July 15, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



63 



stone of the first section of the present 

 imposing structure was laid. I beg to 

 quote from a paper on the Museum pre- 

 pared by me in 1883 : " It was in June. 

 A large platform covered the newly-laid 

 'walls of the foundation, and above this rose 

 their unfinished and irregular edges, inclos- 

 ing a space crowded to its limits with ex- 

 pectant guests. A canopy over all tempered 

 ^he propitious radiance of a summer sun ; 

 -platoons of police kept open broad avenues 

 of approach, and the constant roll of equi- 

 •pages and the occasional appearance of 

 groups of distinguished men lent to the 

 occasion an unusual and gala character. 

 The scene was, in reality, not without a 

 ■certain impressive and picturesque interest. 

 Without the inclosure, the square, then 

 •broken by outcropping strata of gneiss 

 rock and valley-like basins, was black with 

 'throngs of men for whom was then insti- 

 ■tuted a place of beneficial recreation ; 

 w^ithin, an assembly of beauty and culture, 

 wisdom and executive prerogative, engaged 

 in a ceremony contemplating honor solely 

 to the genius of modern civilization." 



President Grant laid the corner stone ; 

 ■Governor Dix spoke, and the great and 

 wise Henry saluted it in a prophecy of 

 mingled hope and admonition. I have 

 •elsewhere reviewed the nature and impor- 

 tance of the collections then displayed, and 

 it is now auspicious, without wearying 

 your patience, to explain the greatly 

 changed conditions that prevail within it 

 and its enormously expanded prospects and 

 opportunities. 



Upon the death of President "Wolf Mr. 

 E. L. Stuart succeeded to the presidency, 

 -and upon his demise, in 1882, Mr. Morris 

 K. Jesup. It is really within the period of 

 -the latter's presidency that the Museum has 

 entered upon the prerogatives and functions 

 of a great museum. At the outset of an 

 outline of the Museum's status it must be 

 realized that in its relations to the city it is 



partially a tenant of the city and partially 

 a beneficiary. The city furnishes the cor- 

 poration known as the American Museum 

 of Natural History with a building ade- 

 quate for its purposes, and pays to it also 

 an annual sum sufScient for its proper 

 maintenance and the care of its collections. 

 On the other hand, the corporation repre- 

 sented by its officers and trustees furnishes 

 to the people of the city free access (under 

 the reservation of two pay-days a week) to 

 its collections, which it engages to label and 

 display so as best to promote the instruc- 

 tion of its visitors. There are five scien- 

 tific departments in the Museum, a library, 

 a business and a clerical administration. 



The five scientific departments cover 

 almost entirely the area of Natural History, 

 and embrace Forestry, Mammalogy and 

 Ornithology, Entomology, Invertebrate Pa- 

 leontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Miner- 

 alogy and Economics, Ethnography and 

 Archseology. Objects and collections are 

 secured by donation and purchase. The 

 gifts which have enriched the Museum 

 are princely. Mr. M. K. Jessup, the Presi- 

 dent, has given the exhaustive collec- 

 tion of American Forestry ; Mr. J. Pier- 

 pont Morgan, the Tiffany collection of 

 gems ; Miss Catherine Wolf gave the Con- 

 chological Library of Dr. Jay, which is 

 the nucleus of the present greatly enlarged 

 collection of books. Mrs. Margaret Schuyler 

 Elliot gave her husband's superb cabinet of 

 bred Lepidoptera ; Dean Hoffman, the ex- 

 hibition collections of North and South 

 American butterflies ; James Angus, a 

 varied collection of representative ento- 

 mology; W. Schaus, the Old World moths. 

 In ethnology and archaeology the Duke de 

 Loubat, Henry Villard, J. Pierpont Morgan, 

 B. T. B. and Frederick Hyde and Heber R. 

 Bishop have given most valuable collections 

 and supported expeditions, as the important 

 one of H. Bandelier in Peru ; while Mr. Jes- 

 sup has inaugurated and maintained, and is 



