18 



CLOSE OF THE FIRST DECADE. 



In his report for the year 1869 Professor Agassiz says: — 



"It is now ten years since, in 1859, the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 in Cambridge was organized. We have closed our first decade, and it seems, 

 therefore, appropriate to review the work thus far accomplished, and to see 

 where it has brought us. Beginning with very small means and scientific 

 materials, the basis for which was chiefly the Gray fund and my private col- 

 lection of specimens ; hardly known at all abroad and attracting but little 

 notice in those days at home, the Cambridge Museum occupies now a very 

 honorable place among the prominent scientific institutions of the world. 

 It is in no spirit of egotism that I, as Director of this establishment, speak 

 thus of its present standing. But it is no more than fair that the Legislature 

 of Massachusetts and the individuals who have so generously sustained this 

 undertaking should know that their liberality has not been misapplied. 

 Familiar as I am with the history of museums, it is an astonishment and 

 a gratification to me to find that in this short time we have attained a posi- 

 tion which brings us into the most intimate relations with the first museums 

 of Europe ; we have a system of exchanges with like establishments over the 

 whole world ; while the activity of original research in our Institution, and 

 its well-sustained publications, the possibility of which we owe to the liber- 

 ality of the Legislature, make it one of the acknowledged centres of scientific 

 progress. Nor is this all. Men of high scientific standing in Europe are 

 tempted to come and join us on the moderate salaries we are able to give, for 

 the pleasure of working up collections in some respects more complete and 

 more interesting to the student than any now existing When our build- 

 ing was first put up, ten years ago, it was thought sufficient, and I myself 

 then deemed it large enough, for the needs of the establishment. But so 

 great has been the increase of our collections since that time that at this 

 moment the museum overflows from garret to cellar ; there is hardly room to 

 move between the boxes, barrels, and temporary shelves put up for the accom- 

 modation of specimens, and with the utmost economy of space it is almost 

 impossible for our daily increasing number of workers to proceed with their 

 labors. Indeed, many most important and interesting features of the Museum 

 must be ignored till we have more room, — as, for instance, the large and per- 

 fectly unique collection of palms and tree-ferns, with flowers and fruits pre- 

 served in alcohol, one of the most valuable results of the Thayer Expedition. 

 .... The same is true of many other collections of equal interest in our Mu- 

 seum, — as, for example, that of the fishes from the Amazons and other parts 

 of Brazil. But a very small portion of the rich harvest from the Thayer 

 Expedition has as yet been seen by the public." 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MUSEUM. 



We have thus followed the course of the Museum from its early be- 

 ginning with the donation of Mr. Francis C. Gray and the private collec- 



