1887.] 361 [Annual Meeting. 



placed on sale until late in the autumn. It is an experiment of con- 

 siderable importance in Museology. It is not in any sense a mere 

 catalogue, as are most books of the same title, but an instructive 

 though much abbreviated manual of mineralogy, illustrated by 

 fine collections, which have been prepared for this purpose with 

 great labor and considerable expense. 



The publication of the Guide had to be borne by the museum 

 appropriation, and consequently no money was le£t for other pur- 

 poses. The cases intended for the exhibition of Dynamical Ge- 

 ology and Biology could not, therefore, be erected in the vesti- 

 bule nor these collections completed. Professor Crosby and the 

 Curator have been occupied more or less with the plans and in 

 writing the guide for these collections, but these are as yet only 

 in the first stages of preparation. The specimens and models now 

 on exhibition in the vestibule were arranged by Professor Crosby ; 

 and, though not yet complete, are sufficient to prove the utility of 

 the proposed dynamical collections. They exhibit the action of 

 forces in the formation of the crust of the earth and its parts in a 

 way that cannot fail to be very instructive to an intelligent visitor, 

 and help every one to a better comprehension of the meaning of 

 the exhibits in the other departments of the Museum. 



Unusually heavy burdens were thrown on the funds of the Society 

 by the necessity of renewing the boilers for heating the building. 

 This expense was, however, successfully met, though it was un- 

 expected, and occurred after the alterations in the basement, for 

 the purpose of making a new class room, had gone so far that 

 they could not be postponed. 



The policy of the Society has always been to give up any of 

 its departments provided other institutions would accept and carry 

 them on. This policy has governed our late action with reference 

 to the summer laboratory at Annisquam. We conducted this de- 

 partment with the aid of the Woman's Education Association, for 

 six consecutive summers. It has been entirety successful, and the 

 policy pursued has been frequently spoken of in former reports. 

 The Woman's Education Association makes it a rule never to carry 

 on any of their undertakings after they have passed through the 

 experimental stage of existence. Both the Society and the Asso- 

 ciation have therefore felt, after six years of successful working, 



