794 Editors Table. [November, 
of his own early struggles for knowledge, when he, too, was poor. 
He wished that the money he. had verbally bequeathed should be 
used for the support of poor young men only, who would devote 
the whole of their time to study. Have Mr. Jessup’s wishes been 
fully complied with in the administration of the benefits of the 
fund ? 
It has been argued that inasmuch as the Academy afforded the 
facilities for study in its library and collections, that all Jessup 
beneficiaries should in return spend a certain number of hours 
each day at work for the Academy. This is now the rule. But, 
as it has been claimed time and time again that the Academy is a 
charitable institution, it does not seem to be in keeping with this 
claim to ask Jessup scholars to devote a part of their time to 
labor in order to pay the Academy for the privilege of studying 
in its building, especially when the work they are frequently 
expected to perform has no interest to them or no scientific bear- 
ing whatever. The character of some of the work at which Jes- 
sup scholars have been employed, may be gathered from the fol- 
lowing statements of facts: In one case a beneficiary was put to. 
washing shells to prepare them for a specialist ; another was em- 
ployed at brushing and dusting off the collection of stuffed birds; 
on another occasion one of them was set to work by the librarian 
to copy the titles of books in the library for compilation of cata- 
logues, properly the duty of the librarian himself, for which he 1s 
employed and paid. It has become the rule to make the Jessup 
scholars take the place of the janitors at the door once or twice a 
week, to sell the tickets which admit strangers to the museum of 
the Academy. It is hard to make a mental distinction in these 
the daily press, and the corresponding secretary has the blanks 
acknowledging donations filled up by one of these scholars. 
hey are also frequently used as messengers by the secretary, 
president and curators. They have become, in short, a Species. of 
men-of-all-work, useful to everybody about the institution, with 
no definite knowledge of their relation to the fund. from whence 
they derive an income just sufficient, with close economy, to oe 
port themselves. These persons then are virtually employes © 
