140 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 709 



supplementing the nature -work of the public 

 schools. In addition to the usual classes 

 which visit the museum as a special holiday 

 occasion, several schools have devised a plan 

 by which the museum exercise becomes a 

 recognized part of the school work and counts 

 in points as does any other part of the cur- 

 riculum. Classes are taken to the museum in 

 charge of the teachers who provide them with 

 question blanks or direction sheets and allow 

 the pupils a certain length of time for the 

 completion of the work. The notable feature 

 of this class of work is the discipline which 

 prevails. 



Several of tie high school teachers have 

 given Saturday morning lectures on bird 

 study to their classes, in the lecture hall of 

 the academy and for a time a series of lec- 

 tures was given for children. 



During two years a course of lectures on 

 biology was given for the benefit of teachers 

 interested in nature work. Laboratory and 

 study facilities have also been freely placed at 

 the disposal of those teachers who wished to 

 carry on more extended studies. 



Some of the museum collections have been 

 largely used for loan purposes and much of 

 the duplicate material has been freely placed 

 at the disposal of those schools or teachers who 

 expressed a desire to use a small hand col- 

 lection in the class-room. Lantern slides and 

 other photographic material have also been 

 freely loaned for educational purposes. 



It is noteworthy that a large per cent, of 

 the museum visitors are of the more in- 

 telligent class of people, who visit the museum 

 from a higher motive than that of mere 

 curiosity, although it is unquestionably true 

 that many visitors are of this latter class. 



Since 1S95 the academy has conducted 

 yearly a series of popular lectures in addi- 

 tion to its regular monthly meetings. The 

 effort has been made in these lectures to 

 popularize the various branches of science 

 and still keep them up to the highest 

 standard of excellence. These lectures have 

 been given in courses of from six to twelve 

 each, two or three courses being given in a 

 year. Two hundred and seventy-eight such 

 lectures have been given during the past 



thirteen and a half years, at which the total 

 attendance was 43,856. One hundred and 

 twenty-five regular meetings have been held, 

 at which 6,765 members and their friends 

 listened to the reading and discussion of 

 scientific papers. This phase of the academy's 

 work has proved of great educational value. 



A portion of the time of the museum staff 

 has been consumed in the identification of 

 material for other institutions, or for scien- 

 tific workers, and during the past four years 

 nearly 35,000 specimens have been thus cared 

 for. 



In making a retrospective study of an in- 

 stitution much depends upon the resources 

 available in estimating the value of the work 

 accomplished, and the results seem large or 

 small as the income is small or large. For 

 the past thirteen and a half years the only 

 assured income for maintenance has been 

 $5,000 per year, which is given by the com- 

 missioners of Lincoln Park for the privilege 

 of having the museum in the park and free 

 to the people at all times. In addition to 

 providing this sum of money the commis- 

 sioners heat, light and clean the building. 

 This sum of $5,000 has been variously aug- 

 mented through the generosity of friends of 

 the academy and by the annual membership 

 fees. The income has fluctuated, being the 

 lowest in 1898, when it was $5,321.60, and the 

 highest in 1895, when it rose to $14,190.48. 

 During the thirteen years under consideration 

 the total income has been $96,024.07, or a year- 

 ly average of $7,386.46. When compared with 

 the princely incomes of such institutions as 

 the American Museum in New York, the 

 Field iluseimi in Chicago, or even the smaller 

 Public Museum in Milwaukee, with its nearly 

 $30,000 yearly income, the resources of the 

 academy seem small indeed and it is remark- 

 able that it has been possible to accomplish 

 even the small amount of work herein de- 

 tailed, with such scanty resources. It is en- 

 couraging to reflect that, with the additional 

 endowment provided by the Moses Wilner 

 Bequest, the yearly income will soon amoimt 

 to $10,000. 



In closing this very brief summary of the 

 work accomplished during the past thirteen 



