14 



Office of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park, ) 

 Bank of Commerce Building, 



31 Nassau St., New-York, Jan. 21, 1870. ) 



Dear Sir — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 

 the 23d ultimo, relating to the deposits of certain collections with the Park Com- 

 missioners by the American Museum of Natural History. The terms upon which 

 it is proposed to make these deposits are such as will, I think, secure the object 

 that the Museum and the Park Commissioners equally desire, to wit, an establish- 

 ment that shall afford opportunity for popular instruction and amusement, and for 

 the advancement of the Natural Sciences. If the plan which insures and combines 

 in this enterprise the interests and means of the private citizen, with those of the 

 public, is productive of all the good results that may reasonably be expected, it 

 will probably be made at once an example and incentive for uniting the energies 

 of those interested in other branches of science and art in similar undertakings. 



In accepting these extensive and valuable collections on the conditions specified > 

 permit me to express, on behalf of the Park Commissioners, their high appreciation 

 of the enlightened sentiment that has provided so generously for all interested in 

 this department of science, and, at the same time, the hope that this auspicious 

 beginning may, by the continued augmentation of similar liberalities, become an 

 unequalled treasury of science, alike honorable to the public spirit of the citizens 

 by whom it has been inaugurated, and an indispensable aid to those engaged in 

 efforts to increase the knowledge of the science that it is intended to illustrate. 

 Very respectfully and truly, 



ANDREW H. GREEN, 



Comptroller of the Park. 

 W. A. Haines, Esq., 



Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Museum. 



To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New- York : 



The undersigned, citizens of the City of New-York, respectfully petition that 

 authority may be given to the Department of Public Parks in said city to erect 

 suitable fire-proof buildings upon the public lands in said city under their charge, 

 for the establishment and maintenance therein of a Museum of Art by The Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art, incorporated by Act of April 13, 18*70, and a Museum 

 of Natural History by the American Museum of Natural History, incorporated 



