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and valued by a discerning public. I hope it will give a 
new, and a powerful impulse to the study of nature and 
physical science, that it will create and foster a taste for 
knowledge among all classes in our community, and that 
it will materially serve to raise the character of our town 
still higher, as a place favourable to the culture of litera- 
ture and scientific pursuits. 
In books, as I have said, we have the descriptions of 
animals, plants, aud minerals, but the museum supplies 
us with the things themselves, and is a depot for the pro- 
ductions of the four quarters of the globe. Every land 
and every element contributes to its riches ; the lion has left 
his recess in the forest, the eagle has descended from the 
rock and the cloud, the shark has deserted the ocean-stream, 
and the mole his habitation in the earth, to join the assem- 
blage. Here we can, in one view, behold the productions 
of the most distant and various countries. Even in our 
present early state, and when only a very small number of 
our specimens has been brought to the building, I might 
point to the productions of more countries and places than 
a man could visit in a long life.* 
But, I presume, that there is no necessity for adverting 
farther to the utility and advantages of museums. The 
very circumstance of so many being now assembled within 
these walls, speaks more than the longest words I could 
use; and, I trust that the time is not far off when the study 
of Natural History, and of Nature’s God in his works, will 
be considered worthy of that general attention they deserve. 
While, however, Gentlemen, we may be fully sensible 
of the value of this department of knowledge, let us not 
* A number of specimens were here pointed out. 
