1838. HOUSE— No. 72. 103 



and, if his own resources are not sufficiently ample to provide him 

 with all that he wants, he ought to be able to find them in those 

 public institutions where they properly belong. The father of 

 physic has said that " life is short and art is long ;"* why, 

 then, should the student of nature spend the better portion of 

 his life in making investigations and discoveries, which, were the 

 means within his reach, he would find already recorded ? Why 

 should he be compelled to keep back the result of labors, upon 

 which he had hoped to establish a reputation, for the want of the 

 proper aids to enable him to put them into a scientific shape, until 

 he shall have the mortification to find, that he has been anticipated in 

 the publication of his discoveries by the more favored votaries of 

 science in another land ? America has been overrun by foreign nat- 

 uralists and collectors, in almost every direction ; it seems to have 

 been looked upon by them, as common ground, open and free to 

 every laborer ; they have already reaped a glorious harvest from it, 

 and only the gleanings remain to reward our toils. 



I have no wish to overstate the difficulties and obstacles, wiiich, 

 individually, I have encountered ; and only advert to them now in 

 order to call attention to the subject, and in the hope that they will 

 be received as some apology for the very imperfect manner in which 

 I have performed the duly assigned to me. Should the commission, 

 under which you. Sir, have acted in calling upon me for a report on 

 the insects of this Commonwealth, be renewed, and should my ser- 

 vices again be required, I shall cheerfully respond to the call. To 

 Massachusetts belongs the credit of having been the first to procure 

 an investigation of the animal, vegetable, and mineral productions of 

 a whole state, at the public expense ; and the various surveys and 

 reports, which have been made during several years past, are a grat- 

 ifying proof of the wisdom, public spirit, and liberality of the gov- 

 ernment by which they have been authorized. To develope the 

 internal and natural resources of our country, to promote the diffij- 

 sion of knowledge, and to render science popular and available in 

 contributing to the comfort and happiness of the people, are objects 

 deserving all the encouragement which can be given to them. It 



* Hippocrates. Aphorism 1. 



