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The successful pursuit of science at the present day requires 

 such long and constant devotion, such absolute concentration, 

 and such intense and exclusive interest in chosen fields of research, 

 that the professional investigator, unless he is of a most extra- 

 ordinary type, simply cannot direct, effectually, affairs in all fields 

 of human endeavor. 



The average business man, physician, teacher or lawyer, has 

 an intimate and accurate knowledge of general human interests, 

 and his counsel and advice are factors of the utmost importance 

 in the administration of any institution that is destined to become 

 a recognized educational force. 



The affairs of the institution which it is my honor to repre- 

 sent have been administered by a Board of Trustees composed 

 almost exclusively of affairs men, of which one, making no claim 

 as a man of science, has acted as President. His respect for science, 

 his belief in education, his love for the people, his pride for the 

 city in which he resides, his generosity, and his executive power, 

 have combined with the assistance of a loyal Board of Trustees, 

 resulted not alone in the construction of a museum of broad scope 

 and of national utility, but in the enrollment of a large and enthu- 

 siastic scientific staff, in the establishment of an important bureau 

 for scientific publications, in the inauguration of extensive courses 

 of public lectures, in the devising of a system of circulating collec- 

 tions which extend the influence of the museum to the youngest 

 pupils in the public schools, and, finally, his earnestness in effect- 

 ing this cooperation between the Museum and the people has 

 become infectious, so that other men of affairs, perceiving the 

 healthful influence that the Museum has exerted upon the com- 

 munity, have volunteered individually to support new lines of 

 research and to provide for wider fields of usefulness. 



It is not strange that those in New York who witness such 

 results from only a few years of labor should contemplate with 

 pleasure the construction of a new scientific museum, on modern 

 plans, in Frankfort — a city known to us as educationally pro- 

 gressive, industrially vigorous, and immortally young. 



Thus it is my pleasure to convey to you the sincere felicita- 

 tions of the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural 



