204 
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 
THE WORK OF THE NEW YORK 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
THe Zoological Society has per- 
formed an important service for the 
city of New York by the establishment | 
and conduct of a Zoological Park and | 
later by taking charge of the Aqua- | 
rium. The relations of the society to 
the city are similar to those of the 
trustees of the American Museum of 
Natural History, of the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art and the Botanical Gar- 
den, but are somewhat unusual. In 
each case the city provides the build- 
ings and the cost of maintenance, while 
a private corporation supplies the col- 
lections and is responsible for the con- 
duct of the imstitution. The plan 
appears to have worked very well, as 
each institution has had a strong or- | 
ganization, free from any political 
. . ange | 
control, but effective in obtaining large > 
appropriations from the city and con- 
siderable private gifts. 
The fourteenth annual report of the 
Zoological Society lays emphasis on 
increasing the scientific work done both 
CRS eantany 

at the park and the aquarium. The 
institutions have been extremely suc- 
cessful in gathering and maintaining 
large collections of animals and inter- 
esting the public in them; but they 
have not as yet been able to undertake 
research work comparable in value. 
The director of the aquarium writes in 
his report, “The small aquarium at 
Naples has made Naples famous.” It 
is not, however, the exhibition tanks, 
but the research work and publications 
of the station which have added to the 
fame of Naples. The entertainment 
and instruction of the public is an im- 
portant function for the city to under- 
take, and the money devoted to these 
_purposes at the Zoological Park and 
the Aquarium is well spent. But 
money used for research is not spent 
at all; it is invested for the perma- 
nent benefit of all the people. Zoolog- 
ical gardens have hitherto emphasized 
scientific work less than have botan- 
ical gardens, but there are problems of 
comparative psychology and compara- 
tive pathology to which collections of 

THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING OF THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL Society. 
