74-3 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and of the Academy, and as intelligent in 

 the application of their means, as the gen- 

 tleman who makes their gift the basis of an 

 accusation of dereliction of duty against 

 the Academy. 



The Popular Science Monthly says, 

 " Less than five hundred dollars per annum 

 is devoted to ' instruction.' " 



For this purpose the Academy expends 

 $480, the entire proceeds of a fund be- 

 queathed to it for this object. Is it reason- 

 ably honest to make it a fault that it does 

 not spend more for a specific purpose than 

 it has to spend ? 



Again, " The chief fault found by Prof. 

 Cope in the organization of the Academy 

 is that, while it secures good financial man- 

 agement, it minimizes the scientific features 

 of the body." And, as if to sustain the 

 assertion that the organization minimizes 

 the scientific features of the body, we are 

 gravely assured, in a somewhat contempt- 

 uous manner, in the words of Prof. Cope, 

 that "its officers are the usual president, 

 vice-president, secretary, etc., constituting 

 a management as appropriate to an his- 

 torical society, library company, or, I might 

 add, church vestry, as to an academy of 

 natural sciences. It has no position de- 

 signed for its distinctive and essential feat- 

 ure, its scientific experts." 



Since its foundation the organization of 

 the society has been frequently and care- 

 fully revised. In 1858 provision for the 

 formation of departments, which were called 

 sections in 18G8, was made. About six 

 years ago a council was added to it, and in 

 May last the council was enlarged, and au- 

 thorized to elect thirteen professors, but no 

 source of compensation or rate of compen- 

 sation has been provided for them. Posi- 

 tions for its scientific experts have been thus 

 provided. In this revision of the organiza- 

 tion it was considered to be not expedient 

 at this time to dispense with president, vice- 

 presidents, secretaries, treasurer, etc., al- 

 though it is freely admitted that these offi- 

 cers are as appropriate to a church vestry 

 as to an academy of natural sciences. 



It is made the duty of each professor to 

 preserve, classify, and increase the collec- 

 tions in his department, and report annually 

 their condition and needs to the council, 

 to give special or objective instruction to 



the beneficiaries of the scholarships in the 

 Academy, and to deliver courses of lectures, 

 under such regulations as the council may 

 establish. 



If any properly-qualified gentleman is 

 willing to assume the duties of a professor- 

 ship without pecuniary compensation, his 

 services will be cheerfully accepted, and he 

 will be encouraged to pursue original in- 

 vestigations as far as can be done without 

 money. It is conjectured, however, that 

 competition for these chairs will not be very 

 active until they are adequately endowed. 



The old building was universally admit- 

 ted to be crowded to excess, and that more 

 space was needed for the collections as well 

 as for the library. Prof. Cope speaks of the 

 collections, and considers them, with one or 

 two exceptions, as extremely meagre, and 

 tells us that a great museum of the future, 

 to be complete, should contain 10,000,000 

 species of animals, represented by " sev- 

 eral specimens of each," aggregating from 

 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 specimens, add- 

 ing in the sequel that all the money spent 

 on the new building would have been " as 

 well spent in endowing chairs in the old lo- 

 cality." 



In spite of the authority of Prof. Cope's 

 opinion thus implied, that the old building 

 was large enough, it is now found that a 

 half-million of specimens cannot be satis- 

 factorily displayed in the new edifice, though 

 it is twice as capacious as the old one. There 

 is already urgent demand for more space, 

 and this is so evident that contributions to 

 the building-fund have been recently made 

 with a view to an immediate completion of 

 the edifice conformably to the approved 

 plans of the architect. No one thing which 

 can be done now is likely to promote the 

 prosperity of the Academy in the future to 

 a greater degree than to finish the building 

 without loss of time. Efforts to augment 

 the collections will not be very earnest, nor 

 successful in result, until there be accom- 

 modation for additions which may be made 

 to them. Original investigation will be 

 more active in the Academy when it can 

 offer a well-appointed laboratory for the 

 use of workers; and an apartment suitably 

 furnished to accommodate an audience, 

 and enable the professors to illustrate their 

 teachings, is prerequisite to the delivery of 



