778 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



morphological series should next find place in such a museum. The 

 minor factors of natural selection, such as protective, alluring, and 

 warning coloration, mimicry, etc., should be illustrated, as far as possi- 

 ble, from collections made in the immediate neighborhood. And finally, 

 a series of forms to show the phyllogenetic development of the animal 

 kingdom should in some way be given. Such a series would require 

 large floor space, and the solution of many perplexing problems as to 

 form of cases and methods of display. Yet a scheme of this sort must 

 ultimately be devised. The importance of developmental series is 

 clearly brought out by a comiDarison between the famous Cluny Museum 

 in Paris and the University Museum at Oxford under the charge of Prof. 

 E. B. Tylor. In the former is a homogeneous mass of beautiful and 

 elaborate objects of mediaeval times, each exciting thought so disjointed 

 that fatigue soon ensues from the rich surfeit, and one comes away with 

 the feeling that he has seen a marvelous lot of most exquisite objects 

 in the dim light of an artistic receptacle. Not an emotion has been 

 evoked that will be set vibrating again unless he drops into a choice 

 bric-a-brac shop, and the medley there seen pleases him less in its 

 ensemble than that of the Cluny collections; with the advantage, how- 

 ever, that he can buy, if he has the means, and not burn with envy. 

 The Pitt-Eivers collection now displayed in the Oxford Museum arrests 

 the thoughtful attention at every step; inquiry is provoked at every 

 turn ; doubt may be engendered, yet ever after one finds fertile subjects 

 to think about, to discuss, or to impart to one's friends. In other words, 

 the collection has stimulated inquiry; and this is what a properly 

 arranged collection should always do. 



This, then, is a general idea of what a public museum should be. It 

 has been attained in part by the Peabody Academy of Science in 

 Salem. The collections comprise, first, a remarkable series of the ani- 

 mals and plants, rocks, minerals, and archaeological si^ecimens collected 

 in the county of Essex. These collections are continually increasing as 

 new forms are added. They occui^y upright cases to an extent of over 

 three hundred running feet, or a superficial area for their display of 

 nearly three thousand square feet. Besides this there is an epitome 

 collection of the animal kingdom, brought from all parts of the world, 

 requiring an area of sixteen hundred square feet for its pro^^er display; 

 and, finally, an ethnological collection, arranged ty countries, filling a 

 hall 60 by 48 feet, with broad galleries and spacious cases. These col- 

 lections are all fully and clearly labeled. At close intervals throughout 

 the entire collection special colored labels are displayed, calling atten- 

 tion, by title and shelf number, to books in the public library referring 

 to the immediate group, so that a student or xHipii from the public 

 schools need only transcribe on a bit of pai^er a set of numbers and 

 present it at the delivery window of the public library to be provided at 

 once with the books on the special subject desired. Great credit is 

 due to Mr. Robinson, in charge of the museum, for the good taste 



