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of 1868 to the extension of the present building. While I rejoice in the 

 prospect of this new building, as affording the means for a complete exhibi- 

 tion of the specimens now stored in our cellars and attics, and encumbering 

 every room of the present edifice, I yet can hardly look forward to the 

 time when we shall be in possession of it, without shrinking from the grandeur 

 of our undertaking. The past history of our science rises before me with its 

 lessons. Thinking men, in every part of the world, have been stimulated to 

 grapple with the infinite variety of problems connected with the countless 

 animals scattered without apparent order throughout sea and land. They 

 have been led to discover the affinities of various degrees and different kinds 

 which bind together this host of living beings. The past has yielded up its 

 secrets, and has shown them that the animals now peopling the earth are but 

 the successors of countless populations which have preceded them, and whose 

 remains are buried in the crust of our globe. Further study has revealed 

 relations between the animals of past time and those now living, and between 

 the law of succession in the former and the laws of growth and distribution 

 in the latter, so intimate and comprehensive that this labyrinth of organic 

 life assumes the character of a connected history, which opens before us with 

 greater clearness in proportion as our knowledge increases. But when the 

 museums of the Old World were founded, these relations were not even 

 suspected. The collections of Natural History, gathered at immense expense 

 in the great centres of human civilization, were accumulated mainly as an 

 evidence of man's knowledge and skill in exhibiting to the best advantage 

 not only the animals, but products and curiosities of all sorts, from various 

 parts of the world. While we admire and emulate the industry and 

 perseverance of the men who collected these materials, and did in the best 

 way the work which it was possible to do in their time for science, we have 

 no longer the right to build museums after this fashion. The originality and 

 vigor of one generation become the subservience and indolence of the next, 

 if we do but repeat the work of our predecessors. They prepared the 

 ground for us by accumulating the materials for extensive comparison and 

 research. They presented the problem ; we ought to be ready with the 

 solution. If I mistake not, the great object of our museums should be to 

 exhibit the whole animal kingdom as a manifestation of the Supreme 

 Intellect. Scientific investigation in our day should be inspired by a purpose 

 as animating to the general sympathy as was the religious zeal which built 

 the Cathedral of 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 material 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 in- 

 structive documents of Omnipotence." 

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