Annual Meeting.] 506 ^^^^'^ '' 
if we desired to do our part in tlie history of science in New 
England. AVe are essentially a local society and ought to strive 
to do a large share of the local work of investigation. For the 
year past this Society has paid one of its salaries to this investi- 
gator and permitted him to count his purely scientific work in 
the field and in this building as a return for the money paid 
him. The amount expended has been very small and the returns, 
as will be seen by the text of this report, large. So far as I 
know, however, this Society is the first institution of its class in 
this country to grant a salary', even though it be a small one, for 
investigation. 
This is one of the legitimate and direct results of our plan of 
organization. It is natural and entirely appropriate in a scientific 
sense, that, when departments are practically finished, those in 
charge of them should, if they still desire to remain with iis and 
continue their work, take up corresponding departments of in- 
vestigation in the natural history of our own region and conduct 
these for the exploration and exposition of om- flora and fauna, 
as Professor Crosby has done in his work upon the geology of 
eastern Massachusetts. 
I wish I could feel confident that in the years to come there 
would be a salaried investigator in every department of this 
museum, working as Professor Crosby now does in geology. 
My only remaining desire in that case would be, that they might 
be paid in proportion to their deserts and not as now in propor- 
tion to our limited income. 
The first duty of an institution like ours is to provide for 
the safe keeping of the collections committed to its care and to 
exhibit them in proper shape for the instruction of the public. Its 
income may be, as ours at present is, hardly sufficient for these 
practical purposes, but if it has no higher aim its progress will 
necessarily stop with the final reports on each department and its 
museum will speedily fall far behind the perpetually progressing 
standards of other institutions. 
If, on the other hand, it aims to foster and cultivate investi- 
gations, which are appropriate and which naturally follow after 
the practical work of caring for and exhibiting its collections is 
either partially or wholly completed in the different departments, 
