432 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



in 1874, said he: "A thorough education and a knowledge of science 

 and art are vital to the nation aud to the place it holds at present in 

 the civilized world. Science and art are the life-blood *of successful 

 production. All civilized nations are running a race with us, and our 

 national decline will date from the period when we goto sleep over the 

 work of education, science, and art. What has been done is at the 

 mere threshold of the work yet to be done." 



The museums of the future in this democratic land should be adapted 

 to the needs of the mechanic, the factory operator, the day laborer, 

 the salesman, and the clerk, as much as to those of the professional 

 man and the man of leisure. It is proper that there be laboratories and 

 professional libraries for the development of the experts who are to or- 

 ganize, arrange and explain the museums. It is proper that the labora- 

 tories be utilized to the fullest extent for the credit of the institution to 

 which they belong. No museum can grow and be respected which does 

 not each year give additional proofs of its claims to be considered a 

 center of learning. 



On the other hand the public have a right to ask that much shall be 

 done directly in their interest. They will gladly allow the museum 

 officer to use part of his time in study and experiment. They will take 

 pride in the possession by the museum of tens of thousands of speci- 

 mens, interesting only to the specialists, hidden away perpetually from 

 public view, but necessary for purpose of scientific research. These are 

 foundations of the intellectual superstructure which gives the institu- 

 tion its standing. 



Still no pains must be spared in the presentation of the material in 

 the exhibition halls. The specimens must be prepared in the most care- 

 ful and artistic manner, and arranged attractively in well-designed 

 cases and behind the clearest of glass. Each object must bear a label, 

 giving its name and history so fully that all the probable questions of 

 the visitor are answered in advance. Books of reference must be kept 

 in convenient places. Colors of walls, cases, and labels must be restful 

 and quiet, and comfortable seats should be everywhere accessible, for 

 the task of the museum visitor is a weary one at best. 



In short, the public museum is, first of all, for the benefit of the pub- 

 lic. When the officers are few in number, each must of necessity de- 

 vote a considerable portion of his time to the public halls. When the 

 staff becomes larger, it is possible by specialization of work to arrange 

 that certain men may devote their time uninterruptedly to laboratory 

 work, while others are engaged in the increase of the collections and 

 their installation. 



I hope and firmly believe that every American community with in- 

 habitants to the number of five thousand or more will within the next 

 half century have a public library, under the management of a trained 

 librarian. Be it ever so small, its influence upon the people would be 

 of untold value. One of tin 1 saddest things in this life is to realize 



