Milestones 45 



At the end of the first fifty years the hopes of the Society for 

 the future were thus outlined by Thomas T. Bouve : 



"Of its aspirations for the future, they are such as all will com- 

 mend who recognize that progress is a duty, viz.: that it may be able 

 to meet the increasing call from a growing community for instruc- 

 tion in Natural History for such as cannot avail themselves of the 

 advantages afforded otherwise, by an expansion of its laboratory 

 and other facilities; that it may, before a long period has elapsed, 

 be able to add an aquarial garden to its collection, both for the study 

 of the habits of a portion of the animal kingdom and as an addi- 

 tional attraction to visitors of the Museum ; that as these desires 

 cannot have full fruition without more extensive accommodations, 

 the day may not be far distant when it shall possess the ability to 

 enlarge the Museum building so as to serve best its designs and 

 purposes ; and that it may also be able to publish the increasing 

 researches of its members with the illustrations they require, which 

 it is now by no means able to do, many memoirs being diverted 

 to other channels of publication which would naturally be offered 

 to the Society were it able to do more than at present." 



The Fifty-Second Milestone 



iSSz 



FOLLOWING our plan of allowing those who played a great 

 part in building up our Society to speak for themselves, we will 

 now introduce Professor Alpheus Hyatt who occupied the respon- 

 sible post of Curator of our Museum. His views were expressed in 

 annual reports. They reflect indirectly the lack of funds which pre- 

 vented the Museum from keeping its place as one of the leading 

 scientific institutions in the world, the rank claimed for it and con- 



