at the disposal of the various Professors connected with the 

 Natural History departments, and upon the time they may have 

 left from their professorial duties for original research. There 

 is no department of the University which depends so little for 

 its success upon the resources of the College, as the Natural 

 History Department connected with the Museum. Beyond the 

 salaries of the Professors and Instructors, there is practically 

 nothing which is not provided for by the Museum in the way of 

 work-rooms and laboratories. Their care, their heating, and the 

 supply of the materials for the students, do not fall upon the 

 Universit}^ ; by far the greater part of the current publications 

 in Natural History have for some time past been purchased by 

 the Museum, and the publications issued under the auspices of 

 the Museum provide the means for making known any investi- 

 gation carried on in its laboratories. 



The museum assistant in charge of a special department 

 must naturally, if the purpose for which large collections are 

 brought together is carried out, spend the greater part of his 

 time in preparing them for the specialist who is at some future 

 time to avail himself of the treasures brought together for his 

 benefit. There is, therefore, the same danger that an eminent 

 specialist, after his appointment to the curatorship of a depart- 

 ment of a great museum, will find his museum duties so arduous 

 as to prevent him, as his colleague in the professorial chair has 

 been prevented, by official work, from doing any original work. 



The main point for us and other directors of museums con- 

 nected with educational institutions is to settle upon a policy 

 which will in the end best promote the growth of a school of 

 Natural History, while fostering original research in the occu- 

 pants of the professorial chairs and in the assistants of the 

 various departments. 



Since the foundation of this Museum the conditions for scien- 

 tific research in this country have greatly changed. The general 

 government has now undertaken, in connection with the United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Survey, with the Geological Survey, 

 with the National Museum, and with the United States Fish 

 Commission, an amount of scientific investigation in various 

 directions which makes it a mere waste of time for those not 

 officially connected with these government establishments to 

 undertake certain lines of work. Recognizing this, it becomes 



