1876.] 341 [Annual Report. 



tinues steadily to improve under the management of Mr. 

 Crosby. The collections have been increased by the pur- 

 chase of a few essential specimens by the Institute. The 

 fossils have been rearranged so that things begin to assume 

 a more permanent aspect. This Laboratory and the collec- 

 tion have also been used more or less by four female stu- 

 dents, in addition to the usual number of students from the 

 Institute. In this way it has been made useful to a very 

 important and earnest movement for the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among women through the means of study offered to 

 one of these female pupils. 



teachers' school of science. 



The Teachers' School of Science has been carried on as 

 before, by the liberality of Mr. Cummings. Fourteen lectures 

 or practical lessons in Lithology have been given by Mr. L. 

 S. Burbank, during the past winter ; the average attendance 

 was about ninety out of one hundred members. This is a 

 remarkable fact, when we consider that the class includes a 

 large number of the busiest teachers, the Masters of the 

 Public Schools of Boston and the vicinity. Each mem- 

 ber of the class was provided with tools consisting of small 

 hammer, magnet, file, streak stone of Arkansas quartzite, a 

 bottle of dilute acid with rubber stopper and glass rod and 

 the scale of hardness previously used in the Mineralogical 

 course. All these were purchased by the members of the 

 class, except the scale of hardness, which is retained for 

 future use. One hundred sets of about seventy-five speci- 

 mens each, were distributed. Most of these were large 

 enough for cabinet specimens, and many of the sets have been 

 placed in the collections of the city schools and used in the 

 instruction of the pupils. The specimens were largely col- 

 lected in this State, and the rocks of the Connecticut valley 

 and the western part of the State were very fully repre- 

 sented. The course is now being supplemented by a series 

 of excursions for field work in the vicinity of Boston, volun- 

 tarily conducted by Mr. Burbank. 



