REPORT. 



At an adjourned meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard 

 College, held in the Senate Chamber, in Boston, on the 21st day of 

 February, 1861, His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth pre- 

 siding, the following Report was submitted by Winslow Lewis, M. D., 

 Chairman of the Committee appointed to visit the Lawrence Scientific 

 School, appertaining to the University. 



Senate Chamber, February 21, 1861. 



The various departments of the Lawrence Scientific School 

 were visited by ten of the Committee, and the accompanying 

 documents of the several Professors show the prosperous con- 

 dition of all. 



Of these Reports, the most important is certainly that of Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz, as it refers at some length to a subject, not 

 merely of University, but of State, of national interest. It will 

 be readily understood that the Committee allude to the new 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



Previous to considering the reference to that topic, however, 

 there are some minor points in the Report of Professor Agassiz, 

 by no means unworthy of attention. And first, the Committee 

 emphatically indorse the learned Professor's opinion as to the 

 importance of the student of nature cultivating the habit and 

 power of observation. No one who has had any experience in 

 University and public teaching, whether in the departments of 

 anatomy, surgery, and medicine, or in others, can have failed to 



