ADDRESS OF DR. J. B. HOLDER. 
49 
her nest, or kill the father as he is bringing a mouthfnl of food 
for the little ones, oh ! then, deep wonld be the regret that I 
ever wrote them.” 
The relations of the art of taxidermy to mnseums of natural 
history are of the greatest importance. While formerly museum 
collections languished as poorly sustained, now, through the 
great advance of the art and its contributions of tasteful and 
natural material, much more interest is^ awakened and exercised. 
Heretofore the fishes, reptiles, birds, and beasts were so many 
stuffed horrors, too absurdly prepared for any one’s pleasure, 
save the enthusiastic student, to whom even the olla podrida of 
the old-time museums were 'wholesome pahulum. 
But it was not in the nature of things that persons of taste 
and fair judgment in what relates to form or color could inspect 
with pleasure the specimens of the olden time. What a change 
has come about ! In the old country we hear of the great mass 
of objects, numbering among them very many of the specimens 
that have been described to us in years past — have been pictured 
to us in primers and reading books. We hear now of these 
old historic things being taken out into the fresh air and beaten 
of the dust of a century, some to be cast away, others to play the 
part of duplicates for the student’s use, while the better parts are 
placed in the great storehouse at Kensington, where new archi- 
tecture and new art prevail. Many a rarity or many an object, 
become invaluable through historic associations, will be cherished 
as before, but the new art will prevail. So with the collections 
of Jardin des Plantes, so at Hamburg, so at Berlin. 
In our own country, fortunately, our museums are too nearly 
contemporaneous with the better art not to very considerably 
profit by its excellencies. The Smithsonian, Agassiz, the Museum 
in Central Park, and some private cabinets, or those connected 
with colleges, all have their pet pieces of taxidermy, as well as 
the pet “ new species,” which formerly so claimed the affections 
of the naturalist. The old museums of natural history failed 
to hold the interest of the public. In our own time, even, some of 
the largest of them have had their uncertain fortune. In some 
towns of eastern Hew England local societies have risen, faltered, 
and died more than once during the short period of half a century. 
