the opportunity of the Museum to become an important fac- 

 tor in public education if granted a more liberal appropriation, 

 and gave a general outline of the functions and work of the 

 modern museum. In response to my suggestion, City Coun- 

 cil materially increased the Museum appropriation for the 

 past year. The wisdom of continuing a liberal support of 

 the Museum is abundantly shown by the results already 

 achieved as discussed in the following paragraphs. 



Lectures 



Public lectures are being provided bj^ the Museum to ex- 

 plain the work it is doing, to describe exhibits, and to place 

 before the public accurate information on important scienti- 

 fic subjects. The first of these lectures was given in April, 

 on "Museums of Natural History and Their Work." This 

 lecture was given at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and the at- 

 tendance was 61. In October a lecture on "Parasites, Mos- 

 quitoes, aud Disease" was given in the evening with an at- 

 tendance of 105. The November lecture on "Whales and 

 Whaling" was also given in the evening with an attendance 

 of 133. These lectures were all delivered by the Curator 

 and will be continued as frequently as his duties permit, but 

 it is hoped to secure other lecturers also. 



The Curator offered to give a series of special lectures 

 for the teachers and pupils of the public schools, but was 

 unable to secure the co-operation of the Board of Commis- 

 sioners. This is to be regretted because of the success which 

 has attended such work in other places, and especially in 

 view of the fact that no form of nature study is taught in 

 our public schools. 



Lecture Hall 



The need for a lecture room in the Museum has been 

 met by alterations in Manigault Hall. A platform with a 

 lecturer's desk and a long table for exhibition of specimens 

 has been constructed and a blackboard placed behind it. 



