REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 11 



comprehend their true character and significance. In this direction 

 the National Museum lias been making- conspicuous progress, and 

 probably now takes the lead. 



'No museum administrator had a better understanding of the public 

 needs than the late Doctor Goode, and none labored more earnesti}' and 

 conscientiously than he to make this a museum for, as well as of, the 

 people. His assistants were relied upon to arrange and maintain the 

 study series in a manner acceptable to the specialist, l)ut the interests 

 of the pul)lic were retained in his own immediate charge. His mind 

 was ever occupied in devising ways for so presenting the features of 

 nature and the thoughts and activities of mankind that the visitor, by 

 the very force of his surroundings, was bound to receive and carrj'' 

 with him some definite impression, some new bit of knowledge. 



Doctor Goode's labors in this field ranged from the planning of the 

 general scheme to the most minute details of case architecture and 

 fittings. His oflUcial connection with nearly all the important exposi- 

 tions of the past quarter of a century and his exhaustive studies of all 

 the principal museums of Europe and the United States gave him 

 exceptional opportunities for observation and experiment. Though a 

 young man when he died, none other had acquired so ripe an expe- 

 rience and none is more worthy of being followed. 



In this, as in every other activity of a live organization, change and 

 improvement are constant. The receipt of new material will, it is to 

 be expected, continue unceasinglj% and ever}- year something must 

 arrive in Avhich the public has a, right to share. During the past five 

 years the progress made in the installation of the exhibition series has 

 been especially noteworthj^, and now for the first time every hall 

 designed for public use is permanently opened, though not one is 

 above addition or improvement, and in some the arrangement is 

 entirely provisional. 



An incidental, though very popular, educational feature of the 

 Museum, having for its purpose the promotion of scientific teaching 

 throughout the country, has been the distribution to schools and col- 

 leges of its duplicate specimens, properly identified and labeled, and 

 put up in carefully selected sets. Inadequate means have prevented 

 this measure from being carried out on the scale which the resources 

 of the Museum would admit of, as it requires the working over of 

 entire collections before the reserve and duplicate series can be sepa- 

 rated, and the labeling and packing take much time. Man}^ hundreds 

 of these sets have been given away, but none have been prepared 

 recently, and the few remaining on hand at the beginning of the vear 

 have now been disposed of. 



Scarceh' a year passes that some exposition, either at home or 

 abroad, is not occupying the attention of the Museum, and through 

 this means its existence and aims are being brought constantly and 



