62 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XVII. No. 417 



SCIENCE: 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES 



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A BOSTON -'ZOO.'" 



It is a little strange that a zoological garden should be so 

 rare a sight in our country, or, if found, should be so poorly 

 equipped, when there is hardly a European city of any size 

 without one, which is invariably a centre of attraction for 

 all American visitors. We often hear the inquiry, "Why 

 cannot we, too, Viave a 'zoo' ?" and we all know that such 

 a garden in Boston has long been talked of. Indeed, it has 

 been seriously studied for a number of yeai-s by our nat- 

 uralists ; b«t a brief consideration will show ihat to found 

 and sustain an establishment of the first class, modelled on 

 the best in Europe, would involve an expense very much 

 greater than there, simply from the fact that in no place in 

 Europe where a flourishing and extensive garden exists, are 

 the winters nearly so long or so severe, nor are they accom- 

 panied by such abrupt terminations, as here : our winters, 

 in short, would entail a vastly increased expense to keep 

 tropical creatures in health, and presentable to the visitor. 



But this is by no means the only difficulty we labor under 

 in Boston : for two things are absolutely essential to an 

 undertaking of this sort, — first, sufficient S|5ace ; and, 

 second, its accessibility to the public. Now, where are we 

 to look for an vinencumbered spot of g'round sufficiently ex- 

 tensive for these purposes reasonably near the heart of our 

 city ? 



The acreage of the gardens in Europe ranges from about 

 half a dozen to half a hundred acres, but hardly one of 

 them has room enough for its animals. The Zoological 

 Garden of London, the best and most successful of all, is 

 very crowded, and does not appear to cover more than ihirty- 

 flve acres, so far as can be told by measurement from a tnap. 

 Forty acres — somewhat less than Boston Common — is the 

 least we ought to count on here; but we have barely saved 

 for ourselves on the outskirts of the city room for public 

 parks. 



The " scientific " and the '' practical " man are often set in 

 antithesis. Will you kindly give your attention for a few 

 minutes while I endeavor to show that they may also be 

 named synthetically, by painting out how the scientific men 



1 Remarks made at a meeting of tbe Thursday Club, Boston, Jan. 15, by 

 Samuel H. Scudder. 



try to answer a practical question and resolve practical diffi- 

 culties ? 



We who have had this matter befor© us have been on the 

 watch for opportunities long enough to see an immense 

 growth in our city and a rapid occupation of our suburbs. 

 We have seen one spot after another which we had looked 

 upon with envious eyes fall into the hands of the land 

 speculator, until the chances seemed to grow less as the needs 

 appeared greater. But our opportunity at last came with the 

 establishment of the Park Commission, without whose 

 hearty support we should be silent to-night. 



The only piece of ground under the control of the park 

 commissioners large enough to have a portion of it spt apart 

 for a general zoological garden is Franklin Park in the 

 Jamaica Plain district: but there are two insuperable ob- 

 jections to the use of this cite, — fi.rst, that it contains no 

 sufficient body of running water for the needs of aquatic 

 animals ; and, second, that the segregation of a sufficient 

 territory would absolutely prevent the use of this large section 

 as a country park, one of the most important of the designs 

 of the commissioners, and not elsewhere attainable. The 

 only possible escape from this dilemma is one which, while it 

 certainly involves an additional expense, brings with it com- 

 pensating advantages. It is the division of the proposed 

 Natural History Gardens into separated sections. The dis- 

 advantages of this plan are the extra expense of fencing, 

 and of gate-keepers and superintendence, and that we should 

 have to go to widely distant points to see all that there is to 

 be seen. The advantages are the better selection of sites for 

 special givsups of animals, and the important fact that some 

 one of the exhibits would be easily accessible to every in- 

 habitant of the city. 



For the purposes of a natural-history garden, — we use this 

 word as more correct than the more limited but more usual 

 one of zoological garden, — animals and plants may be 

 divided into those inhabiting the salt water or dependent 

 upon it for means of sustenance, those inhabiting the fresb 

 water or so dependent, and land animals properly speaking. 

 All air animals would find food and shelter within or upon 

 one or other of these media, and therefore we need not con- 

 sider them as a group apart. One grand factor in life here 

 presents itself, by taking advantage of which we may im- 

 press it upon every visitor to our gardens by compelling' 

 him, if he would learn all we oifer, to pass at some expense 

 of time and labor from one of our exhibits to another. It 

 is our first essay in teaching one of the fundamental facts of 

 nature. 



The sympathetic concurrence of the park commissioners 

 enables us to carry out, it has indeed originated, this idea, 

 since they offer us three separate tracts, — one upon the sea- 

 shore, one which includes a pond of moderate extent and 

 the valley of a small stream, and the third a very attractive 

 bit of rocky woodland and glade. Not one of these spots is 

 all that could be desired, for the purposes in view, but they 

 are the very best the park commissioners have to offer; they 

 are the best unoccupied grounds left about Boston; and they 

 cover the two requisites mentioned at the start, — suitable 

 room and sufficient for all reasonable purposes, within easy 

 reach of the people. 



Observe for a moment their position on this map of Bos- 

 ton. The Marine Garden, or Marine Aquarium, as we call 

 it, will be situated at that point where Boston stretches its 

 farthest hand to the sea, in the so-called Marine Park, al- 

 ready in its half- finished state thronged by thousands, espe- 

 cially in the summer, and which is more easily reached than 



