Annual Meeting.] 312 [May 5, 



and we were repeatedly informed by those well capable of judging, 

 that they were very satisfactory. Nevertheless the difficulties over- 

 come and the anxiety and labor of collecting and tanning by the 

 hundred such animals as kittens, pigeons, etc., tasks the strength 

 of an assistant beyond what should be considered right or health- 

 ful. 



The number of specimens distributed last year in the first ten 

 lessons of this course was 10,500 ; during the present winter 18,035 

 were given away, making for this course in Zoology a grand total 

 of 28,535 specimens. These were preparations requiring time and 

 care and two thousand and six hundred were tanned specimens. 



The weather was the worst in our experience, clear afternoons be- 

 ing very rare. The average attendance was much reduced by this 

 fact, and amounted to one hundred and thirty-one at each lesson. 

 While there has been a steady falling off in numbers for the past 

 five years, there has been a constant gain on the part of those 

 persevering in attendance, because of the more advanced instruc- 

 tion which could be given. 



Besides the lessons by the Curator, twenty practical laboratory 

 lessons of two hours each in Mineralogy were given by Prof. W. 

 O. Crosby. These were directly continuous with those delivered 

 by him last winter, and were also intended to prepare teachers for 

 giving instruction in " Common Metals, Minerals and ♦Rocks," ac- 

 cording to the plan indicated in the schedule of the "Course of 

 Study for the Boston Grammar Schools." They consisted exclu- 

 sively of practical lessons given in the Mineralogical Laboratory of 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the class was nec- 

 essarily limited to sixty teachers. 



The thanks of the Society are due to the Massachusetts Institute 

 of Technology for the use of their Laboratory during the two 

 winters occupied by this course. 



The advantages of the instruction could be offered to all the 

 Grammar Schools only by asking each master to assist in organiz- 

 ing the class ; and he was accordingly invited to send to Mr. Sea- 

 ver, Superintendent of Public Schools, the name of one teacher 

 who would be interested, and to w r hom it would be practicable to 

 assign the instruction in minerals, etc., in his school. 



By permission of the Trustee of the Lowell Fund, a fee of one 

 dollar and a half was charged to cover the cost of specimens and 

 apparatus ; and these the teachers were allowed to retain. 



