42 



gathered by private enterprise, and employed chiefly for purposes of 

 speculation. That which is temporary and speculative must now give 

 way to something more enduring and instructive, and it seems to me 

 that our thanks are especially due to the Society of Natural History 

 for acting the part of pioneers in this great field of science, and for 

 the zeal which they have shown in the prosecution of the work. So 

 far as the Department which I now represent is concerned, I do not 

 hesitate to promise all the assistance it can lawfully render. TV e 

 encourage it as not only an object of public interest which shall serve 

 to attract hitherward strangers from all parts of the land, but also as 

 a means of intellectual pleasure, profit and relief to our over-burdened 

 people, and as affording a school where the children of the rich and 

 poor alike can come to study the wonders of nature which are here to 

 be gathered together, and freely exposed for the common benefit of all. 

 It is believed that the museums on the Park will become valuable 

 auxiliaries of that great free public educational system which is already 

 the pride of our city, as well as the source of useful practical informa- 

 tion to agriculturists, merchants and manufacturers throughout the 

 land. In this country we popularize knowledge, and give to science 

 a holiday air, and -instead of putting our collections, as some have 

 proposed, " into cold catacombs of science, and long gloomy galleries 

 in which nature is classified, ticketed, stuffed and covered with dust in 

 a manner well adapted to create weariness rather than to attract people 

 to the study of natural objects," it is our purpose to provide such 

 structures as shall furnish agreeable entertainment to the general 

 visitor, while at the same time offering valuable aid to common school 

 education. 



With the hearty co-operation of the Natural History Societj r , sus- 

 tained by the genius of Olmsted and the architectural skill of Vaux, 

 and certain of the sympathy of an enlightened people, the Department 

 of Public Parks looks confidently forward to the successful completion 

 of the magnificent scheme, the commencement of which may now be 

 pronounced as fully inaugurated. 



What Mr. Wales has said, and I have just read, will convey a full 

 conception of the purposes of the structure which 'is formally begun 

 to-day. I feel it to be a great honor to assist in the commencement 

 of a work which will, I trust, be hastened to completion before the 

 Centennial of our Independence ; here to stand as a magnificent 

 memorial of what our City has been able to accomplish under free 



