56 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. [Feb. 



labelled ; and, so far as room has been provided for them, they are 

 now all in scientific order, and about to be opened, at all times, to 

 every citizen of the Commonwealth, free of charge. Even the large 

 remainder, which cannot be exhibited and employed for the purposes 

 of instruction, have yet all been carefully examined and prepared for 

 use, and are all classified and labelled ; and, so far as an excellent 

 fire-proof building can do it, they are all now, like the rest of the col- 

 lections, placed beyond the reach of injury by fire. 



This, however, is the whole that it has thus far been possible to do 

 in order to establish and constitute a Museum ; and your Committee 

 desire, as an act of justice, to add, that it has all been done under the 

 advice and superintendence of Professor Agassiz himself, and that to 

 his unwearied labors, and those of the corps of excellent and zealous 

 assistants whom he has trained and directed, is due the possibility of 

 opening the Museum to the public, for purposes of instruction, in the 

 extraordinarily short space of seventeen months from the day when 

 the first sod for its foundation was, under the happiest auspices, 

 turned by the governor of the Commonwealth. 



But although much more has been done than the Trustees, or, it is 

 believed, any of the friends of the institution originally supposed could 

 be done in so short a time, and with the means afforded to do jt, still it 

 is plain that only a fraction of the work contemplated has been accom- 

 plished, just as it is plain that only a fraction of the building designed 

 for a Museum has yet been erected. Specimens, equal at least in 

 number to those which are already arranged, and certainly of not less 

 scientific value and significance, are packed away in boxes and casks ; 

 all, indeed, examined and prepared, all scientifically classed and la- 

 belled, but all crowded into the cellars and attic of the present build- 

 ing, and useless for purposes of instruction, from want of means and 

 room to exhibit and explain them. The various expenses of the insti- 

 tution, including salaries, have been going on since the first of Sep- 

 tember, without any appropriation to defray them, and have been 

 met by the private resources of Professor Agassiz. The institution, 

 in fact, since that date, has been left to depend on his personal exer- 

 tions and self-sacrificing spirit ; and even if the income from the State 

 grant were at this moment available, — which it cannot be until after 

 August next, when the firsc instalment of it will be payable, — it 



