90 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 4 



In general, the most hopeful possibilities for improving the distri- 

 bution of information lie in the direction of increasing the numbers 

 and improving the training of the informational middleman. 



The public lecture. — ^The philanthropic lecture as now employed 

 is extremely wasteful and inefficient. Lack of cooperation between 

 small organizations frequently causes duplication of a lecture in the 

 same city, both times to small audiences. An invited lecturer will 

 travel long distances over the same railroad to neighboring cities, 

 to an extent that would astonish a Keith-circuit organizer. We 

 can improve this situation by ourselves insisting on the principles 

 that the original investigator, when asked to present his work, be 

 given an opportunity to reach as wide a circle of interested persons 

 as possible; and that after he has thus presented it he be relieved 

 from duty as a mere entertainer, unless he enjoys lecturing and does 

 it for recreation or training. 



The presentation of information at general meetings of the scien- 

 tific societies is capable of improvement in many ways, and has 

 been the subject of considerable experimentation, but I shall not 

 attempt its discussion here. 



A recent development which may be of great significance is the 

 distribution of public lectures by wireless telephony. 



The museum and exhibition. — I have already referred to the evolu- 

 tion of the modern museum in the direction of becoming much more 

 of a diffusing agency, and less of a collecting, examining, and storing 

 agency. This work will doubtless be extended by the loaning of 

 exhibits and the formation of traveling exhibits. The museum is 

 already combining other agencies, such as lectures, printed bulletins, 

 and moving pictures, with its own particular method of distribution 

 and this expansion may also be expected to continue. It has not 

 yet, as far as I know, seriously attempted to combine with itself 

 anything resembling what I have called the "informational middleman" 

 for the personal retailing of information, except occasionally in con- 

 nection with special exhibits. This is a development which we may 

 expect in the future. 



Books. — ^The best way to get information on an unfamiliar subject 

 is by a personal interview with somebody who knows, and the next 

 best is to go to the encyclopedia. In either case, one is likely to 

 strike a trail which leads to a specialized book on the subject. If 

 it is a book made and sold for profit, the course is clear. But if the 



