American Association of Museums 49 



The conversion of our modern vegetation into fossil forms, by the 

 various processes of nature, is illustrated by a series of specimens, 

 which include leaves and leaf impressions preserved in pond silt; 

 fragments of vegetation in recently formed sand or clay concretions; 

 contents of peat-bog deposits; wood from swamp and estuary accumu- 

 lations, partly or completely lignitized or converted into carbon by 

 the process of natural distillation; silicified wood, showing replace- 

 ment of the tissues through the agency of water carrying silica in 

 solution, and similar specimens showing replacement by iron, lime, 

 or other mineral matter; a variety of plant remains from the vicinity 

 of mineral springs, preserved by incrustation of silicious sinter and 

 calcareous tufa; etc. 



This feature is one in regard to which the average person does not 

 appear to be well informed. The popular conception of a fossil is 

 that it is necessarily something very old and that the methods by 

 which it became converted from the living into the fossil form no 

 longer prevail in nature. The fact that fossils are in constant proc- 

 ess of formation today, just as they were during every day in the past, 

 is distinctly surprising to most persons, and specimens which demon- 

 strate or illustrate the processes of fossilization are important educa- 

 tional exhibits. 



General Comments 



The matter of labeling — that is to say the amount of explanation 

 or information which a label may properly contain — is something 

 which I assume has worried everyone who has had anything to do 

 with the installation and display of museum material. Frequently, 

 after time and careful consideration have been given to the selec- 

 tion, arrangement, and labeling of a collection, some remark by a 

 casual visitor will indicate either that the exhibit fails to express the 

 idea for which it was designed, or else that the visitor was lacking 

 in the elementary knowledge necessary for an adequate conception of 

 what the specimens themselves are, or what they actually represent; 

 and the question that constantly presents itself to the curator and 

 demands an answer is: To what extent is it advisable or permissible 

 to go in connection with explanatory matter on labels ? 



One visitor who chanced to observe me carefully chipping the matrix, 

 with hammer and chisel, from around a finely preserved fossi ^eaf, 

 remarked enthusiastically to a companion: "How beautifully he 

 engraves that leaf, doesn't he?" However, the visitors who are not 



