16 



the public the advantages for observation which was one of the earliest 

 intentions of the Museum. In fact, the whole Museum was becoming 

 a large storehouse rather than a well-arranged scientific collection. 

 In reference to these difficulties, Professor Agassiz, in his annual 

 report for the year 1867, said : — 



" The general usefulness of the Museum is crippled by the limited room 

 allotted to the public exhibition of the specimens. In order to heighten the 

 scientific importance of the Museum I have from the beginning resisted the 

 temptation of making it attractive to the many by putting up showy speci- 

 mens, and devoted all the means of the Institution to increasing its purely 

 scientific resources. But while this has greatly raised the intrinsic value 

 of the collections, it may, in a measure, have perilled the popularity of 

 the Museum ; and it is time that something should be done to gratify the 

 curiosity of the public, who have thus far generously approved the expenses 

 incurred, and the appropriations made by the Legislature to help our 

 establishment. This, however, cannot be done without considerable expense, 

 as our building is totally inadequate to the proper exhibition of the collec- 

 tions stored in it at this moment. Until the northern wing is fully completed 

 it will be impossible to begin a general systematic arrangement of all our 

 scientific possessions. It is not asking too much that these collections should 

 now be exhibited to the public, and I can truly say that were all our treasures 

 fairly laid out, so that the whole could be seen at a glance by intelligent 

 visitors, our citizens, when visiting similar institutions abroad, could with pride 

 point out what Massachusetts has done for science, and confidently affirm 

 that their Museum fears no comparisons." 



AN ELOQUENT REPORT. 



In 1868 the Legislature voted twenty-five thousand dollars a year 

 for three years to the Museum, on condition that a similar sum should 

 each year * be raised by subscription among private individuals, who 

 were willing to assist in the cause of science. Professor Agassiz, in 

 his report, says : — 



" This year has been a memorable one in the history of our Institution. 

 When I prepared my report for the year 1867, it was under the depressing 

 conviction that unless a large sum could be promptly obtained, the labor of 

 years would be made of no avail, and the value of the materials collected in 

 the Museum so impaired for want of the means essential to their preserva- 

 tion that they would become in a great degree useless. By the intelligent 

 liberality of the Legislature, who took this matter into earnest and thought- 

 ful consideration, and the generous co-operation of individuals, this danger 

 is averted. I have never felt so hopeful of the future of the Institution 

 which has so long been my care as now. 



" At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees a vote was passed devoting 

 the seventy-five thousand dollars granted to the Museum by the Legislature 



* Called in the Appendix 1st, 2d, and 3d subscriptions. 



