24. INSTITUTES, MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES 



This section contains an enumeration of all the places where research (as dis- 

 tinguished from plain teaching) is carried on. The words museums and libraries 

 need no definition, except to say that the only museums and libraries dealt with are 

 those relative to the history of science or technology. The term institute is vaguer 

 and it has often been abused. In European universities, an institute for this or 

 that, often means no more than that a room or two have been set apart in one of the 

 academic buildings for Dr. So-and-So, who studies or/and teaches the history of 

 science. Those rooms may contain a small library and are eventually used for 

 lectures, conferences or seminars. The rooms which I occupy in Widener ( 185- 

 189) house what is perhaps the richest collection of pamphlets and archives on 

 the subject; they have often been used for discussions, conferences, seminars; they 

 are the publication center of Isis, yet it has never occurred to me to call them 

 "Institute." A good many so-called institutes are far less important, but we do not 

 wish to go into that. 



Ambiguities of the same kind concern the libraries and museums. A list of spe- 

 cial libraries of whichever kind might include all the largest general libraries as 

 well, say, all the libraries of over a million volumes. Those immense libraries 

 often contain more items on any special subject than the libraries exclusively de- 

 voted to that subject; these items, however, are not assembled but are scattered and 

 may be very difficult to consult and to collate. There is no need of enumerating 

 the largest general libraries, each scholar knows those which are available to him. 



In a similar way, every large museum of antiquities contains a number of sci- 

 entific objects: celestial and terrestrial globes, quadrants, astrolabes, weights and 

 measures, scales, instruments conceived for various kinds of observation or measure- 

 ment, or for teaching and demonstration; physical, astronomical, mathematical, 

 chemical and surgical instruments, pharmaceutical pots and vases, all kinds of 

 tools.'"* Every large museum has more than enough of such items to devote 

 (if it chose to do so) one or two halls to the history of science, either local, 

 regional or international. 



Similar remarks might be made apropos of the War Museums, established in 

 many cities. These Museums always contain a number of exhibits illustrating sci- 

 entific or technical aspects of warfare. These exhibits might be included in a 

 museum on the history of science and technology, but it is perhaps better to leave 

 them where they are. 



Museums of natural history also contain a number of objects of historical interest, 

 objects illustrating investigations or explorations of the past, or objects which were 

 wrongly labelled in the light of ancient knowledge and have become as it were 

 witnesses of that knowledge. We cannot enumerate the "potential" collections in- 

 cluded and "lost" in the larger collections, nor can we hope to enumerate all the 

 collections, small or large, devoted to our studies. Our enumeration, however, will 

 be sufficient to show what has been done and what is already available to students, 

 and also to suggest what might be done in many places where all that is needed 

 is a modicum of initiative, intelligence, and perseverance; the objects are there, 

 waiting to be gathered and to be put in order. 



Every scientific museum or library of sufficient size is potentially an institute for 

 the history of science, even if it has not yet been exploited for that purpose, and if 

 the curators are obliged to devote all of their time and energy to the proper 

 registration, classification, and exhibition of the items intrusted to their care. Sooner 

 or later, those museums and fibraries will be fully used, and if they be kept in 

 good order, they can be used profitably at any time by any competent person. 



^^ Scientific objects of various kinds are particularly abundant in cities where universities or 

 other colleges, academies and scientific societies are (or were) located. 



