MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



13 



of scientific publications annually issued, the funds at the disposal 

 of the University Library are totally inadequate to purchase the 

 books wanted for each branch of the Museum. To this should 

 be added the building and maintenance of a Marine Laboratory, 

 which is as important an adjunct to the Natural History Depart- 

 ments of the University as a Physical or a Chemical Laboratory. 



The public to-day can hardly realize the interest that was taken 

 by the Commonwealth and the friends of Professor Agassiz in 

 the establishment of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Nor 

 is it likely that they fully appreciate the part which the Museum 

 has played in the development of the study of Nature at Harvard 

 and elsewhere in this country. 



The Commonwealth came forward most generously, and sus- 

 tained, often under most unpropitious circumstances, the interest 

 it had shown in the Museum. From the treasury of the Com- 

 monwealth no less than 8240,000 has been received at various 

 times, and up to the beginning of 1895 more than $1,580,000 (ex- 

 clusive of income) has been received from all sources, including 

 the State grants, the subscriptions of friends, and the gifts of the 

 family of Professor Agassiz. 



This large sum is represented by the buildings, exclusive of 

 the Botanical and Mineralogical sections ; by the collections and 

 the work expended upon them ; by the Library, and an extensive 

 series of publications (20 quarto volumes of Memoirs and 30 octavo 

 volumes of Bulletins) ; and by an endowment of over S580.000, the 

 income of which is available for the salaries and running expenses 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and its allied departments. 



Soon after the death of Professor Agassiz the Trustees of the 

 Museum deemed it advisable to ask the Legislature to transfer the 

 interest of the State in the Museum to the President and Fellows 

 of Harvard College, who already held pre-eminent rights in some 

 of the funds and collections. This connection with Harvard Uni- 

 versity led to a great increase in the study of Natural History, 

 both in the undergraduate and graduate departments. The Mu- 

 seum itself has always been primarily an institution for research, 

 although its collections and laboratories are to a limited extent 

 available to undergraduates. 



A further concentration of the Natural History departments of 

 the University was effected in 1888-89 by the building of the 

 Botanical and Mineralogical sections, the Geological and Geo- 



