(2) 



In addition to these special exhibits, we possess a number 

 of museums organized on the basis of a general representa- 

 tion of vegetable products, each of them possessing some 

 special characteristic of its own. The most important of 

 these collections is that of the federal government at Wash- 

 ington. Its object is chiefly economic, although its sci- 

 entific value is great. Next in importance, perhaps, are 

 the collections of the Philadelphia Museums. These, how- 

 ever, are purely commercial and the method of their 

 accumulation has been such as to preclude, to a great 

 extent, the element of botanical authentication of the 

 article, the commercial relations of the products themselves 

 being the special object of illustration. In Chicago, we 

 have the Field Columbian Museum, which aims particularly 

 at the most elaborate possible representation of types. 



The special characteristics of our Museum are correct 

 nomenclature, this method being followed throughout, and 

 positive authentication of the articles exhibited. We pos- 

 sess, it is true, a large amount of material from commercial 

 sources, which, although gathered with every possible pre- 

 caution as to authenticity, presents no prima facie evidence 

 as to its botanical origin. The more valuable portions of 

 our exhibits are those which have been taken from the 

 growing plants by special collectors, in connection with 

 herbarium material displaying flowers, fruits, leaves, etc., 

 which is suitably preserved in our own herbarium, with 

 cross references from one collection to the other. In the 

 pursuit of this object and in the extent to which it has been 

 carried, our collections are probably unique. The presence 

 of such authenticated specimens beside commercial samples 

 of the same, and with an opportunity thus presented for 

 comparison and confirmation, imparts a value to the latter 

 which is beyond estimate, even from a practical point 

 of view. 



Another distinguishing character of our collections is the 

 extent to which aboriginal and domestic customs and uses 

 are represented by them. At the first establishment of our 



