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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1273 



of people who can never travel and never 

 explore and vyhose only means of finding the 

 inspiration of travel is through looking into 

 the mirror which we are endeavoring to hold 

 up to nature in all of its wonderful aspects. 

 A summary of the general progress in the last 

 fifty years shows that the great museum build- 

 ing projected in 1870 is about one fourth com- 

 pleted; that during this period the trustees, 

 members and friends of the museum have 

 contributed gifts and collections valued at 

 $7,250,000, while the contributions to the per- 

 manent endowment fund have been $7,322,707. 

 In the meantime, the taxpayers of the City 

 of ISTew York have contributed $5,318,820 for 

 building and $4,241,492 for maintenance. 

 The unrestricted endowment fund, which may 

 be devoted to the general progress of the 

 museum, is now approximately $1,300,000, 

 while during the last year and a half ad- 

 ditional bequests to the institution for gen- 

 eral purposes amount to $2,105,000, including 

 Mrs. Eussell Sage's bequest of $1,600,000. It 

 is fortunate that the full amount of these 

 bequests will be realized through the recent 

 action of Congress in repealing the iniquitous 

 federal tax on educational bequests imposed 

 by the laws of 1916 and 1917. 



The financial, material and scientific ac- 

 complishments of fifty years may be summed 

 up as follows: 



Total expenditure for building by the 

 city of New York $5,318,820 



Total expenditure for maintenance by 

 the city of New York 4,241,492 



Total gifts to endowment by trustees, 

 members and friends of the museum . . 7,322,707 



Total contributions and gifts to the col- 

 lections, publications and scientific 

 work of the museum 7,250,000 



Total number of exhibition halls at the 

 present time 35 



Total exhibition area (in square feet) . . 271,886 



Total number of professional or scientific 

 staff, 1918 54 



Total number of employees, 1918 340 



Total number of volumes of publications 

 issued by the museum {Bulletins, 

 Memoirs, Monographs, Special Publica- 

 tions) 90 



Total number of American Museum 

 members, 1918 4,568 



Average number of visitors annually for 

 the last ten years 806,005 



Average number of school children 



reached annually for the last ten years. 1,121,799 



The scientific work of the museum has been 

 well provided for through the munificent be- 

 quests of Mr. and Mrs. Morris K. Jesup. By 

 the terms of Mr. Jesup's will his bequest was 

 strictly for the benefit of scientific explor- 

 ation, research, preparation, exhibition and 

 publication. The educational work of the 

 museum, the contact with the public and the 

 relations with the public schools are all in- 

 spired by this purely scientific work, yet they 

 can not legitimately draw support from the 

 Jesup Endowment. It is therefore to gen- 

 eral endowment that we look for the means 

 to extend this service to the people. 



It is very gratifying to report that during 

 the past three years several important gifts 

 or bequests to the general endowment have 

 been received, as follows: 



Margaret Olivia Sage, special endow- 

 ment for Ornithology $10,000 



Emil C. Bondy 10,000 



Anson W. Hard, for the development of 



the Library 5,000 



Charles E. Ehinelander (estimated) 20,000 



Amos r. Eno 250,000 



Helen C. Juilliard 50,000 



David Lydig (contingent) 10,000 



Emil Wolff (stock value) 5,000 



Ludwig Dreyfus 10,000 



Louisa Combe (estimated) 50,000 



James Douglas 100,000 



Margaret L. Baugh, for Anthropology.. . 10,000 



Mrs. RusseU Sage (estimated) 1,600,000 



$2,130,000 



Even if the museum should realize full 

 value on all these bequests, the added income 

 would be little more than sufScient to meet 

 the present general running expenses, for the 

 personal cash contributions of the trustees 

 annually almost equal the income on $1,000,- 

 000, while the deficiency of the city mainte- 

 nance appropriation is more than the interest 

 on a one-raillion-dollar endowment. Conse- 



