ACTIVITY OF THE MUSEUM. — PROFESSOR AGASglz's REPORTS. 



In December, 1859, the building was sufficiently advanced to allow 

 Professor Agassiz, on his return from Europe, to move the greater part 

 of his collections from the insecure places where they were stored into 

 the fire-proof Museum for which he had so long wished. In May, 

 1860, the building was completed, and was found to be so well fitted 

 for the purposes intended that Professor Agassiz declared, that, after 

 his recent examination of the principal Museums in Europe, he would 

 not alter it in any respect if he could do so by a wish. The annual 

 reports of the Director of the Museum for the years 1861 and 1862 

 contain little beside accounts of the additions to the collections. When 

 the war between the Northern and Southern States broke out the 

 Museum was a sufferer, for several of the assistants upon whom Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz relied for valuable services joined the Northern army. 

 The funds, also, of the Museum were running low ; but it was no time 

 to ask for further supplies when all the resources of the country, both 

 public and private, were required to put down the Rebellion. Still, 

 the Director, in his report for the year 1863, was able to record with 

 gratitude "the liberality of the Legislature in granting $10,000 for 

 the publication of an Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum, which will 

 enable us to lay the results of our investigations before the scientific 

 world in an appropriate form, and thus extend the usefulness of our 

 Institution beyond the limits of those who have immediate access to its 

 over-crowded rooms." 



He also says in his report, speaking of the continued increase and 

 development of the Museum : — 



" Had my task from the beginning been restricted to the putting up of a 

 Museum that should answer the wants of the University within the limits of 

 our present means, I might be blamed for extending its sphere of action ; but 

 I understood the object of this organization to be the founding of a great 

 Museum, and I am happy to be able to say that the general frame of such an 

 institution is not only fairly laid out, but is already so far advanced in some 

 of its most important features as to challenge competition." 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BRAZIL. 



The Museum continued to progress steadily, although the increase 

 of its collections and the development of the system of instruction, 

 which is one of the most valuable features of the Institution, caused 

 the want of an adequate income to be every day more sensibly felt 



