1869.] SENATE—No. 60. 7 
Cologne or the basilica of St. Peter’s. The time is past when 
men expressed their deepest convictions by these wonderful and 
beautiful religious edifices; but it is my hope to see, with the 
progress of intellectual culture, a structure arise among us 
which may be a temple of the revelations written in the mate- 
rial universe. If this be so, our buildings for such an object 
can never be too comprehensive, for they are to embrace the 
infinite work of Infinite Wisdom. They can never be too costly, 
so far as cost secures permanence and solidity, for they are to 
contain the most instructive documents of Omnipotence. 
From the earliest organization of the Museum I have had 
three great objects in view. First, to express in material forms 
the present state of our knowledge of the animal kingdom ; 
second, to make it a centre of original research, where men 
who were engaged in studying the problems connected with 
natural history should find all they needed for comparative 
investigation; thirdly,—and this last object has been by no 
means less prominent than the two others, but, if possible, has 
engrossed my thoughts more,—to make it an educational insti- 
tution ; to give it a wide-spread influence upon the study, the 
love and the knowledge of nature throughout the country. I 
have wished—and I think the time is fast approaching when I 
shall be able to make this wish more completely a reality than 
it has hitherto been—to have the most various and extensive 
practical instruction in natural history going on there under 
the personal direction of the officers of the Museum in the dif- 
ferent laboratories, and at the same time to have courses of 
lectures of a more general character, and open to all, upon 
natural history in its various aspects, geology, paleontology, 
general and special zodlogy, embryology, comparative anat- 
omy, &c. 
I have labored under many obstacles in the carrying out of 
this scheme. Often, for want of means to pay salaries, the 
assistants have been so few, and their knowledge so immature, 
that it was impossible to organize any extensive scheme of 
instruction. Often, too, we have been so overwhelmed by the 
amount of labor to be performed by some three or four men, 
that I have hesitated to diminish the working force of the Mu- 
seum for a less pressing, though not less important aim. Ney- 
ertheless, ever since the Museum has been in existence, two 
