8 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Mar. 



Having been allowed from the beginning to arrange the 

 Museum according to my own views, I may say that it has 

 been my constant aim, in accordance with the principles set 

 forth in my Essay on Classification, to discard every artificial 

 arrangement, and to follow Nature's indications as far as it has 

 been possible for the students of our science rightly to under- 

 stand them. Believing as I do that a Zoological Classifica- 

 tion must aim to be simply the reading of the natural relations 

 existing among animals, which we may learn to decipher by 

 studying their structure, their mode of growth, their order of 

 succession in geological times and their geographical distribu- 

 tion upon the surface of our globe, I have discarded all the 

 definite systems of Zoology and all the special classifications of 

 any particular class based upon specific considerations, and 

 have endeavored in each department of the Museum to repre- 

 sent if possible the sum of all our information in Special 

 Zoology, Comparative Anatomy, Embryology, Paleontology 

 and Zoological Geography. In this comprehensive work I 

 have invited all the students of the zoological and geological 

 departments of the Lawrence Scientific School to join, besides 

 the special assistants appointed to take care of the different 

 parts of the collections. Conflicts have of course frequently 

 arisen in carrying out such a comprehensive plan, and in 

 many instances have ended in the withdrawal of parties making 

 unreasonable claims, or even in the dismissal of egotistical 

 aspirants to unattainable positions. As teacher, responsible 

 not only to the Faculty, the Corporation and the Board of 

 Trustees of the Museum, but also to public opinion, I feel 

 called upon here to add that unfortunately I have not yet been 

 able, except in a measure, and in two or three instances, to 

 complete the education of the students who had come to me 

 for instruction. There is such a demand for men of learning 

 to fill the various stations of life, in our colleges, and at the 

 head of our other scientific establishments, that young men 

 are offered tempting situations before they have gone through 

 the last stages of their professional studies, and these tempta- 

 tions raise unduly the aspirations of even the least competent 

 students. Under such circumstances a devoted student is a 

 blessing to his teacher, as he is likely to be an honor to his 

 country and a successful promoter of science. 



