Transcribe Notice of the Ward cabinets...the University of Rochester (1863)

                                       OPINIONS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN.                                           27

It will doubtless be resorted to by American geologists for settling the lithological characters of our formations. But it is the fossils in this Cabinet which will attract the most attention, and they are truly magnificent. As an exhibition of the forms of animal and vegetable life in the different formations from the bottom to the top of the series, I have seen no Cabinet in this country equal to this. The collection of Ammonites seems to me to be almost unequalled anywhere in the world; the Trilobites, Encrinites and Corals are in rich abundance; the Echinoderms, Crustaceans and Fishes are numerous; and the gigantic reptile and mammals of the secondary and more recent periods are largely represented. The shells or mollusks of all the formations are shown in almost countless numbers; so that, upon the whole, I have not seen any collection of fossils in the country so well adapted for educational purposes, and for enlightening the public generally as to the wonders of Geology." * * * * "I confess myself quite amazed that a work so gigantic should have been accomplished by one so young, and in so few years. Usually such results have only been reached by life-long efforts. I cannot, therefore, but regard Prof. Ward's extraordinary success as due to remarkable qualifications for the work, and the most untiring industry. When looking at this collection, which no Naturalist would regard as worth less than $30,000, one feels almost instinctively that it ought to be placed in a fire-proof building, do, if destroyed, money cannot replace it."

Prof. James Hall, of Albany, the well-known Paleontologist, wrote as follows concerning the Cabinet, to Prod. Dewey, of Rochester:

"I am very glad that I availed myself of a few hours in Rochester to see the collection of Mr. Ward. I never could have conceived it possible, had I not seen it, that he could have got together such a collection. It is not only enormous in extent, but is well and carefully selected, presenting no class of objects or department in excess. In this respect I conceive it has great merit. I understand that his great object has been to make a collection for educational purposes - for teaching the sciences of Geology and Mineralogy, with the means of reference to the authentic types or species known in the books upon these sciences. In this respect he has succeed most admirably. I believe I know pretty well the collections in the principal institutions of learning in this country, and no one of them has anything like such a collection as