42 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



course might be followed by one upon some special group of insects, or 

 by one upon insects affecting a particular industry. A student who had 

 taken such courses could on their completion readily find a position 

 in some other museum or in a governmental station; and surely this 

 would prove a better method of training systematists than the present 

 way of acting as an assistant in a museum, for the work would be defi- 

 nitely planned from the start. Similar courses might be offered in 

 mammalogy, ornithology and piscology, and in geology and paleontol- 

 ogy, for all these subjects require large collections. Forestry might also 

 be included in part. Without doubt universities would be glad to co- 

 operate in such work, by advising students to attend such courses, and 

 by crediting the work towards academic degrees. 



This would be a new expansion, but logically a part of the work of 

 museums, more important than public exhibition collections and far 

 more important than vicarious evening lectures; though these evening 

 lectures might be rearranged so as to compose a part of the courses. 

 How important the matter is may be seen in the fact that the U. S. 

 National Bureau of Entomology employs some 300 men, and finds it 

 has to train most of them for the work; they would most gladly have 

 other institutions undertake this training. The universities are at- 

 tempting to present such courses, but they are greatly handicapped by 

 the lack of suitable collections and of systematic entomologists. A uni- 

 versity department of biology has to give courses, and direct research 

 work, in histology, anatomy, embryology, physiology, animal behavior, 

 inheritance and other analytical subjects, all of laboratory nature that 

 require apparatus and living material rather than collections; it is too 

 much to require that they should also present the taxonomic subjects. 

 We should not attempt in an inland university to maintain large salt- 

 water aquaria, but go to a marine laboratory for the sea organisms; 

 and unless there is much ground around a laboratory, we do not attempt 

 experimental breeding in a large scale, but go to some experiment sta- 

 tion. Equally when a subject requires large taxonomic collections we 

 and our students should go to a museum for them, and not try to amass 

 other collections. 



Since this was written I have learned that the Chicago Academy of 

 Sciences now presents teaching courses which receive credit from uni- 

 versities. This seems to me to be one of the most promising fields of 

 expansion of the usefulness of a museum. It would bring about a 

 serviceable cooperation with other institutions, and thereby result in 

 economy of expenditure and effort. 



The second enlargement of the museum's service is increased re- 

 search. Certain museums have been most prominent in research, as 

 the British Museum which has surpassed the universities of its land. 

 But few others approach this museum in this respect. To my mind a 



