The National Zoological Park 445 



up from chance gifts made to the city authorities, from 1860 

 onward. 



In Philadelphia a zoological society, composed of public- 

 spirited citizens interested in natural history, succeeded in 

 1872 in raising sufficient funds to begin the construction of a 

 zoological garden in a retired portion of Fairmount Park. 

 This garden, though limited as to space, has always been con- 

 ducted with reference to the advancement of science, and is 

 now, probably, the most important collection in America. A 

 zoological society in Cincinnati also succeeded in 1874 in 

 securing a collection of animals for exhibition. It now has 

 an excellent garden in a flourishing condition. Collections 

 of living animals have been formed in San Francisco, Chicago, 

 St. Louis, Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburg, and other 

 places. Some of these are controlled by the city authorities 

 as an attractive feature of public parks, others kept by priv- 

 ate parties for their own pleasure or profit in game preserves 

 thousand of acres in extent. 



The collection of animals for exhibition as museum speci- 

 mens was early commenced by the Smithsonian Institution. 

 This necessarily involved the accumulation of skins and skele- 

 tons and the employment of skilled taxidermists to study the 

 natural forms of living animals in order that they/might im- 

 part to the prepared specimens the grace and characteristics 

 of life. A considerable number of living animals was ob- 

 tained for this purpose annually, and as there were no 

 adequate arrangements for keeping them, they were, after 

 serving as studies for the modeler, either killed for their 

 skins, or, if not desired as specimens, sent to the zoological 

 garden in Philadelphia. During their temporary detention 

 at the Institution such specimens attracted much notice from 

 visitors. It early occurred to Mr. S. P. Langley, the present 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, that it would be 

 29* 



