- 
Annual Report.] 166 i [May 1, 
about two for each school. This limited the average attend- 
ance at the succeeding lessons, six on Mineralogy by Mr, 
Greenough, and eleven on Zoology by the: Custodian, to about 
fifty-five. The Masters and sub-Masters of the public schools 
have been present in large numbers, and I have noticed the 
same faces at every lesson, earnest in their work, and often 
remaining after the close of the discourse in order to gain 
fuller information. Specimens were distributed and studied 
at every lesson, and we know that in many instances the in- 
struction was repeated at-the schools. 
We have, beyond a doubt, excited an interest in Nubirral 
History which must speedily effect a marked improvement in 
the system of public instruction in Boston, and eventually 
spread its influence to other parts of the country. The Com- 
mittee feel that much of their success is due to the assistance 
they have received from Mr. Page, the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Masters, Mr. Philbrick, the Superintendent of the 
Public Schools of Boston, and Prof. Runkle, the President of © 
the Institute of Technology, who obtained from the Board of 
Government of that Institution the use of their new and 
commodious hall, which was opened for the first time at our 
first lesson. ‘The materials for the course on Zoology could 
not have been gathered in sufficient abundance if it had not 
been for the extraordinary facilities for collecting Marine ani- 
mals afforded the Custodian by Prof. S. F. Baird, U. 8. Com- 
missioner of Fisheries. Those for the course on Botany 
were furnished with equal readiness and generosity by Prof. | 
Asa Gray, from his Botanical:Garden in Cambridge. In fact, 
men of purely scientific tastes have everywhere manifested | 
the deepest interest in our project, and given all the aid that 
was asked for by the Committee. | 
The expenses of the Society are represented by the use of 
the Lecture room at each lesson, the use of gas on one oc- | 
casion, and the destruction of a few duplicate specimens | 
broken up and distributed. These are not, properly speaking, | 
expenses, but rather the use of our Lecture room and ma- | 
