THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



569 



great value are exhibited — most of 

 them are as a matter of fact stored out 

 of view — in inflammable sheds. The 

 secretary makes a comparison with the 

 American Museum of Natural History 

 in New York City, which shows that 

 while the nimiber of specimens in the 

 National Museum is more than double 

 the number in the American Museum, 

 the space of the American Museum is 

 ten times as great as that of the Na- 

 tional Museum, and the cost of the 

 buildings was also ten times as great. 

 If New York City spends $4,000,000 on 

 its museum buildings, it seems strange 

 that the general government can not 

 do at least as much. Our national 

 government has been extremely liberal 

 in its appropriation for scientific pur- 

 poses, surpassing in this respect other 

 governments, but for some reason — 

 probably by mere accident — -the mu- 

 seum has been neglected. Washington 

 is becoming a scientific center, rivaling 

 London, Paris and Berlin, but com- 

 pared with the museums maintained in 

 these cities by the government our 

 national museum is not creditable. 

 The collections though large are not 

 systematic, having resulted from ex- 

 peditions, gifts and the like, while no 

 appropriations have been available to 

 fill in the gaps which always arise 

 when collections are formed by such 

 methods. The curators do not receive 

 adequate salaries; indeed, of the 

 twenty-one curators, twelve serve with- 

 out any salary at all, and the average 

 salary of the others is only about $2,- 

 500. The keepers of the British Mu- 

 seum of Natural History receive 

 salaries of $4,000. It should be only 

 necessary to point out these matters to 

 congress in order that appropriations 

 may be made for the National Museum 

 commensurate with those of foreisTi 

 governments. The difficulty is that 

 there are no members of congress who 

 are scientific men, or who are primarily 

 interested in science, such as are to be 

 found in all foreign legislatures, and 

 there is consequently no one who will 



present to congress the consensus of 

 opinion of scientific men. 



A NEW BRITISH ACADEMY. 

 National Academies had more im- 

 portant functions in the past than they 

 have now. Still the honor of being 

 officially recognized as one of a small 

 body of eminent men may be a stimulus 

 to scientific work, and academies may 

 be among the best existing means of 

 forwarding international relations. 

 Neither in the United States nor in 

 Great Britain has an academy of let- 

 ters arisen. It seems, however, that a 

 British Academy for the promotion of 

 historical, philological and philosoph- 

 ical studies will soon be established by 

 royal charter. The question of such 

 an academy has been discussed in Eng- 

 land since the organization in 1899 of 

 the International Association of Acad- 

 emies. Literary as well as scientific 

 academies are part of this association, 

 and Great Britain can only be repre- 

 sented by the Royal Society. The 

 International Association will hold its 

 next meeting in London in 1904, and 

 the lack of representation of historical 

 and literary studies would thus be 

 emphasized. The question arose as to 

 whether the Royal Society might be en- 

 larged to include students of history, 

 economics, philology, etc., as was 

 apparently intended by the original 

 charter of King Charles II. Many 

 members of the Society favored the 

 plan, but it was rejected by the council. 

 It is probable that the leading English 

 students of the humanities from the 

 scientific side will be permitted to 

 organize themselves into an academy, 

 and that there will hereafter be in 

 Great Britain a new Royal Academy as 

 well as a Royal Society. The National 

 Academy of Sciences was intended to 

 include students of economics, phi- 

 lology and similar sciences, but the few 

 representatives of these sciences have 

 died and no successors have been 

 elected. It seems likely that, unless the 

 National Academy decides to give 



