496 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, ' 



the facilities offered for study and investigation by tlie various sci- 

 entific bureaus of the Government, such as the Fish Commission, 

 the Zoological Park, the Geological and Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 veys, the Naval Observatory, and the Weather, Botanical, Biologi- 

 cal, and Entomological Bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and systematic courses of lectures will place before him the most 

 advanced ideas and conclusions of the largest body of scientific in- 

 vestigators in the world. 



A single well-trained man, with a few assistants, could render 

 invaluable aid to hundreds of post-graduate and special students, 

 whose only need is direction as to the best means of pursuing studies 

 and investigations. Such an organization could be located in the 

 administrative building that it has been proposed to erect as a 

 nucleus of the National University. From this beginning a na- 

 tional university of the broadest type could be developed with as 

 much rapidity as the educational interests of the country might 

 demand. 



The National Museum can not at present give facilities to more 

 than a score of students, but mth the erection of a modern museum 

 building, well equipped with laboratory space and a suitable staff 

 to conduct the necessary work of installation and investigation, the 

 scientific side of the National University would be established. It 

 should be remembered that many of the officers of the scientific 

 bureaus of the Government are directly connected with the museum 

 staff as honorary curators and custodians, and that a number of them 

 have laboratories within the museum building. 



Need of a New Building. — The growth of the United States 

 National Museum was rapid under the successful administration of 

 Dr. Goode. When the character of the building and the funds 

 available for the maintenance of the museum are considered, it 

 compares favorably with any modern museum. It has received 

 large collections from the scientific departments of the Government, 

 by private contribution, by purchase, and by exchange, which have 

 been accommodated as well as possible in the inadequate labora- 

 tories, storerooms, and exhibition spaces. During the fiscal year 

 1897-'98, accessions to the number of 1,441 were received, con- 

 taining upward of 450,000 specimens — the largest number for any 

 one year since the museum was opened. The total number of speci- 

 mens recorded to July 1, 1898, exceeds four million. The galleries 

 just completed have added sixteen thousand square feet of floor 

 space, which is available for the spreading out and proper exhibi- 

 tion of material that has previously been crowded in the exhibition 

 halls and courts on the floor; but, as an illustration of the present 

 congested conditions, it may be stated that the anthropological col- 



