FEBRUARY 15, 1884.] 
It is beyond question that the future development 
of geology and paleontology will be essentially influ- 
enced by America; but it seems to me, that, for zodl- 
ogy also, a model institution for the future, in many 
respects, has been created in the celebrated Agassiz 
museum in Cambridge, near Boston, which probably 
will not be without influence on the development of 
museums of natural history in Europe. On an ex- 
tensive plot near Harvard university there has been 
erected a five-story brick building with numerous 
windows, but with no ornamentation, and with an 
almost barrack-like appearance. The simple stair- 
case corresponds with the modest exterior and with 
the whole interior arrangement. The genial founder 
of the ‘Museum of comparative zoology,’ as he 
called it, did not intend to have a brilliant exhibition, 
but a place for serious labor and study. And the 
great enterprise called into existence in 1860 by 
Louis Agassiz has now been nearly completed, ac- 
cording to the ideas of the father, by the energy and 
the organizing talent of theson. Over three hundred 
thousand dollars were subscribed in a short time, 
when Louis Agassiz, twenty-four years ago, came to 
America, and announced a plan for the erection of 
his museum. Nobody knew better than he how to 
arouse the enthusiasm of others for ideal purposes by 
the power of words; and we may well say that he 
originated that new movement in the descriptive 
natural sciences which continues up to the present 
day. A whole school of young zoologists grew up at 
Cambridge. Collections of all kinds were bought in 
the old and in the new world, expeditions were sent 
to far-away countries, and the depths of the sea were 
investigated. The ingenious investigator, who was 
always full of new ideas, had neither time nor pa- 
tience for the sifting and arrangement of the extreme- 
ly rich material: his son and successor undertook this 
task. As an administrator, Alexander Agassiz may 
be equalled only by a few; as a naturalist, he belongs, 
as his father did, to the first names of America. A 
large fortune, acquired in the copper-mines of Calu- 
met and Hecla, near Lake Superior, makes it also pos- 
sible for him to promote the interests of the museum 
financially. To him it must be attributed, that the 
museum has been entirely withdrawn from the influ- 
ence of an often-changing government, and has been 
transferred to Harvard university. 
In the well-lighted basement of the museum there 
are eight rooms assigned to the collections in alcohol, 
which consist not only of lower animals and fishes, 
but also of numerous mammals, birds, and reptiles in 
metal boxes filled with alcohol. A seawater aqua- 
rium, a room for the preservation of living animals, 
and various other storerooms, occupy the rest of the 
basement. 
On the first floor, there are the paleontological and 
geological collections, together with the necessary 
laboratories and lecture-rooms. ‘The parts of the col- 
lection devoted to scientific investigations are sepa- 
rated from the collections for the show-cases proper; 
and in those, only a comparatively small selection of 
objects is exhibied. The second floor contains the 
rooms of the curator, a rich library, laboratories for 
SCIENCE. 
195 
anatomical and physiological investigations, and 
other workrooms for more advanced students and 
specialists. Besides the rooms already mentioned, 
there is on each floor a so-called synoptic room, 
through which every visitor of the museum has first 
to pass. A small but well-selected collection gives 
here a general view of the most important repre- 
sentatives from all classes of the animal kingdom. 
Large inscriptions on the walls and on the cases make 
it easier to find one’s way. All the specimens are 
accurately labelled. Dissected preparations explain 
the anatomical structure of crabs, insects, echini, 
starfishes, etc. The synoptic room for zodlogy may 
well be called a model of a collection for purposes of 
instruction. A similar collection for geology and 
paleontology is in preparation. 
While the two lower floors are chiefly devoted to 
purposes of instruction, the specialist will find in the 
three upper stories abundant material for his inves- 
tigations. The third floor contains a zodélogical col- 
lection accessible to the public. In five halls all the 
more important species and varieties are exhibited in 
systematic order, and not crowded together. For the 
vertebrates the stuffed skins, as well as the skeletons. 
are given. — . 
The zodgeographical collection is a specialty of 
the Cambridge museum. In two well-lighted halls 
one finds the whole fauna of America. The typical 
specimens of the animal kingdom of Africa, of India, 
of Europe and Siberia, and of Australia, are repre- 
sented in their respective rooms. <A special hall has 
been reserved for the inhabitants of the ocean; and 
here it is intended to place the rich treasures acquired 
by the investigations of the depths of the American 
seas. Most probably several years will pass by before 
the arrangement of this extremely interesting divis- 
ion of the museum will be finished,—a collection 
which will be unique in its way. 
In the two highest stories the large and strictly 
systematic main collection of geology is stored in 
simple but appropriate cases with glassdoors. Thou- 
sands of skins of mammals and birds are stored up 
in drawers. The lower animals are deposited in a 
similar manner. Every case and every drawer bears 
a label showing its contents. In many departments 
Cambridge is said to be even ahead of the British 
museum. Excellent methods of preparation have 
been applied with fishes and reptiles. The collection 
of insects, under the direction of the German ento- 
mologist, Dr. Hagen, excels by reason of its abun- 
dance of beautiful preparations, showing the whole 
development of the more important species and va- 
rieties. , 
By a mere hasty visit to the exhibition-rooms no 
one will get an idea of the magnificence of the Museum 
of comparative zodlogy. Neither the building, nor 
the rooms inside, nor the exhibited objects, will make 
an especially imposing impression. But the strong 
point of this institution lies in the peculiar arrange- 
ment of the collection for the public, and in the strict 
separation of the large material for scientific inves- 
tigations. By the constant development of science, 
by the improved accessibility of distant continents 
