36 



them in the efforts they have made to establish, on a permanent foun- 

 dation, a Museum which, as they hope, will be worthy of recognition 

 as a National Institution. 



It had long been a subject of regret to many citizens interested in 

 the cause of education and culture, that this great city, the most 

 prominent seat of American civilization, should remain entirely destitute 

 of any adequate means for the study of Natural History, while all the 

 other principal branches of science and knoAvledge found within it their 

 professors and their colleges, which invited students from all parts of 

 the land, and furnished them with suitable facilities for acquiring the 

 special education which they sought. It was also considered that a 

 department of knowledge which has in recent years assumed so large 

 a share of attention and so marked a place in every scheme of Liberal 

 Education, should have in this city a grand collection of specimens, 

 free to the inspection of its own citizens as a source of public amuse- 

 ment, and open to the use of the teachers and scholars of its public 

 and private schools as a means of general instruction. 



It was for these purposes that the Legislature of the State of New 

 York, by an Act passed on the 6th of April, 1869, created the 

 Trustees and their successors a body corporate by the name of " The 

 American Museum of Natural History," to be located in the City of 

 New York, for the purpose of establishing a-nd maintaining iu said 

 city a Museum and Library of Natural History; of encouraging and 

 developing the study of Natural Science ; of advancing the general 

 knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular 

 instruction and recreation. Under this Charter the Trustees immedi- 

 ately organized, and have, during the five years which have since 

 elapsed, devoted no inconsiderable amount of time and thought, as 

 well as of money, to carrying into practical operation its useful pro- 

 visions. Having by their own contributions, and those of many 

 public-spirited citizens who evinced a substantial interest in the project, 

 obtained the necessary means, they purchased the extensive collection 

 of Mammals, Birds, Fishes, etc. belonging to the late Prince Maxi- 

 milian of Neuwied, the Elliott collection of Birds, besides a large part 

 of the celebrated Verreaux and other collections of specimens of 

 Natural History, and thus found themselves in possession of a suitable 

 nucleus for a complete collection, but without any proper building or 

 place of deposit, where the specimens might be at the same time safely 

 preserved and made available for the popular use and enjoyment. At 



