BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 13 



No society organized for the pursuit of the study of natural history should undertake 

 to form a large museum, unless it is endowed with means fully, adequate for the constant 

 care and preservation of its collections, either through support of the government, < 

 or from funded property that will yield income sufficient for such purpose. Large 

 collections require enormous expense for preservation from destructive agencies, in 

 the necessary supplies of jars, bottles, alcohol, and other articles absolutely required 

 for use ; and for the payment of competent curators ; as experience demonstrates that 

 none others than those who are paid for their services can be relied on to permanently 

 do the work, without which, sooner or later, all there is destructible in a collection 

 will certainly go to ruin. In the early period of an institution founded by voluntary 

 effort and designed to be so sustained, the members, zealous and active, may for a time, 

 and while the collection is not great, manage to arrange the specimens received, and keep 

 them from destruction by care, but as the museum increases, this becomes onerous 

 to them, and finally impossible. Its impending destruction discourages the members, 

 and the society itself, unable to bear the necessary expense of preserving what they 

 look upon as an important element of existence, is finally dissolved. A society of 

 natural history not supported by government, and inadequately endowed, should never 

 undertake to make more than a very limited collection of specimens, and these should 

 be confined to such as illustrate the natural history of the immediate neighborhood, 

 with perhaps a few others, typical specimens only, of forms found in distant regions. 

 Where more than this is attempted by any society, continued existence and progress 

 can only be predicted in case it possesses ample means to employ steadily a sufficient 

 number of capable men to take charge of its museum, and exert a careful 

 watchfulness over the specimens. No society can long exist that depends upon voluntary 

 continuous labor on the part of its members, or on the voluntary subscriptions of its 

 friends. 



Nor is the collection of an immense number of specimens in every department of nat- 

 ural history a desirable thing for the general student. It is far more important that there 

 shall be an epitome collection so arranged as to give elementary instruction to visitors 

 who seek knowledge and to whom a great multitude of specimens might be confusing. Of 

 course there is no objection to the largest collection of known species where there are 

 abundant means to obtain and care for them, but an arrangement of such should always 

 be preceded by a proper synoptical series ; the latter for the instruction of the general 

 student, the former for the use of advanced naturalists who need such collections for 

 comparison. A large collection has the effect of attracting great attention, and the 

 wondering thousands who are drawn by its exhibition to visit it daily or weekly, enjoy an 

 innocent pleasure that is well worth providing for in all large communities, especially as 

 the influence may often go far beyond gratifying curiosity. The collection of species local 

 to the neighborhood, should perhaps be the aim of every society, as a knowledge of all the 

 forms of life met in our daily walks is very desirable. 



Perhaps the experience of no society better illustrates the truth of some of these remarks 

 than that of the Linnaaan Society. It was formed by men of more than ordinary ability, 

 and in a community ready and willing to aid it by voluntary contributions. Its members 

 were hard workers, and freely gave much time to its interests. But it had no funded 



