Annual report of the trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, at Harvard College, in Cambridge : together with the report of the director, 1865.

  • Museum of Comparative Zoology
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, at Harvard College, in Cambridge : together with the report of the director, 1865. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    continents. The attendance to these courses has been quite regular, and lias shown a marked increase over former courses. The^arrangement of the specimens on exhibition has been slightly changed; to make room for the mounted specimens of mammals and birds sent by the Jardin des Plantes, the fossil reptiles have been removed to the galleries, and their place filled with stuffed specimens. The collection of insects has been packed away, as, owing to their exposure to light, they were rapidly fading, and hereafter only a small typical collection of specimens which can easily be replaced will be left on exhibition. The beginning of an ethnological collection, principally brought ■together from California and the Cape of Good Hope, has been placed in one of the ca^es by Mr. Glen, to call attention to this department, which is still in an imperfect condition. It is to be regretted that the number of exhibition rooms is not large enough to enable us to follow the plan originally laid out for the arrangement of the specimens; this must be postponed until additional room is supplied ; the Museum tlnis loses much of its instructiveness, and this defect will become greater each year. The want of room may even compel us to place in the exhibition rooms specimens not properly prepared, simply on account of the accumulations in the work-rooms, which occupy so much of the space needed to take care of and handle new invoices. A general collection, intended for lec- turing purposes, has been partially placed in the gallery of the lecture-room. I would call the attention of the trustees to tlie unsafe condition of the cellar for storing the alcoholic collec- tions. Owing to its dampness, the kegs in which the great bulk of the collection is packed become unfit for use in about three years. It requires constant watching to renew the leaky ones, and it is impossible to avoid occasional loss of specimens. The earthen jars and copper tanks thus far employed, with which it is intended eventually to replace the kegs, are found to work admirably, but the use of such jars would require a considerable outlay at first, and we are not yet able even to store new additions in them, although in course of time this would be the most economical mode of packing our alcoholic collections.
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