ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



549 



POLAR BEAR DEN IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND ITS WORK. 



NO institution is greater than the organiza- 

 tion that created it. 



But for the New York Zoological So- 

 ciety, and the forces that it gathered to its aid, 

 there would today be no New York Zoological 

 Park. Even with the finest building materials 

 ready to the hand of the builder, it is not given 

 to every man, or every organization of men, to 

 rear a monumental structure, and finish it ere 

 the world grows weary of waiting. 



Surely the Zoological Society may be regard- 

 ed as one of the most remarkable of New York's 

 many and diverse human products. Organized 

 in 1895, at a period when to many it seemed as 

 if New York's private philanthropy had been 

 drained to its depths by museums, libraries, hos- 

 pitals and botanical gardens, the hour of its 

 birth seemed inauspicious. And to a very great 

 extent that handicap did exist, and remains upon 

 the Society to this day! The institutions re- 

 ferred tT above have been endowed bountifully, 



by money given in large sums, and therefore 

 counting up rapidhy. But not so this Society. 

 From 1S95 to the present hour, no sum larger 

 than $5,000 ever has come into our treasury 

 from one donor at one time; and the only be- 

 quest ever received was one for $100! 



But it was ordained in the beginning that the 

 Zoological Society should succeed, and do much 

 with little. The three declared objects of the 

 Societ}' always have been — the making of a 

 Zoological Park, the protection of our native 

 animals and the promotion of zoology. 



The first and by far the most serious of these 

 tasks was undertaken first, and vigorously prose- 

 cuted. The result is in evidence, and can speak 

 for itself. The second and third objects have 

 not been pursued as diligently as the first, be- 

 cause of the practical impossibility of conduct- 

 ing three great campaigns simultaneously. 

 Now, however, the scientific work of the So- 

 ciety, and its srreater work for the protection 

 of wild life, will be taken up on a new basis. 



