consider it a very respectable place of amusement for children. 

 They are always interested in the mummy and beg to be shown 

 the skeleton of the man of whom so many hair-raising stories 

 are told. The idea of a museum, however, as an institution 

 co-ordinate with the public library in its sphere of public use- 

 fulness, to be as eagerly and frequently visited and used — that 

 idea has probably never occurred to most of us and is, in fact, 

 still dormant in the minds of most communities. 



The museums themselves are, for the most part, to blame 

 for this. It is only too easy to understand why people have 

 not felt repaid for their trouble in coming to visit our own 

 Museum, for the collections have scarcely been in a condition 

 to interest, much less instruct, the general public. To the 

 scientist, museums are admittedly of interest and use, but few 

 are yet willing to grant that they have any real, practical every- 

 day value for the rest of us. 



The reason for this misapprehension is not far to seek. A 

 museum has been fitly compared to an iceberg, in that it is 

 eight-ninths concealed below the surface. A broad foundation 

 of thorough scientific investigation may not be of immediate 

 interest to the general public, yet it is essential to any musr 

 eum worthy of the name, and upon it depends the nature and 

 quality of the superstructure which is arranged for the benefit 

 of the public, viz. — the exhibition collections, together with 

 those aids to their enjoyment and understanding, of which I 

 shall later speak. Concerning this portion of the institution, 

 teachers, as leaders and guides of one great class of the com- 

 munity for whose benefit it is especially designed, should be 



well informed. 



The exhibition collections are, first of all, not to be con- 

 sidered as a collection of objects merely, but as a collection 

 of ideas, fully illustrated by objects. These are planned, ar- 

 ranged and labelled wholly with a view to their educational 

 possibilities. Take for illustration, the small group of mount- 



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