378 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



would have passed, and such a collection still remain little more than 

 a skeleton ; whereas, a subdivision of a class, say flint implements of 

 an archaeological collection, to cite another illustration, is something 

 manageable, but to bring even it to completeness is no small under- 

 taking. Of course, there is a difference between one class and another, 

 one subdivision and another, as regards the plentifulness or scarcity of 

 material necessary to its formation, and the facility or difficulty with 

 which it may be obtained ; but I doubt whether a complete collection 

 of the flint implements of North America could be made in twenty 

 years, and, were an attempt made to include the flint implements of 

 the world, it would be simply courting failure. 



Possibly it may be thought that a museum governed by what is 

 advocated in this paper must progress slowly, and at best long re- 

 main a meager and insignificant affair. If progress consists in ex- 

 tending in every direction, the objection is well taken ; but, if in an 

 orderly advance toward a fixed point, it is not. But let us see how 

 things would work in practice. A library, of which books relating to 

 the Mississippi Valley are the specialty, completive of its specialty, 

 would find itself in possession of a pretty large collection treating of 

 the history, geography, and legislative affairs of the United States and 

 Canada, and of their aboriginal races, books of statistics and travel, 

 biographies, compilations of documents, histories of the three most 

 prominent countries of Europe, including treatises on their laws and 

 colonial regulations, and numerous publications relating to their re- 

 ligious and ecclesiastical affairs. Again, works on archseology or 

 natural history are an integral part of an archaeological or natural 

 history museum, and included in its specialty, no matter what the 

 specialty may be. But to cite the first, as sufficient for our purposes, 

 its books would comprise many thousand titles, beginning with the 

 Bible, and including Homer, Herodotus, and others of the ancients, a 

 multitude of historical books, books of travels, works relating to the 

 aboriginal populations of the world, besides the untold number of 

 publications directly treating archaeological topics. In fact, I much 

 doubt whether any one who has not set himself to the task of ascer- 

 taining just what an archaeological library includes can have even a 

 vague notion of its diversity or extent. As to variety of specimens 

 we shall see presently that it would not be wanting. 



But, in insisting that a museum to attain to real excellence should 

 pursue some specialty, it is not intended to limit the choice to any 

 class or subdivision, for circumstances will determine the selection, 

 or to exclude everything else ; or, still less, to make the completion of 

 the specialty its ultimate goal, for of all works a museum contains the 

 most vigorous germ of progress, and practically can never be finished ; 

 but that the specialty shall be paramount until filled out to the utmost 

 possible. When this term is reached, another subdivision in turn is 

 made the specialty. An instance already cited will serve further to 



