1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 9 



way to secure collections for a museum," a sentiment that we 

 heartily endorse. There is also contained in this report an account 

 of a collecting trip made l>y Mr Dorsey and Mr Allen, the photo- 

 grapher of the Museum, among the Indians of the far west. As a 

 consequence of this, it is believed that the Museum now possesses 

 the most complete existing representation of the North-west coast 

 Indians. Our American cousins, advanced as they are in all 

 branches of museum work, naturally understand the importance to 

 a museum of having its own trained collectors, and the urgent need 

 at the present stage of the earth's history of securing specimens of 

 those zoological and ethnological types which may be extinct before 

 many years have passed. Is it not better to invest money in this 

 way, than to waste it on the purchase of ancient collections and un- 

 authenticated dealers' specimens ? 



An exhibit illustrating the forestry of North America is being- 

 prepared by Mr Millspaugh. Each section of the exhibit comprises 

 a glazed and framed tray, containing a branch, flowers and fruits, 

 and a block of wood from the same tree; a photograph of the tree 

 in summer and the same tree in winter, both from the same point 

 of view ; a seven- foot trunk and transverse section ; a commercial 

 plank ; a two-foot map of North America, coloured to show the 

 distribution of the species ; and a series of ornamental cabinet 

 specimens of the wood. A detailed account of these exhibits and 

 the method of preparing them is given, and will well repay 

 study by curators. We may also recommend to practical museum- 

 workers the account of the exhibit of metallurgical processes, which 

 is arranged on a somewhat novel plan, showing the various stages of 

 the process by means of lines connecting the specimens. 



The report is illustrated by twelve plates, most of them in half- 

 tone. Some of them illustrate practical details, others show some 

 mounted groups. Among the latter we may draw attention to the 

 group of herons and that of the Lesser Koodoo. If our readers 

 inquire how it is that an institution which has none too much 

 money can afford to illustrate its reports in this lavish style, we may 

 explain that the Museum retains the services of a professional photo- 

 grapher, and keeps all the blocks illustrating the publications of the 

 Museum. Most leading museums now have photographers attached to 

 their staff, the exception, as usual, is furnished by our own country. 



In conclusion we should like to ask why it is that reports which 

 come to us from American museums are always interesting to read, 

 in strong contrast to the reports which come from most similar 

 establishments in our own country and in Europe. It would seem 

 that the writing of these reports is a labour of love to the Ameri- 

 cans, while our own curators only do it as a piece of official routine. 

 The consequence is that, in the present Ueport, as an example, the 



