386 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



December 7, 1912. 



The purpose of a museum, as regards a large 

 proportion of its visitors, is to suggest new activities of 

 the mind, and to awaken curiosity. This is why it 

 should be housed in a conspicuous building easily 

 accessible to the public, and why its contents should 

 be arranged as attractively as possible. In this way, it 

 will be enabled to serve as a means of increasing 

 interest in local products, and what is ultimately more 

 important, of bringing about a desire for instruction in 

 useful subjects. Attention to these circumstances will 

 also make it more efficient as a direct means for educa- 

 tion, and if it is to serve well in this capacity, its 

 equipment must include printed guides to the different 

 sections, together with such pamphlets as can be pre- 

 pared for the purpose of elaborating the information 

 given on the labels belonging to the exhibits. 



A use of the museum that is often forgotten is to 

 provide a place for the safe keeping and exhibition of 

 rare and valuable objects belonging to private 

 individuals. In a museum building that is properly 

 constructed and managed, such articles are in much less 

 danger iiom fire and theft than when they are kept in 

 dwelling-houses: and are available for the pleasure and 

 instruction of the many, rather than the very few. 

 Caution has to be exercised, however, by those who are 

 responsible for the reception and disposal of such 

 articles, lest space in the museum should come to be 

 taken up largely by things that are merely objects of 

 curiosity. 



Correlation of the material in a museum is a most 

 important matter — making at once for the liveliest 

 arousal of interest and the largest educational value. 

 This correlation should always be natural rather than 

 artificial, and objective better than subjective; it 

 may be expressed simpl}- by saying that an article for 

 exhibition and study should be brought into associa- 

 tion with other objects of the same nature, as far as 

 possible in surroundings that belong to its normal 

 environment, rather than be used simply to illustrate 

 some 'subject' in an educational curriculum. In many 

 large mu.seums much labour and expenditure are 

 employed toward reproducing natundly the conditions 

 that surround a group of objects, in nature; where such 

 means are not available, much can be done by provid- 

 ing printed descriptions and pictures of the necessary 

 scenes, countries or other details of nature. 



arrangement of the exhibits and the preparation of the 

 labels and descriptive matter are among the chief 

 duties of such persons, and their si)ecial knowledge 

 and interest are available for making the institution as 

 useful as possible, and for keeping it in a condition of 

 activity. In the West Indies, where the most general 

 concerns are agricultural, much assistance can be, and 

 is, given in museum and exhibition work by those who 

 have charge of the botanic and experiment stations in 

 the different islands. These officers, as well as those 

 more directly employed in educational pursuits, should 

 find their woi^k simplified in places where an efficiens 

 museum exists, and the possession of such an institu- 

 tion should make easier the organization of that njosfc 

 useful means of instruction — the school museum. 



Models of objects of interest or learning will always 

 find a place in museums, partly because they constitute 

 a way of representing things that it is not easy or 

 possible to acquire, and because ihey may be made on 

 a scale magnifying the original, and thus form a means 

 of simplifying study. Pictures and maps, and a library 

 of books chosen carefully in relation to local needs and 

 to the contents of the museum, are also necessary. 

 Where funds are available, it is of the greatest use as 

 well to keep a supply of printed reproductions of photo- 

 graphs of the more commonly consulted objects or 

 groups, so that they may be distributed to those 

 needing them, and particularly for employment in 

 schools. A useful extension, again, in this direction, is 

 the provision of lantern slides for the use of lecturers 

 and teachers; in the case of large museums, even 

 moving pictures are available for responsible use where 

 they are required. Matter to be lent for educational 

 purposes should also include eases of specimens prepared 

 in such a way as to make them most useful with the least 

 fear of damage. Lastly, public museums should possess 

 one or more lecture halls that may be available for 

 meetings and demonstrations. 



The nature of the material collected for museums 

 necessitates that some of this cannot be exposed 

 without suffering damage, and has to be stored in 

 special ways, out of sight. Articles of this kind should 

 never be refused on that account, but should be kept as 

 carefully as those that are exhibited, .so that they may 

 be always available in a fit state for examination and 

 research. 



The most .successful museums are those in which Where it is intended to organize a museum, those 



the members of scientific staffs (not necessarily belong- who have the work to do should not be discouraged 



ing to the museum), or .specialists, are available to becau.se they have little material to exhibit at first, 



take an active part in the direction of the work. The A beginning may well be made in connexion with an 



