a suitable fire-proof building upon the public lands 

 in the city under their charge, for the establish- 

 ment and maintenance therein of a Museum of 

 Natural History by The American Museum of 

 Natural History, at an aggregate cost of Five 

 Hundred Thousand Dollars," and the Trustees 

 have the pleasure to state that through the cour- 

 tesy and kind interest of the Department of Pub- 

 lic Parks, a section in conformity to the petition 

 was introduced into the bill pertaining to the 

 Public Parks of the City, and that it has be- 

 come a law, which section we annex to our 

 Eeport. 



Hon. Peter B. Sweeny, President of the Depart- 

 ment of Public Parks, has also promised his influ- 

 ence to secure due consideration of our views and 

 plans in carrying into effect the provisions of the 

 above law. 



We have therefore, every encouragement to ex- 

 pect that in the immediate future our brightest an- 

 ticipations will be realized ; and relying upon a con- 

 tinuance of that generous support so freely extended 

 to us heretofore, that our Museum will become 

 worthy of the great metropolis it will adorn, and 

 hoping soon to have it opened not only as an 

 attraction for visitors from all parts of the United 

 States, but as a school in which our own children 

 as well as strangers will acquire information, of 

 which they would otherwise be deprived, we 

 feel that too much stress cannot be laid upon 

 the importance of the institution as a means of 

 public education. 



