We embrace this opportunity to extend pubiic thanks to those 
who have aided in the work here represented. To Prof. L. E. Hicks 
for a valuable collection of New England plants collected by A. R. 
Crandall. To Prof. W. H. Johnson for a fine suite of fresh-water 
vertebrates, mostly fishes, from the Ohio river. To Mr. Geo.'W. 
Spellman for a collection of Trenton fossils from Southern Wisconsin. 
To Mr. J. A. Smith for a collection of about fifty plants from Mercer’s 
Bottom, West Virginia. To numerous scientific societies and individ- 
uals who have added to our library. To all who, by word of cheer or 
pecuniary aid, have encouraged the project of enlarging the scope and 
increasing the efficiency of the scientific departments. 
We present herewith an elevation and diagrams of a building in- 
tended to accommodate the scientific departments of one of the smaller 
colleges. The plan was suggested by the departments and has been 
elaborated by the Messrs. Richards, architects, of Newark, O. The 
design was to comfortably house and provide for such an outfit as 
would best subserve the requirements of a modern college with less 
than five hundred students. At the same time, the building is so ar- 
ranged that, by the removal of a few slight partitions, it is easily 
adapted to the sole use of the departments of Geology and Biology, 
and the necessary museums and laboratories. The following advan- 
tages incident to this plan should be noted. The space is rigorously 
economized. The museum is essentially distinct from the laboratories 
and class-rooms, yet is closely united to both, as well as convenient to 
the entrance. In this way the museum may be rendered fireproof 
without fire-proofing the entire building. The class-room of geology 
is so arranged that, by removing iron shutters which move on weights 
the gallery of the museum is instantly brought within the view of the 
entire room, thus enabling the instructor to point out the various geo- 
logical periods as illustrated by the charts and cabinets without dis- 
turbing the recitation. A door leads from the geological class-room 
to the gallery and from the preparator’s room to the first floor of the 
museum. The single large lecture room is equally eligible to both de- 
partments and is of the amphitheater style so much in vogue abroad. 
There are approaches from wdthout, as well as from the hall, so that 
