474 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1881. 



the Academy to assume the custody of the collections of the 

 Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania and display them 

 freely to the public, without an}^ cost whatever to the treasury 

 of the State. The proposition was approved in the Senate but 

 not in the House. The result is not fortunate. It is believed 

 that those collections cannot be held anywhere in the State 

 more profitably to the public generally than in the Academy; 

 because, located under the same roof with the collections of the 

 First Geological Survey, with other extensive American and 

 European collections, and also with a full and appropriate library 

 of reference, they could be readily consulted and studied apart, 

 or in connection comparatively with those of the First Geological 

 Survey, as well as with other collections. No other place of 

 deposit promises superior or equal facilities for their study. 



The Curators report that the contents of the museum have been 

 carefully inspected and that they are in good condition. Additions 

 to the museum during the year not recorded in other reports are 

 mentioned. 



As long as the increase of the museum depends upon volun- 

 tary gifts alone, there is no reason to expect that it will ever be 

 complete in any department, or as a whole represent the natural 

 history of the day. Explorations of new regions and localities 

 are continuously revealing objects, previously unknown, very few 

 of which find their way into our cabinets. 



To fill gaps which exist in many if not all the departments and 

 make the museum perfect, money to purchase desiderata, when 

 opportunity occurs, is necessary. A museum fund, yielding from 

 twelve to fifteen hundred dollars a year, would enable the curators, 

 in the course of a reasonably short time, to fill gaps in various 

 departments and procure specimens of new objects whenever they 

 may be discovered, and to furnish new materials for study and 

 investigation. An endowment of this kind would do for the 

 museum what the I. V. Williamson Library Fund has done for the 

 library, which is regarded to be now the best and most extensive, 

 though not yet complete, library of natural history of the United 

 States. 



The rate of growth of the library during the past j'^ear has been 

 somewhat lessened, owing to a temporary diminution of the income 

 ai^plicable to it, as already mentioned. According to the report 

 of the Librarian, 2719 additions to it from all sources have been 



