68 Boston Society of Natural History 



The Museum as it stands To-day 



A MUSEUM is an essentially human organism whose soul is 

 . woven of the spirit and mind of those who have labored faith- 

 fully to unfold the marvels of Nature. Even in these machinery- 

 ridden days, so human, so fine, and so individual, is the contribu- 

 tion which builds the growth of a Museum that the mind of man 

 cannot invent a machine to supplant the necessity of his personal 

 efforts. A soul of a Museum is a thing of slow and gradual growth, 

 a thinff which in course of time creates its own environment and 

 atmosphere. It is beyond the wit of man or the resources of wealth 

 to improvise a Museum of Natural History. 



We have a background of one hundred years of the patient self- 

 sacrificing work of many whose names stand on our roll of honor 

 and of many whose names are forgotten, but who labored faithfully 

 and well in the cause of Science and of Education. At the end of 

 a hundred years we may from our hearts hail with grateful remem- 

 brance the devotion of those who have gone before, and of those who 

 are still with us, which has made our Museum what it is to-day — 

 an institution of which Massachusetts and New England may be 

 proud. 



We are entitled to claim that our Museum contains really valu- 

 able collections of the Natural History of New England. These 

 collections are scientifically arranged and attractively displayed in 

 logical order. They are all in first-class condition. But our material 

 considerably overflows the space available, and the urgent necessity 

 for a much larger building confronts us in every Department. There 

 is, besides, much ground in every branch of the Natural History of 

 New England, excepting, perhaps. Ornithology — still to be ex- 

 plored. It will take years of scientific effort to make our collections 



