MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 173 



"2. To procure such other specimens as may be desirable for ilKistrating 

 the general principles of science, and the relations of the locality to the rest 

 of the world. 



"3. To receive and preserve local collections or single specimens, having 

 any scientific value, which the possessors may desire to devote to public 

 use. 



'' 4. So to arrange and display specimens collected as to afford the greatest 

 amount of popular instruction consistent with their safe preservation and 

 accessibility as objects of scientific study. 



"5. To render special assistance to local students and teachers of science." 



As a matter of convenience museums may be classed in two general groups, 

 namely, the Art Museum and the Natural History Museum, and as G. Brown 

 Goode states, the difference between the two is "based on methods of ar- 

 rangement, rather than upon the nature of the objects to be arranged."* 

 The Natural History Museum, which is the one in which we are particularly 

 interested, concerns itself with the sciences of geology, botany, zoology and 

 kindred subjects. In regard to natural history objects, "not only do they 

 require special methods of preservation, but very often their value as museum 

 specimens depends entirely upon the skill, labor, patience and knowledge 

 expended upon them."^ 



There are two classes of people with which the museum comes in contact, 

 namely the general public and the student. To meet the demands of these 

 two classes the collections in a Natural History Museum must be of two 

 kinds — the "exhibition series," or those specimens placed on public exhibition, 

 and the "study series," or those specimens which are kept in the private 

 rooms of the museum for purposes of research and study. 



That part of a museum which is most familiar, and the one designed to 

 be the most instructive to the general public is the "exhibition series." To 

 be effective this series should be not merely a collection of curious and un- 

 familiar objects arranged in a haphazard manner and with the sole aim of 

 evoking expressions of astonishment, but they should consist of typical 

 specimens grouped to illustrate certain definite facts or relations, such as 

 life history, geographical distribution, habits, evolution, variation, migra- 

 tion, selection, anatomy, etc., so as to have a definite educational value. 

 Excellent examples of the advancement which have been made along some 

 of these lines may be found in the American Museum at New York, as illus- 

 trated by the artistic reproductions of natural environments in the life his- 

 tory groups of birds, mammals, etc., and in the Field Museum at Chicago, 

 especially in the life history group of Virginia Deer, which is one of the finest 

 groups of the kind in America. Here at the Museum of the University of 

 Michigan some exhibits of the local fauna have been attempted as in the case 

 of the birds arranged according to periods of migration; also the proposed 

 group of domestic pigeons, showing the influence of artificial selection. 



Sir William H. Flower, a noted English naturalist and British Museum 

 director, has stated that the absolute requisites of exhibits are " correct clas- 

 sification, good labeling, isolation of each object from its neighbor, the pro- 

 vision of suitable background, and above all of a position in which it can be 

 readily and distinctly seen."^ 



What is known as the "study series" is of the most importance to the 



1 1889, Goode, G. Brown, ' The Museum of the Future." Rept. U. S. National Museum, 

 1889, p. 440. 



2 1898, Flower, Sir Wm. H., "Essays on Museums," p. 32. 



3 1898, Flower, Sir Wm. H., "Essays on Museums," p. 33. 



