BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 85 



been heard at tlie meetings as able scientific discussions as any hall ever echoed to, for it 

 was here that Agassiz, William B. Rogers and Henry D. Rogers made their power felt in 

 warm though most friendly conflict of opinion, exciting the intense interest of all who 

 had the good fortune to be present. 



Dr. Kneeland made a proposal to. the Society to occupy with his family some rooms in the 

 Bulfinch St. house, and thereby ensure the greater safety of the buildings and contents, on 

 certain conditions. These were acceded to and Dr. Kneeland and family subsequently 

 occupied the premises. 



The Building Committee promptly and industriously devoted themselves to the work 

 put into their hands. They studied the wants and requirements of the Society, conferred 

 among themselves as they met from time to time, as to the interior arrangements suitable 

 for the accommodation of the several departments, and subsequently consulted with archi- 

 tects respecting the exterior, and the cost of building. In the meantime one of their num- 

 ber, Mr. Amos Binney, having entered the Army, Dr. Jas. C. "White was substituted in his 

 place, and the committee subsequently now consisted of the President, Dr. Jeffries Wy- 

 man, Prof Wm. B. Rogers, Dr. Jas. C. White, Dr. B. Joy Jeffries, and Mr. Thomas T. 

 Bouv^. They frequently met for consultation at the house of Professor Rogers, where 

 they examined plans submitted to them and then discussed their merits. After two 

 or three months of close attention to the subject, and after considering fully several 

 plans bi-ought before them, they finally reported to the Society in November, as their 

 choice after mature and long deliberation, one offered by Mr. Jonathan Preston. Dr. White 

 explained the details of the plan and presented estimates of the cost, showing that a hand- 

 some building could be erected, and such portions finished as would serve the immediate 

 wants of the Cabinet and Library for about $62,000. The Report was quite satisfactory 

 and the Society voted that the plan be accepted "as at once graceful and ample in its pro- 

 portions and well adapted for all the purposes which the Society has in view." 



The Building Committee was requested to have detailed specifications prepared, in order 

 to obtain positive estimates of the cost of finishing such portion of the building as 

 was referred to in the report, and it was empowered to make arrangements for the con- 

 struction, if such estimate should show that the cost would not exceed the available fund 

 increased by further contributions. 



The Society also voted that the Building Committee be authorized to take such steps as 

 they judged proper to raise an additional amount towards paying for the new structure, 

 and also to add to the committee Geo. B. Emerson, Esq., and Rev. R. C. Waterston. 



In November of this year, a fire occurred in Boston, by which a menagerie of wild 

 animals was destroyed, the poor beasts being suffocated in their cages. The skins were 

 greatly damaged by fire and water, but the bodies were generally not much injured. 

 Throuo-h the exertions of Dr. White, the Curator of Comparative Anatomy, he obtained 

 for his department the animals, and they were dissected, part of them at the Medical 

 Colleo-e, and the rest at the private dissecting room of the President at Cambridge. 

 Dr. White in makino- a report of the matter, stated " that the Society may consider itself 

 fortunate in h^vino- secured so valuable an acquisition to its already extensive osteological 

 collection. Such an opportunity will probably never occur again. It raises this depart- 

 ment of the Cabinet far above any in the country in importance, and will enable us to 



