n6 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



in any respect will be lessened and we be treated as if we were 

 incapable of taking care of ourselves. 



This Association is a fair criterion of our citizenship — of the 

 public spirit and devotion to Staten Island which characterize the 

 men who make the Borough of Richmond what it is. Profes- 

 sional men, scientific men, business men, have given time and 

 thought, and sometimes much hard work, for more than a quarter 

 of a century past, without any sort of material reward or any 

 chance of it, to the investigation of the flora and fauna and geo- 

 logical structure of Staten Island. This is the kind of thing that 

 shows the stuff we are made of, quite aside from our daily tasks 

 and ambitions. 



The results we see today. The geological exhibit, I believe, is 

 practically complete. So, I think, is the collection of flora. Of 

 the animal life of the Island there is probably more to be learned, 

 or at least more to be shown; but the most interesting history 

 and progress and growth of the Association, as related to us by its 

 president, is a sure guarantee that in the years to come this 

 fascinating and gradual labor of love will continue until we shall 

 have a museum of natural history and scientific records of our 

 Island which will rival in character and value any similar institu- 

 tion in the world. 



The educational value of such an association as this, so admir- 

 ably ordered and conducted, is truly vast and far reaching, and 

 the establishment of its collections at St. George, where, after 

 considerable time and effort, we were able to obtain for it this 

 room in the borough hall, makes them easily accessible from all 

 parts of the Island, and places them where they can be of the 

 greatest utility, in proximity to our largest and most advanced 

 schools and to the largest of our public libraries. To students 

 and readers the best illustrations of their texts are- not found in 

 engraved pages but in the actual objects of interest as seen and 

 perhaps handled. The universal acceptance of this practical side 

 of modern education is seen in the field classes, chiefly in botany, 

 which are organized everywhere for the study of things as they 



