48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Catharine L. Howard Memorial Library, which is placed in a 

 room at the left of the entrance hall, is a valuable aid in the work of 

 the institution and is an efficient factor in encouraging study and re- 

 search. It contains about six hundred standard reference volumes in 

 the different branches of natural history. Geology is represented by 

 the latest editions of Geikie, Dana, Lyell, Sedgwick, Le Conte, Lap- 

 parent and Credner, monographs on local geology, Dana's 'System of 

 Mineralogy,' Williams' 'Crystallography' and Zittel's 'Paleontology.' 

 Students of l)otany will find among other books the 'Natural History 

 of Plants,' by Kerner and Oliver; Britton, Gray and Sargent. 

 Zoologists will find Scudder on butterflies, 'Das Tierreich,' 'Cambridge 

 Eo3^al Natural History,' Woodward on the mollusca and authorities of 

 like standing in all lines of the study of animal forms. The library is 

 furnished after the fashion of a private room and provided with facili- 

 ties for quiet reading. All books are accessible to readers, but none may 

 be taken away. 



By reason of the simplicity of the museum building, tlie excellence 

 of the cases and careful installation of the collections at the outset, the 

 work of administration has been conducted at very slight expense and 

 with a small staff of attendants, and much time has been given to the 

 active educational work of the museum. Constant effort is made to 

 enlist volunteer assistants in the various lines of activity and to awaken 

 popular interest in the different phases of natural history. The open 

 hours are from two to six o'clock during the summer season and from 

 one to five o'clock in the winter, but tlie collections are practically ac- 

 cessible at any hour of the da}^ Various devices are employed to make 

 the room attractive and clieerful. The main hall is decorated by trop- 

 ical plants, as palm, sago and century plants, in themselves an interest- 

 ing study. 



An especial effort has been made to bring the museum into close 

 and helpful relations with the public schools. Out of duplicate material, 

 collections illustrative of geolog}'", mineralogy and lithology have been 

 prepared and placed in various scliools in the city and in near-by towns, 

 where they have done good service in the branches of nature study un- 

 dertaken by the teachers. Within the past year arrangements have been 

 made with the school authorities whereby pupils arc brought to the 

 museum in charge of instructors and in groups of such size that the 

 greatest advantage may be gained. It is an interesting sight to see eager 

 children gathered around a case or about a table of specimens, intent 

 on the explanations and busy with pencil and note-book. While the 

 scheme of museum visitation has not yet been thoroughly systematized, 

 there is a steady growth in attendance, interest and results. During the 

 year 1901-02, sixty-six classes, accompanied by teachers, visited the 

 collections, with a total attendance of eight hundred and sixty-three. 



