10 Thirty-fourth Annual Report oe the 



Board of Regents to the plan and mode of working for the State 

 Museum recommended by the Board to the Legislature in February, 

 1866. After the lapse of nearly fifteen years, we are far from having 

 carried out this plan in actual practice; and the constant tendency 

 seems to be toward a passive condition which must ultimately lead to 

 desuetude and to the disintegration of the Museum. 



I am led to these reflections at this time, more especially in regard 

 to the printing and publication of the reports, and their appended 

 scientific papers, which are the medium of our communication with 

 the scientific and practical world. Without systematic and continuous 

 investigation and timely publication of the results, any Museum will 

 degenerate in reputation, and cease to maintain equal relations with 

 those which, while accumulating collections, give evidence of their vi- 

 tality by the vigor and originality of the researches and the character 

 of the publications. The activity now pervading the entire civilized 

 world in scientific investigations and publications, and in the organiza- 

 tion of Museums of Natural History should stimulate the authorities 

 of the State of New York to a liberal support of its own Museum, whose 

 collections, originating in the Geological Survey, have been the basis of 

 such valuable contributions to Geology and general Natural History. 



In my last report, I wrote that during the year, the twenty-eighth, 

 twenty-ninth, thirtieth and thirty-first reports on the State Museum, 

 had been published for the use of the Regents and the Museum. The 

 three first named, together with the twenty-seventh report, were spec- 

 ially ordered near the close of the legislative session of 1878; having 

 been previously ordered printed as legislative documents at the time 

 of their presentation. This delay in publishing these reports has oper- 

 ated to the serious disadvantage of the Museum, since it has not been 

 possible to place before the public evidence of the work done in these 

 successive years. 



It is moreover discouraging to those who are working for the Mu- 

 seum, when several years may elapse before the result of their work can 

 reach the public ; and in the mean time, some one having greater facili- 

 ties may anticipate the publication so tardily conducted, and the labor 

 of months or years thus be lost to the individuals deserving the credit. 

 It is useless to ignore the fact of the deleterious influence coming from 

 our inability to give to the public promptly the results of our scientific 

 investigations. 



At the present time the thirty-second report, communicated in Jan- 

 uary, 1879, is printed simply as a public document, without the illus- 

 trations accompanying the scientific papers ; no copies having been 

 printed for the Regents or for the Museum; and it is essentially inac- 

 cessible to the scientific public. 



The thirty-third report, presented to the Board in January, 1880, is 

 not yet published, and several valuable papers with illustrations re- 

 main in the hands of the State printer. Neither the authors of these 

 papers nor the scientific public have any benefit from the researches 

 made in these several departments of science preceding and during the 

 year 1879. The time in the future when these two reports may come 

 before the public is very uncertain. \ 



I do not blame any person or party for this delay ; it is the fault of 

 a system which is pernicious to all scientific progress under the pat- 



