Annual Meeting.] 8 . [May 1, 
LABORATORY. 
The work in this department has greatly increased. The 
Educational collections, if they continue to be improved at 
the same rate, will, within a year or two, be entirely com- 
pleted, with, of course, the exception of those rarer prepara- 
tions and specimens which never seem to be within the reach 
of moderate means. They embrace typieal zoological, pale- 
ontological, and geological collections, already sufficiently 
perfect for all the ordinary purposes of general instruction. 
The room and these collections have been used this past 
year by the Institute of Technology for a class in Paleontol- 
ogy, by the Boston University for a class in Zoology and 
another in Geology, and by the Teachers of Boston for a 
class in Zoology. This last class is composed of the teachers 
of Natural History in the High Schools of Boston and other 
teachers, numbering about thirty in all. 
The lessons are necessarily given on Saturday, and are lim- 
ited to two hours, though the laboratory is open throughout 
the day for the use of those who wish to remain. 
This course was instituted in order to support the move- 
ment made by the School Committee to introduce the teach- 
ing of Zoology into the High Schools. Miss Crocker, the 
Supervisor having this branch under her charge, applied to 
me for assistance, and by permission of the Council, the Lab- 
oratory and its facilities were placed at her disposal. The 
course will not be finished until the spring of 1879, and will 
comprise nearly one hundred lessons, illustrated in the usual 
way by the study and dissection of specimens. . The instrue- 
tion so far has consisted of a series of practical lessons given 
by Messrs. Crosby and Van Vleck, interspersed with lectures 
of a more general character delivered by the Custodian. 
TEACHERS SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. 
This has been continued, as in former years, through the 
liberality of Mr. John Cummings. The course, consisting of 
