The Mi(.irinn l^itiKitinn in Ciiiritnutli :J!> 



Natural History Museums owe most of their materials to 

 two sciences: Zoology and (leolofjy. In resources of these 

 classes, no city in the I'nited States is so favored as Cincinnati. 

 Those which ap'proach it in geologic interest do not have the 

 zoos to supply skins and skeletons; and those which hav(> 

 the zoos do not ha\'e the fossils. Our zoo contained in 1!)()J), 

 five hundred and twenty mammals, twelve hundred birtls and 

 one hundred and twenty-five reptiles. There die each year, 

 say, forty-five to fifty nuunmals, one hundred to one hundred 

 and twenty-five birds and twenty-five to thirty reptiles. (Letter 

 from Sol. A. Stephan, Manager.) The skins of these should l)e 

 l)reserved. Many of them are valuable. Not all should be 

 mounted. ]Many should be used as exchanges. In this way a 

 valuable collection of skins and mounted specimens should 

 accunudate. In scientific research these are used at least as 

 much as the live animals. It is folly to think that they do not 

 attract the people. This has not been New York's experience. 



Fossils are, of course, ovu* chief stock in trade. For fossils 

 in the hills we lead all American cities; but when the ground 

 has been jiatiently searched and the specimens lovingly cared 

 ff)r, the valuable collections have with few exceptions been 

 drawn away to other cities. Harvard, Washington and Chi- 

 cago, at least, have better collections than remain with us. 

 Eminent research students generally visit those cities instead 

 of Cincinnati in order to study our Paleontology. Still, a 

 large amount of material remains. Its value is hard to state, 

 for it can not now be duplicated. From rock long exposed, 

 fossils are easily separated if not actually found loose. Such 

 exposures have been in large part ])icked over. The new ex- 

 posures constantly being made, yield their treasures with 

 difficulty. The collections at the Natural History Society, 

 of which fossils constitute perhaps one-half, have been valued 

 at about $.5(),()(M), ])tit at dealers' prices the value would be 

 considerably greater. The collections of fossils alone owned 

 or held by the University could certainly not be bought from 

 dealers at less than $'-20,000. This would be greatly increased 

 bv shells and minerals. Several valuable collections still remain 



