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Forty-second Annual Report on the 



thus become the most tangible and reliable record, not only of 

 the investigations made, but always remain as authentic sources 

 of information for all future work in the same direction. 



Every specimen, therefore, which passes under investigation, 

 becomes a part of the record which it is the function of the 

 Museum to preserve. 



In my own view of the matter there should always be a 

 careful distinction made between collections which are the results 

 of simple accumulation, and of those which are the results of 

 investigation. The one are at all times procurable for money, but 

 the other can only come from patient, continued labor guided by 

 the scientific spirit. Such collections can never be duplicated for 

 any price, and they become of constantly increasing value and 

 importance. This distinction is not always nor indeed often 

 made, and the catalogue showing the largest number of specimens 

 in a museum collection is regarded as evidence of its superiority or 

 of its activity in scientific work, while in fact, another collection 

 of half the number of specimens may be of ten times the value 

 to science and for scientific progress; and scientific progress 

 means education of the higher order. 



From the nature of the case there will always be a limit to 

 scientific collections proper, while there need be none to element- 

 ary and heterogeneous accumulations, which may have neither 

 scientific nor educational value ; provided that the money resources 

 and the capacity of an institution are sufficient to fulfill the demand 

 for such purchases. Every museum, however, should be carried 

 on with a purpose, and for the accomplishment of some specific 

 object. The institutions for the diffusion of knowledge are many ; 

 those organized for the discovery of new truths or the creation of 

 new knowledge are few. 



The plan of the New York State Museum, as originally set 

 forth in a recommendation of the standing committee on the State 

 Museum and adopted by the Board of Kegents in 1865, shows 

 very clearly their views regarding such an organization, and it 

 may not be inopportune to repeat it in this place. 



On the 24th day of April, 1865, the Senate and Assembly 

 adopted the following resolution : 



"Whereas, The collections in geology, mineralogy and other 

 departments of natural history, made by the geological survey of the 

 State, were committed to the charge of the Kegents of the University 



