstone and the
dramatic close of Our Society Upon the
Stanislow.'
II vas all hard shedding, and uphill at
that. But when Lick died, and it became
known that he had endowed the Academy,
Il moved into more spacious quarters In
Dr. Stones old church at the corner OF
california street and Dupont, an unsavory
neiqhborhood, between Chinatown and the
devil. which not even the presence OF st.
Marv's Cathedral and Archbishop Ale
many's zee house could sanctify. Here
its collections we're displayed, and to this
place was brought the gift OF Charles
Crocker and LELAND Stanford, Wards
great series of reproductions Of all the
antediIuyian monsters that ever looked
fiercely upon the infancy OF the world.
When the great beasts were put on view
San Francisco began to feel proud Of ite
scientific body. II presented specimens
for the growing museum, it even provided
funds for rent and maintenance and for q
eoanty wage for a very few curators.
II was not until 1890 that all the litigation
over the Lick estate was a thing of the
mast and that the A~oademy's new home
was built on the oity's principal street, to
carve as "a show place and to spread
an unconscious atmosphere OF scientific
thought. Then the Academy entered upon
its richly productive period, and for tins
last fifteen years its record Of ecient.hc
research fostered is one to be proud Of.
In the ashes the endowment remains
updestroyed. In the rising Of the new
San Francisco a new Academy Of Sciences
will arise and probably on even a grandel
soale than before. A new building viii
take the place OF that which has gone down
In disaster, but the building will be fol
wears to come no more than an empty
home. The loss Of things which can n vel
be replaced :s the real disaster.
1t is a rule in the scientific world thai
when a discoverer finds and names a new
species he must deposit in some public
museum the actual specimen upon which
his study has been spent and from which
his description has been made. This then