780 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



avoided. Private collections, when given to a museum, must be incor- 

 porated with the other collections. Collections should not be accepted 

 with the condition that they are to have sejjarate rooms or cases for 

 their display. There are occasions when an exception can be made; 

 as when, for instance, the collection is far more complete than the 

 one already possessed, though in this case the smaller collection should 

 be merged with the larger. An inconvenience has always arisen from 

 the continual accession of material which necessitates the rearranging 

 of collections for their admission. This difficulty can be overcome by 

 setting apart a special room or a set of cases in which the donations 

 can be kept for one year, this receptacle to be plainly marked "new 

 accessions to the museum." In this way a rearrangement, and conse- 

 quent disturbance, takes place only once a year. Furthermore, the 

 exhibition of these accessions separately will stimulate the activity 

 and i)ride of local collectors and others interested. 



Above all, the bane and misery of dubious accumulations should be 

 avoided. A specimen is either of use, or it is not. If worthy of pres- 

 ervation, it should find its place in the collections; if not, it should be 

 transferred to those who will make use of it, or be destroyed. The 

 rubbish which accumulates in many of our museums and is hoarded 

 from year to year with the hope that it may some time be of use is 

 paralleled by the collections of junk with which some are inclined to 

 encumber their premises. 



That some kind of a public museum, along the lines and in the ways 

 above suggested, is possible for smaller towns there is no doubt. A 

 wholesome spirit of rivalry might naturally arise, and each town having 

 its museum would excel in certain departments, in the same way that 

 each town can pride itself on certain special features, such as a fine 

 park, spacious town hall, public library, or superior high school build- 

 ing. Unfortunate, indeed, is that town— and there are hundreds of 

 them in this country— that can show nothing but the mere elements of 

 material existence ; in this respect not a whit removed from the barren- 

 ness of a sheep pasture. To bring up young children in such a town 

 is to stunt their intellectual powers, and to narrow persistently the 

 horizon of their life. 



