270 



IHE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



tinually manifest, both in my own experi- 

 ence and in that of many others coming 

 under my observation, and ever since my 

 connection with the college it has been 

 hoped that our museum could be made 

 to a considerable extent to supply the 

 deficiency. With this object in view, a 

 great deal of time has been spent in col- 

 lecting and obtaining by donation, ex- 

 change and purchase, the more import- 

 ant products of this class which have 

 come within reach. As the collections 

 have thus increased, they have over- 

 crowded the available space, and it has 

 become more and more apparent that to 

 accumulate anything like a complete col- 

 lection of strictly pharmaceutical pro- 

 ducts alone would tax our utmost resourc- 

 es of money and space, in our most pros- 

 perous times, and that it was out of the 

 question for us to undertake anything in 

 the way of a complete economic botan- 

 ical musuem, except in the event of our 

 becoming the executors of an endow- 

 ment fund devoted to this special pur- 

 pose. 



The realization of our hopes for a bo- 

 tanic garden in this city, and the intelli- 

 gence of a direction which has planned 

 it on a scale broad enough to embrace 

 all the natural departments of the sub- 

 ject, have happily removed all doubts as 

 to our future possession of such a mus- 

 uem as we need. The plans lor the 

 economic museum of the garden are al- 

 ready formulated. They include all the 

 best features of such institutions and on 

 a scale commensurate with the extent of 

 the interests represented. The medical 

 and pharmaceutical interests have been 

 well considered, and the relations of the 

 museum of the College of Pharmacy re- 

 garded as an important element in the 

 situation. Our museum is recognized as 

 occupying the position of authority in 

 pharmaceutical matters, and it is recog- 

 nized that its development must continue. 



At the same time, it is not desirable that 

 much duplication should be practiced, 

 certainly not for many years, while the 

 foundations of the Garden-museum are 

 being laid. In other words, the Garden- 

 museum, to strengthen and complete its 

 usefulness, needs the benefit of the ma- 

 terials in the College-museum, yet it is 

 not desirable to duplicate them. The 

 college has continuous need of materials 

 to be found in the Garden-museum and 

 in the living collections of the Garden, 

 but which are not to be strictly regarded as 

 pertaining to the class for the accumulat- 

 ion of which alone we can make provis- 

 ion. This is a condition calling specifi- 

 cally for a reciprocity arrangement, and 

 the question of how the two institutions 

 can best aid one another is one that must 

 very shortly come before both of them 

 for consideration. There is no better 

 place than The Alumni Journal in 

 which the matter can be discussed in ad- 

 vance of such oflBcial consideration. 



We have a parallel case in the collect= 

 ions of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, especially in its Jessup Wood 

 collection. The Garden-museum will 

 provide for a universal collection of tree 

 trunks, or at least of the useful species. 

 The Jessup collection is a complete col- 

 lection of trunks of North American trees. 

 It is not desirable that the Garden should 

 duplicate these, the requirements in the 

 way of money and space being great. It 

 is therefore proposed that the Garden 

 catalogue of trunks should include those 

 of the Jessup collection by means of cross 

 references, their location in the American 

 Museum being indicated in connection 

 with their name in the catalogue. 



In carrying out a reciprocity arrange- 

 ment between ourselves and the Garden, 

 it will be necessary for some such an ar- 

 rangement as this to be effected and a 

 division of the exhibits into two appro- 

 priate classes is called for. 



