Ckoembee 19, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



971 



perhaps never been equaled hitherto or 

 elsewhere. 



In this marvelons development there are 

 two failures that we must all re^-ret— one 



for which it is not easy to find words. 

 The site of the park and buildings would 

 of course have been above the thorough- 

 fares, and all the buildings would have 



the stationary condition of our Academy of 

 Sciences, the other the dispersal of our in- 

 stitutions over such an area as to detract 

 greatly from their usefulness. All the way 

 from the Battery to the Bronx— some 

 twenty miles as the trolley car goes— sepa- 

 rated by almost impassable streets and 

 overshadowed by tenements and apartment 

 houses, our institutions may be found, or 

 at least looked for. Fifteen years ago the 

 city had a great opportunity, but no 

 leader being at hand it was lost. The situ- 

 ation of some of our scientific institutions 

 is shovrai on the one chart ; what might have 

 been is shown on the other. 



The city could have bought the blocks 

 from the American Museum to the North 

 Kiver for about $10,000,000. These re- 

 maining one half park, half the part of 

 Central Park between the American and 

 the Metropolitan Museums might have 

 been used as a site for public buildings 

 without decreasing the amount of open 

 space, while at the same time greatly in- 

 creasing its value for all the purposes of a 

 park. The plan shows what might have 

 been done on the west side. The wasteful 

 duplication of libraries and the rest would 

 have been avoided, and there would have 

 been a strengthening through cooperation 



been within five minutes ride on an imder- 

 ground railway. 



The cross arm of Central Park should 



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have extended to the East River, and there 

 should have been a park along the river, 



