EEPOET OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 11 



they are put. Judged by this standard, the National Museum may 

 claim to have reached a high state of efficiency. From an educa- 

 tional point of view it is of great value to those persons who are so 

 fortunate as to reside in Washington or who are able to visit the 

 Nation's capital. In its well-designed cases, in which every detail 

 of structure, appointment, and color is considered, a selection of 

 representative objects is placed on view to the public, all being care- 

 fully labeled individually and in gToups. The child as well as the 

 adult has been provided for, and the kindergarten pupil and the 

 high-school scholar can be seen here, supplementing their class-room 

 games or studies. Under authority from Congress, the small col- 

 leges and higher grades of schools and academies throughout the 

 land, especially in places where museums do not exist, are also being 

 aided in their educational work by sets of duplicate specimens, se- 

 lected and labeled to meet the needs of both teachers and pupils. 



Nor has the elementary or even the higher education been by any 

 means the sole gainer from the work of the Museum. To advance 

 knowledge, to gradually extend the boundaries of learning, has been 

 one of the great tasks to which the Museum, in consonance with the 

 spirit of the Institution, has set itself from the first. Its staff, 

 though chiefly engaged in the duties incident to the care, classifica- 

 tion, and labeling of collections in order that they may be accessible 

 to the public and to students, has yet in these operations made im- 

 portant discoveries in every department of the Museum's activities, 

 which have in turn been communicated to other scholars through its 

 numerous publications. But the collections have not been held for 

 the study of the staff nor for the scientific advancement of those 

 belonging to the establishment. Most freely have they been put at 

 the disposal of investigators connected with other institutions, and, 

 in fact, without such help the record of scientific progress based 

 upon the material in the Museum would have been gi-eatly curtailed. 

 When it is possible to so arrange, the investigator comes to Wash- 

 ington; otherwise such collections as he needs are sent to him, 

 whether he resides in this country or abroad. In this manner prac- 

 tically every prominent specialist throughout the world interested 

 in the subjects here well represented has had some use of the collec- 

 tions, and thereby the National Museum has come to be recognized 

 as a conspicuous factor in the advancement of knowledge wherever 

 civilization has a foothold. 



