244 To the River Plate and Back 



vidual and wasteful from the standpoint of the 

 state. 



Pleasant memories are associated with a visit which 

 I paid to the Director of the Museum in Buenos Aires, 

 Dr. Angel Gallardo, the distinguished successor of the 

 late Florentine Ameghino. According to appointment 

 I met Dr. Herrero-Ducloux at lunch-time at his club, 

 and having passed a very pleasant hour with him, we 

 went together to call upon Professor Gallardo at his 

 residence. We were cordially received in his beautiful 

 home, and after chatting for a while, and enjoying a 

 peep at the art-treasures by which he has surrounded 

 himself, we repaired together to the Museum. The 

 Museum at the present time is not open to the public, 

 the building in which the collections are housed having 

 been pronounced unsafe. Plans have been prepared for 

 the erection of a new and worthy structure, and the 

 Congress has made an appropriation of a million of 

 dollars with which to begin the work. The Museum in 

 Buenos Aires in its origin long antedates the Museum 

 in La Plata, and is associated in the minds of scientific 

 men with the labors of a number of most distinguished 

 investigators, who in former years have been connected 

 with it. Among the famous men who took part in its 

 work in early years must be mentioned Aime Bonpland, 

 the eminent botanist, who was the friend and associate 

 of Humboldt during his journeys in South America 

 from 1798-1804. After the return of Humboldt and 

 Bonpland from their long and adventurous undertakings 

 in the New World, Bonpland settled himself down in 

 Paris and began the publication of the series of works 

 relating to the flora of Mexico and South America 

 which have given him an imperishable fame. He en- 

 joyed the patronage of Napoleon, who made him a 



