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The attention of the Commissioners is invited at the 
outset to the scientific and educational character of the 
plan of the Natural History Gardens. The three divisions 
of this department of the Society’s work, when regarded 
as a whole, form a connected series of exhibitions which 
will, it is hoped, illustrate more completely than has ever 
been done before the relations of organisms to the four 
great regions of their distribution, — the sea, the fresh 
water, the land, and the air. The principle underlying 
the whole, and to which each part, however small, has 
been made to contribute, is the illustration of the rela- 
tions of plants and animals to their surroundings. The 
Council believes that a full exposition of the laws gov- 
erning these correlations is the fittest use they can make 
of the opportunities offered by the Commissioners, and 
the most valuable contribution which they and the Com- 
missioners acting together can bring to the cause of 
public education. 
I. Marine Aquarium. 
In the maps of the proposed Marine Park the lands and 
ponds assigned for the use of the Society are admirably 
suited for the purposes of a large aquarial garden ; and 
the Council desires to express its satisfaction with these 
indications of the intentions of the Commissioners, for 
they confirm the Council in the opinion that it will be 
practicable to found a Marine Aquarium at this place 
which will be of unique excellence as an instrument of 
popular interest and education. 
1. A collection of living organisms arranged and ex- 
hibited for the illustration of natural laws has a fuller 
effect, if the minds of the students and visitors have been 
prepared by previous study; or, in place of this, if they 
have at hand a brief explanation of the general structure 
