COLLECTIONS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIALS. 759 



The most serious fault of the museum, however, is that it fails to 

 furnish au intelligent train of thought to the mind of the average vis- 

 itor. The real method of popular education consists in imparting the 

 unknown in terms of the known. Just as the scientific investigator 

 obtains results by the comparison of facts and phenomena does the 

 musenm visitor have his interest awakened by the opportunity of com- 

 paring familiar objects with those brought to his knowledge for the 

 first time. From the point of view of popular education it is theretore 

 a capital error that the Musce Guimet has not included the Christian 

 religion, as well as the IMohammedan and Jewish religions, with which 

 the first named has su-ch close affiliations, in the series which it places 



on exhibition. 



Many museums contain objects which would find place in a collection 

 of religions. These are usually installed in ethnological exhibits, and 

 more frequently still are shown as objects of art. 



In a few museums religious art is treated as a distinct subject, and, 

 being arranged chronologically, may be considered as showing the 

 development of both church history and religious symbolism. The 

 most important of these is the Lateran Museum at Kome. In 1843 

 Pope Gregory XVI set apart the Palazzo del Laterano as a museum 

 for heathen and Christian antiquities, styling it iMuseum Gregorianum 

 Lateranense. The Christian Museum was founded by Pius IX. It 

 contains a most valuable collection, including a series of early Christian 

 inscriptions arranged by De Rossi. 



The Xational Bavarian Musenm at Munich contains a rich collection of 

 Chiistian ecclesiastical art, as well as a goodly series of Jewish religious 



objects. • 4. X. 



The Arab Museum in Cairo, although not erected Irom the point ot 

 view of religious, is yet to a considerable extent a collection of Moham- 

 medan ecclesiastical art. Its purpose is the preservation of monuments 

 of Arab art, but, as the moscpie was the chief inspirer of elegant work, 

 most of its objects are directly or indirectly related to Mohammedan 



worship. 



The U. S. National lAIuseum contains Buddhist objects from India, 

 Siam China, Corea, and Japan, as well as considerable collections 

 from 'Polynesia— the result of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. In 

 the department of ethnology much attention has been paid to col- 

 lections of objects of religious import employed by the aborigines of 

 Xorth America, and special series, as, for instance, mortuary customs 

 have been for some time on exhibition. 



As a result of the travels of Hon. W. W. RockhiU in Tibet, the 

 National Museum secured a rich and unique collection of the religious 

 objects of the Buddhists of that little known country. 



In 1889 a collection of objects illustrating Jewish rebgious cere- 

 monials was placed on exhibition, and in his report for that year Dr. 

 Goode announced the purpose of the Museum to form a collection which 

 would illustrate the comparative history of religion. 



