74 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



We speak of "educational" museums and of the "educational" 

 method of installation so frequently that there may be danger of incon- 

 sistency in the use of the term. An educational museum, as it is usually 

 spoken of, is one in which an attempt is made to teach the unprofessional 

 visitor of an institution for popular education by means of labeled col- 

 lections, and it may be, also, by popular lectures. A college museum, 

 although used as an aid to advanced instruction, is not an "educational 

 museum " in the ordinary sense, nor does a museum of research, like the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts, belong to 

 this class, although, to a limited extent, it attempts and performs popular 

 educational work in addition to its other functions. 



In the National Museum in Washington the collections are divided 

 into two great classes: The exhibition series, which constitutes the educa- 

 tional portion of the Musejim, and is exposed to public view, with all 

 possible accessories for public entertainment and instruction; and the 

 study series, which is kept in the scientific laboratories, and is rarely 

 examined except by professional investigators. 



In every properly conducted museum the collections must, from the 

 very beginning, divide themselves into these two classes, and, in planning 

 for its administration, provision should be made not only for the exhibi- 

 tion of objects in glass cases, but for the preservation of large collections 

 not available for exhibition, to be used for the studies of a very limited 

 number of specialists. lyord Bacon, who, as we have noticed, was the 

 first to whom occurred the idea of a great museum of science and art, 

 complains thus, centuries ago, in his book, On the Advancement of 

 Learning, that up to that time the means for intellectual progress had 

 been used exclusively for ' ' amusement ' ' and ' ' teaching, ' ' and not for 

 the ' ' augmentation of science. ' ' 



The boundary line between the library and the museum is neither 

 straight nor plain. The former, if its scope be rightly indicated by its 

 name, is, primarily, a place for books. The latter is a depository for 

 objects of every kind, books not excepted. The British Museum, with 

 its libraries, its pictures, its archaeological galleries, its anthropological, 

 geological, botanical, and zoological collections, is an example of the 

 most comprehensive interpretation of the term. Professor Huxley has 

 described the museum as " a consultative library of objects." This defi- 

 nition is suggestive but unsatisfactory. It relates only to the contents of 

 the museum as distinguished from those of the library, and makes no 

 reference to the differences in the methods of their administration. 



The treasures of the library must be examined one at a time, and by 

 one person at a time. Their use requires long-continued attention, and 

 their removal from their proper places in the system of arrangement. 

 Those of the museums are displayed to public view in groups, in sys- 

 tematic sequence, so that -they have a collective as well as an individual 

 significance. Furthermore, much of their meaning may be read at a 



