72 



Note C—Page 34. 



The Lyceum of Natural History in this city, was in its origin a 

 private association of young men, who held occasional meetings in 

 one of the lecture rooms of the College of Physicians. Incorpo- 

 rated by an act of the Legislature in 1818, and furnished through 

 the liberality of the Common Council with a suite of apartments 

 in the New- York Insiitution, it has from that period been steadily 

 though silently, increasing in usefulness and respectability. An 

 extensive cabinet has been formed, which at the present moment 

 contains nearly three thousand mineral species and varieties. No 

 collection in this country is so rich in the department of Herpeto- 

 logy and Ichthyology. It contains more than five hundred spe- 

 cies, and must ere long be a place for reference to all who wish 

 to investigate these obscure classes of animals. In addition to the 

 already extensive collections of fossils from various parts of 

 Europe and America, the cabinet contains nearly the entire ske- 

 leton of the Mastodon, and large portions of the only North Ame- 

 rican specimen of the Megatherium hitherto discovered. A new 

 department, that of comparative anatomy, has recently been esta- 

 blished, which already contains many valuable preparations, and 

 a series of skulls, nearly two hundred in number, from the differ- 

 ent classes of the animal kingdom. 



Every eflfort has been made to procure a suitable library, but 

 from the expensive nature of the books required, with very li- 

 mited success. It now contains about six hundred volumes, 

 and the funds of the Military Philosophical Society have been 

 generously presented by the members of that institution for its 

 further increase. The Lyceum is also under pleasing obligations 

 to Col. George Gibbs and Dr. David Hosack of this city, and to 

 B. Dearborn, Esq. of Boston, for many valuable additions to 

 the library ; and the hope is indulged that its still limited extent 

 needs only be known, to be remedied by the public spirit and li- 

 berality of our fellow townsmen. 



For some time past, a naturalist has been employed in travel- 

 ling through the country and exploring its various natural pro- 



