, 1876-11-04

at Harvard contained m infinitely smaller
number Of specimens than the Snohomish
AthcnGum possesses ut the present mo-
ment And at that time, also, that mag
niticcnt collection Of Prof Marshs which
Prof. Huxley, in his recent visit to
America, pronounced the grandest in the
world, did not contain IL solitary spccl.
men. Now each of the institutions nan,
cd above, owns II nobler building than cnn
be found in Wash. Ter. Why then so
much scientific dcstitution in New York
Because scientific institutions do not
thrive in the maclstroms OF large cities.
Harvard Yale, Dartmouth, Ann Arbor,
(Nlicmgan University) Burkley, (Calfor-
nia) Cambridge, Oxford and Greenwich.
(EnghnD owe their success to the fact
Of being located away from large cities as
much as to any thing else. Students
need quiet. Investigation cannot be
successful IN II hubbub. Specimens have
to be garnered and then often, years of
investigation and comparison are consum-
ed before they can be classified. Not one
In ten thousand can name, chronograph
and classify ecery specimen brought with
out comparative study or consultation Of
standard works. These things require
room as well rs time In museum OF
curioSities, kept tolook at, admittence so
much per capita, articles can lie crowded
together, the more jamed the greater it
may drd,c. But in Art galleries and halls
OF science, every specimen must have
ROOM so it can be exhibited in its most
favorable light; that it may he carefully
studied without handling and being de-
stroyed by abrasion. They cannot be
stored like merchants goods, by chucking
them in boxes, under counters, and piling
them promiscuousIy upon shelves or in
showcases. In founding such institution
then, IN eye should be cast into the future,
for like infants, they grow. But ulike
infants their growth cannot be regularly
estimated. They are liable to expand
suddenly, and bound forward from youth
to vigorous manhood at a single leap.
Besides, they never die, hut are alwys
growing, often slowly, some times rapid
ly. Therefore the casket should be rery
muc6 LaiYcr than the present size of the
jewel. Want of room has rctarda.l-..-''"'
growth of the spianti@o department OF
-tue' atnenGum for the last eighteen
months. Our system otexchanges with sis.
ter societies and friends OF science making
private collections of their own, once
well inaugerated, has had to bo dscon-
tinued. Many valuable specimens of
Natural History, cannot be mounted, and
will be injured ifnot destroyed on ac-
count. of paucity ofaccomodations. Let
as then give the museum in our new
building plenty of room, and not com
nit the blunder made in building our
district school house, which before it was
completed fully, was found to be too
small to accommodate the rapidly increas-
ing school. The AthenGum building, to
the unimtiated, looks as though greater
than our wants demand. I, for one, would
rather have seen the whole lot covered,
than to seeit any less, Many may no tsee
it, but if is properly managed, it will
become the nucleus Of a great education
nj establishment, with broad banyun arms
reaching to all quarters of the heavens,
its roots deep in the foundations of the
earth, drawing nourishment, sunlight
and intellectual life and storing them for
the generations who follow after us.