1870.] 



SENATE— No. 170. 



5 



acknowledged centres of scientific progress. Nor is this all. 

 Men of high scientific standing in Europe are tempted to come 

 and join us on the moderate salaries we are able to give, for the 

 pleasure of working up collections in some respects more com- 

 plete and more interesting to the student than any now exist- 

 ing. In this connection, I may add that I have secured, for a 

 couple of years at least, the assistance of Doctor Steindachner, 

 of Vienna, one of the first ichthyologists now living, to aid 

 me in putting up our immense collection of fishes. Dr. Maack 

 is another accession of the past year. He is making rapid prog- 

 ress in bringing our collection of fossil Vertebrates into order, 

 in anticipation of the time when an increase of our building 

 will enable us to display it to the public. 



When our building was first put up, ten years ago, it was 

 thought sufiicient, and I myself then deemed it large enough, 

 for the needs of the establishment. But so great has been the 

 increase of our collections since that time that at this moment 

 the Museum overflows from garret to cellar ; there is hardly 

 room to move between the boxes, barrels and temporary shelves 

 put up for the accommodation of specimens, and with the utmost 

 economy of space it is almost impossible for our daily increasing 

 number of workers to proceed with their labors. Indeed, many 

 most important and interesting features of the Museum must 

 be ignored till we have more room ; as, for instance, the large 

 and perfectly unique collection of palms and tree ferns, with 

 flowers and fruits preserved in alcohol, one of the most valuable 

 results of the Thayer Expedition. This last collection has great 

 importance in a museum like ours, intended especially for stu- 

 dents and for educational purposes, because it illustrates, as no 

 diagram can do, the ancient vegetation of our earth, and has a 

 direct bearing on its geological and palaeontological history. I 

 had engaged Mr. Lesquereux, one of the few men in this coun- 

 try capable of arranging such a collection systematically, with 

 reference both to its botanical and palseontological value ; but 

 on seeing the collection he declined to unpack it, before there 

 was space enough to spread the whole out without danger of 

 mixing or confounding the specimens ; saying that as such a 

 collection would probably not be made again, we should be un- 

 wise to endanger it by our impatience to display it and bring it 

 into use. 



