36 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ducted at such large expense to the City, should be used for exhi- 

 bition purposes alone. There are educational advantages which 

 can only be secured and maintained by a fixed policy and scientific 

 management. The splendid position attained by the New York 

 Zoological Park, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by the 

 American Museum of Natural History, and by the Botanical Gar- 

 dens furnished sufficient evidence of the truth of this propo- 

 sition. 



Accordingly, early in the present year a bill was drawn and sent 

 to the Legislature, by the terms of which the Board of Estimate 

 and Apportionment were empowered to enter into a contract with 

 the New York Zoological Society for the care and maintenance 

 of the Aquarium. In April of this year the measure became law. 

 It was expected that the transfer would be made early in the 

 summer, but unforeseen circumstances prevented the consumma- 

 tion of this plan until the present time. 



It has not been the policy of the present Commissioner of Parks 

 to make any radical departure from the general method of con- 

 ducting the Aquarium during the past few months, inasmuch as 

 the control was soon to pass into other hands. 



The contracts having been signed and all arrangements made, 

 we have met to-day to witness the formal transfer of this Aqua- 

 rium to the New York Zoological Society. It is an event of pe- 

 culiar significance to this institution, and will be far-reaching in its 

 results. The splendid work already done by the Zoological Soci- 

 ety is an earnest of what it can and will do with the facilities 

 afforded here. Not only will the exhibition feature of the Aqua- 

 rium be made prominent, but its educational value will be devel- 

 oped, and it will be brought in direct contact with the schools 

 and educational system of the City. It is particularly appropriate 

 that there should be in this great maritime city an institution de- 

 voted to the study of fishes and marine life generally. To pro- 

 vide a great variety of life from the sea, both from the tropics 

 and from our own shores, and furnish facilities for observation 

 of the living habits of marine and fresh-water animals, and to 

 give the benefit of these researches to the scientific world, to the 

 pupils in our public schools, and to the public generally, these 

 are some of the results to which we can confidently look forward. 



Gentlemen of the Committee, it gives me great pleasure to for- 

 mally transfer the control of the Aquarium to the New York 

 Zoological Society, and to assure you it will be the constant aim 

 of the Department of Parks to co-operate with you in bringing 

 this institution to the highest place of efficiency and usefulness. 



