15 



community would lead strangers to expect to find here, and 

 such an one as we, " citizens of no mean city," should be 

 proud of. 



We ask of our fellow-citizens only the means of lodging 

 such collections, and of keeping them in a state fit for exhibi- 

 tion, for we can procure the collections themselves, and in a 

 few years render them very complete. Indeed the objects 

 already in our possession would occupy thrice the space we 

 now have. We have the skins of many curious quadrupeds, 

 which should be mounted or displayed. We have some hun- 

 dred species of birds ; barrels of fishes and reptiles ; a beau- 

 tiful collection of crustaceans, thirty or forty thousand insects, 

 and numerous shells, minerals and fossils, none of which can be 

 shown. We know of many more which we might have, could 

 we accept them without doing injustice to those who have 

 already remembered us, and without discouraging those dis- 

 posed to aid us. We are ourselves discouraged by the extent 

 of donations of this kind pressed upon us, which we are una- 

 ble to receive and make useful. 



For the purposes we have in view, we do not wish for a 

 building of architectural pretensions ; the plainest structure 

 of brick, in the most retired situation, would serve us as well 

 as the most costly edifice. What we need is room and light, 

 and as much as is possible of both. Abundance of well- 

 lighted wall-surface is essential to our purposes. To compare 

 what we have, with what we ought to have, I would say, that 

 we need as much room as we now have for a geological col- 

 lection alone, as much more for a mineralogical collection, as 

 much more for a museum of comparative anatomy, as much 

 more for a collection of birds, and as much more for the other 

 departments. Besides which, we need a hall for our meet- 

 ings, which might at the same time be used as a library. 

 The sum required cannot be safely estimated at less than 

 $20,000 for the land and building, and $10,000 for a fund, 

 the interest of which should support a taxidermist, who should 



