366 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



but enjoy the benefits of non-political adminis- 

 tration and of almost boundless liberality in the 

 matter of gifts, such as becomes a city of rich 

 merchants and men of affairs. The city buys 

 no specimens for its natural history museums, 

 no animals for its zoological parks, no works 

 of art for its galleries — these are all the per- 

 sonal gifts of its citizens. 



In connection with the visit of the Interna- 

 tional Congress of Zoology it is interesting to 

 show how an almost ideal interrelationship 

 between the public and private institutions is 

 being established, how the most advanced re- 

 searches and instruction of the university are 

 related by a graded system to the earliest steps 

 in popular education, how the public school 

 system, with its 600,000 pupils, is taking ad- 

 vantage of the rare opportunities for nature 

 study which the museums, zoological park, 

 and Aquarium afford. 



The Universities, entirely supported by the 

 gifts of citizens without any aid from the city 

 or state, are the centers of pure research, and 

 of the training not only of university, but of 

 high school teachers. They are, to a certain 

 extent, also engaged in exploration and in the 

 administration of special departments in the 

 museums and in seashore laboratories. They 

 take advantage of all the research and teach- 

 ing opportunities afforded by the museums, 

 the zoological park and the aquarium. Their 

 staffs take some part in the system of public 

 free lectures which are given throughout the 

 city under the Board of Education. 



The Museums, supported by public and pri- 

 vate funds, have taken the function of the 

 collection and exhibition of specimens in all 

 branches of natural history. The American 

 Museum is the center of active research and 

 publication. It sends expeditions to explore in 

 all parts of the world. The halls are open for 

 nature study classes from the high schools. 

 Special courses of lectures are given to stu- 

 dents from the grammar and high schools. 

 Conveyed by an electric vehicle small travel- 

 ing museums are sent to schools in all parts of 

 the city. 



The Museum of the Brooklyn Institute is 

 also active in research and publication and 

 maintains extensive zoological exhibits. 



The Zoological Park is a great popular re- 

 sort, also the center both of research and more 

 serious popular education. The publications 

 of the Director and the chief curators, who 

 are all scientific men, touch all branches of the 

 natural history of the field. Courses of free 

 lectures are given to great numbers of school 

 children to enable them better to understand 



the relation of the animals in the park to 

 systematic zoology. 



The Aquarium is also a great popular re- 

 sort. It administers to the public school sys- 

 tem by distributing well regulated aquaria to 

 more than 150 schools, and by opening its 

 laboratory to classes of pupils. Its labora- 

 tory is also open to investigators in experi- 

 mental zoology, in fish embryology and in the 

 habits of fishes. 



The Public and High School system of the 

 city under the Board of Public Education is 

 rapidly extending its connection with the mu- 

 seums, zoological park and the aquarium. It 

 is estimated that 500,000 youths and children 

 took nature study courses during the past 

 year. Ninety-one thousand children attended 

 special lectures in the American Museum in 

 the year 1906. The system of visiting the 

 museum, aquarium and the zoological park 

 under the direction of teachers is rapidly ex- 

 tending. The nature work in many of the 

 high schools is directed by men who have 

 taken their doctorates at the university. The 

 Board of Education also conducts courses of 

 free lectures, chiefly of a scientific character, 

 in all parts of the city. 



This special number of the Zoological 

 Bulletin is designed to set forth briefly some 

 of these features of the city life. They show 

 that New York does not deserve its reputa- 

 tion of being a badly governed city, that its 

 citizens are alive to their responsibilities, that 

 its public officials thoroughly believe in pop- 

 ular education, that the enormous foreign pop- 

 ulation which comes to this port enjoys ad- 

 vantages of free and attractive education as 

 great or greater than in any of the countries 

 of the old world from which they come. 



Henry Fairfield Osborn, 



Chairman of the New York Local Commit- 

 tee for the International Zoological Congress. 



ATTENDANCE AT MUSEUMS AND 

 PARKS FOR 1906. 



Aquarium 2,106,569 



Zoological Park 1,321,917 



American Museum of Natural 



History 476,133 



Brooklyn Museum 143,047 



Children's Museum, Brooklyn 85,981 



Free Lectures (zoological subjects 



only) 60,000 



Central Park IMenagerie, no records. 



Total 4,193,647 



