110 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



— the popular price for such guide-books, — ours was planned on 

 hberal Hues, and sold at 25 cents. Since that time, nine other 

 editions of the Guide have been published, bringing the total up 

 to 110,000. The amount of matter has been more than doubled, 

 but the price remains the same. 



On November 8, 1899, the Park (which never had been 

 closed) was formally opened to the world. The sun shone 

 brightly, and the ceremonies on the terrace at the north end of 

 the Aquatic Bird House were entirely successful. It was real- 

 ized by the audience that the event marked only the beginning 

 of a gigantic task, not its completion. The public was invited 

 to enter in daily, and observe both the animals and the improve- 

 ment work that would be going on, provided visitors could en- 

 dure certain temporary discomforts. 



The extremely simple and inexpensive program that was 

 issued for the opening daj^ partly reproduced herewith, truth- 

 fully indicates the modest and reasonable scope of the Society's 

 expectations at that period. The finish of the Park seemed far 

 away, and the future was certainly uncertain. The question 

 was, — how will the changing administrations of New York's 

 kaleidoscopic politics affect the fortunes of the new and strug- 

 gling institution? Would some party come into power, pledged 

 to sweeping economies, and relentlessly say *'No" to all progress 

 under it? In the early days it seemed quite possible that this 

 might occur. 



But the Managers of the Society faced the future with brisk 

 and cheerful confidence, believing that the millions of New York 

 sincerely desired, and also needed, a great vivarium, on modern 

 lines, befitting the metropolis of the western hemisphere, and 

 worthy of the living wild animals of the world. 



As all the reading world now knows, the Society resolved 

 that the Zoological Park should be designed and created on lines 

 of the most far-reaching humanity toward wild creatures that 

 the skill of man could devise. That principle has been faithfully 

 wrought out. 



And the world at large realizes that in the Zoological Park 

 nothing has been left undone, and no expense has been spared, 

 to render the wild-animal population not only comfortable but 

 happy from day to day. For the tropical animals, the closer 

 confinement during winter is not so comfortable as ranging free 

 in the open air in summer; but for that matter, most human 

 beings of the temperate zone find the rigors of winter an in- 

 fliction from which they gladly would escape. As a general 



