e 8 
the rapid development of the institution. But it has now be- 
come evident that, while such a policy may have been useful in 
the early stages of the Museum, it has of late been rather a 
detriment to it than otherwise, as it was fast coming to be re- 
garded as my personal establishment. The demands upon my 
time for the administration of its affairs have become so great, 
that I must retire from active duty to devote myself to scientific 
work which I have too long neglected for the sake of bringing 
the Museum to the point it has reached. It is high time that 
I should withdraw, and that a younger man, more in sympathy 
with the prevailing tendency of science in this country, should 
endeavor to develop the Museum by increasing the interest 
of the friends of the University in its behalf. The original plans 
have now been so far accomplished that there remain to com- 
plete the Oxford Street fagade only one section and a half, 
and the southwest corner piece which is to meet the Peabody 
Museum wing. 
During the past year the expenses which I have been ac- 
customed to meet on account of the Museum have been so far 
reduced, that it will hereafter be possible for the Museum to 
live within its income. This will become practicable as soon 
as the indebtedness incurred for the Geological Laboratory and 
its equipment is paid off. Of course this will cut off expenses 
in many directions, — such as the purchase of collections, salaries 
for additional assistants, etc.; but these reductions need not in- 
terfere in the least with the efficiency of the Museum in the 
maintenance of its Laboratories, the care of its collections, or the 
hiberal and regular amount of its publications. The Mineralogi- 
cal Department and its collections would be admirably housed 
in the remaining section, and the corner piece could be devoted 
to such additional Laboratories and Lecture Rooms as come 
within the scope of the Natural History Department. 
The attention of the Visiting Committee of the Overseers 
was called to the necessity of additional Laboratories for the Geo- 
logical Department, in the hope that means might be raised to 
erect and equip the section of the building joining the Zodlogical 
and Paleontological Laboratories to the Botanical Laboratories. 
To avoid delay, the Corporation has advanced to the Museum 
the funds necessary for the erection of the shell of the con- 
necting section. But a very considerable sum, not less than 
