1838. HOUSE—No. 72. 103 
and, if his own resources are not sufficiently ample to provide him 
with all that he wants, he ought to be able to find them in those 
public institutions where they properly belong. The father of 
physic has said that ‘‘life is short and art is long ;’* why, 
then, should the student of nature spend the better portion of 
his life in making investigations and discoveries, which, were the 
means within his reach, he would find already recorded? Why 
should he be compelled to keep back the result of labors, upon 
which he had hoped to establish a reputation, for the want of the 
proper aids to enable him to put them into a scientific shape, until 
he shall have the mortification to find, that he has been anticipated in 
the publication of his discoveries by the more favored votaries of 
science in another land ? America has been overrun by foreign nat- 
uralists and collectors, in almost every direction ; it seems to have 
been looked upon by them, as common ground, open and free to 
every laborer; they have already reaped a glorious harvest from it, 
and only the gleanings remain to reward our toils. 
I have no wish to overstate the difficulties and obstacles, which, 
individually, I have encountered ; and only advert to them now in 
order to call attention to the subject, and in the hope that they will 
be received as some apology for the very imperfect manner in which 
I have performed the duty assigned tome. Should the commission, 
under which you, Sir, have acted in calling upon me for a report on 
the insects of this Commonwealth, be renewed, and should my ser- 
vices again be required, I shall cheerfully respond to the call. T'o 
Massachusetts belongs the credit of having been the first to procure 
an investigation of the animal, vegetable, and mineral productions of 
a whole state, at the public expense ; and the various surveys and 
reports, which have been made during several years past, are a grat- 
ifying proof of the wisdom, public spirit, and liberality of the gov- 
ernment by which they have been authorized. To develope the 
internal and natural resources of our country, to promote the diffu- 
sion of knowledge, and to render science popular and available in 
contributing to the comfort and happiness of the people, are objects 
deserving all the encouragement which can be given to them. It 
* Hippocrates. Aphorism 1. 
