Annual Address. i^ 



Europe, while our scientists in like manner made long pilgrimages 

 to the great museums of Paris, of Berlin, and London, but now 

 our home collections are exciting an interest even on the other 

 side of the oc^an. 



The large and unrivaled collections made in the Bad Lands 

 of Dacotah by Prof. Marsh for the Yale College, and the remark- 

 able work done by Louis Agassiz and his co-laborers for the 

 Harvard College Museum are weli-known. 



The growth of the American Museum, established in Central 

 Park, New York, a few years ago, has perhaps been the most re- 

 markable. The City of New York has so far expended over half 

 a miUion towards the building, which is only about one-eighth of 

 the intended cost when completed. This museum is maintained 

 by a private society. It has already received the following dona- 

 tions, namely a conchological collection, numbering 50,000 speci- 

 mens, and valued at 10,000 dollars, with a library on conchology 

 numbermg 10,000 volumes, the gift of Miss Catharine Wolfe. The 

 Maxmilian and other collections, containing 4,000 mounted speci- 

 mens of mammals, birds, etc. Collection of North American 

 birds, 2,500 specimens, lepidoptera 10,000, beetles and insects 

 4,000, and over 7,000 specimens of minerals. Add to these Dr. 

 Davis' prehistoric collection, numbering many thousands of speci- 

 mens, and Prof. James Hall's large collection, containing many 

 valuable types of silurian fossils, described by him and others, 

 which was purchased for $6,500, and presented to this same 

 museum. The above are only a part of the many donations made 

 to this museum since its foundation. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia has also 

 grown enormously within the past few years. Among its many 

 valuable acquisitions is the collection of Crania, numbering over 

 1,300 specimens, begun by the late Dr. S. G. Morton, and said to 

 be the finest in the world. 



There seems to be no good reason why the Queen City of the 

 West should not have a great museum of the sciences as well as of 

 the arts. The enterprise and generosity of our citizens in the past 

 is an assurance that all the money needed to accomplish this ob- 

 ject will be furnished as soon as our Society has proven itself com- 

 petent and worthy of such a trust. 



