ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 17 



continuous gallery on each side. Horizontal cases occupy the 

 floor. 



The north basement-room is twenty by twenty-eight feet ; it 

 is used as a workshop. 



The south-west basement-room is twenty by twenty-four feet. 

 It is surrounded by a gallery and two ranges of vertical cases. 



The west basement-room is twenty-eight by forty-two feet. It 

 has a gallery and two ranges of vertical cases on its I four walls, 

 and cases extend from the north and south sides, several feet 

 towards the centre. This apartment communicates with the 

 main saloon by a flight of broad stairs. 



The south and west rooms contain the library ; the sessions of 

 the Society are held in the latter. 



This brief description of the building will serve to introduce 

 the reader to the several departments of the Museum. 



The collections are extensive in several departments, and, with 

 very few exceptions, all are still in process of classification. The 

 entire work of arrangement devolves upon the members, whose 

 ordinary vocations permit them to devote to it only the leisure 

 moments which most men spend in amusements. Only a few of 

 them, a part of those composing the standing committees, afe 

 able to give any portion of the day to assist in this very tedious 

 task. Every department receives a due share of attention ; and 

 though all advance slowly, enough has been accomplished to de- 

 serve high commendation. It should be remembered that no 

 pecuniary profit accrues from the labor and pains bestowed in 

 labelling and displaying the very many thousands of objects, 

 which have been brought together here, for the sole purpose of 

 -diffusing knowledge among our fellow-citizens. 



It is our pleasure to hope that the Academy will be cheered on 

 in its course, till the Museum shall become an epitome of all 

 created things ; so fully displayed, that the student may resort to 

 it with a certainty of learning what has been ascertained in the 

 world of nature; just as inventors now seek the Patent Office 

 to learn whether they have been preceded in mechanical discovery, 

 before offering to the public any machine which they suppose to 

 be new. Here should be seen representatives from every de- 

 partment of the earthly creation collected from every accessible 

 region from mountain, and valley, and plain ; from rivers, and 

 lakes, and seas; and the burial-places, far down beneath the sur- 

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