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and enjoyment. Our object is to establish, in our own city, 

 a Museum of this kind, second to none in Europe, except 

 those in the larger capitals, and which shall be essentially and 

 for all useful purposes, public ; that is to say, one that shall 

 always be open to the public, subject only to such restrictions 

 as may be necessary for its care and safety. We would have 

 this Museum a place of deposit for specimens of the natural 

 products, first of our own State, and then of the United States, 

 so that its shelves and cases should illustrate every department 

 of North American Natural History. We would direct our 

 principal efforts to those collections which are not perishable 

 by exposure, and would desire to gather a general and com- 

 plete collection illustrative of North American geology, the 

 utility of which will be apparent on reflecting that such a col- 

 lection is not in existence. We would form also a collection 

 of North American minerals, of which a complete series 

 can as yet be found only in Vienna, giving particular promi- 

 nence to the ores used in producing the metals, and to such 

 other minerals as are valuable in the arts. We would greatly 

 increase our already valuable collection of shells, which will 

 commend itself to all as one of the aids of the geologist, and 

 as comprising some of the most beautiful objects in nature. 

 We would collect together many of the scattered fossil re- 

 mains of the gigantic animals which inhabited our continent 

 before the existing races dwelt upon it, and would also pre- 

 serve the skeletons of the native animals now living. These 

 comprise the objects which are least perishable and which 

 when once procured could be preserved without much ex- 

 pense. We would at the same time, as fast as our means 

 would allow, assemble together the representatives of North 

 American zoology, and would adorn our halls and render 

 them attractive by collections of our birds, reptiles, fishes, 

 insects, and other animals of the lower orders. We would, 

 in short, establish such a Museum as the present condition of 

 science calls for, such an one as the high character of our 



