THE MUSEUM. 



37 



tematic work in the study of natural 

 history. 



One of the most common mistakes 

 that the individual collector makes is 

 to imagine that he should begin with 

 something that is not readily accessible. 

 The person who lives among fossilifer- 

 ous rocks yearns to collect and study 

 sea shells. One who lives at the sea 

 shore takes no interest in the mollusks, 

 crabs, and star fishes that are so com- 

 mon, but would like to collect min- 

 erals. Now, this is no yearning for 

 the study of nature: it is simply a de- 

 sire for something new or queer, that 

 may be satisfied, possibly, with a col- 

 lection of tin tags, buttons, or scrap 

 pictures. 



The student of nature must make a 

 collection. To make this collection, 

 begin right. Collect something com- 

 mon, that you see every day, be it 

 mineral, mollusk, fossil, insect, or 

 plant — anything within the realm of 

 mineralogy, zoology, or botany. 

 Learn all that you can about it by 

 a careful examination with the naked 

 eye and a good pocket lens. Then 

 supplement this knowledge with all 

 that you can learn from such books as 

 you have or can buy or borrow. If 

 you do not thus obtain the information 

 you seek, put yourself in correspond- 

 ence with a naturalist who can furnish 

 the desired information. Then label 

 and catalogue your specimen, and take 

 good care of it. As soon as your col- 

 lection assumes sufficient proportions 

 to require or even permit it, classify, 

 and arrange all that you have, and 

 thereafter always label, catalogue, class- 

 ify and arrange each specimen as soon 

 after you collect it as possible. Never 

 leave specimens in an unorganized con- 

 dition for weeks and months, waiting 

 for a "more convenient season". It 

 will make you an unsystematic and 

 slovenly naturalist, and be very likely 

 in time to take away your love for 

 thorough work in any line of science. 

 If you would enlarge your collection 

 beyond the results of your own person- 

 al collecting, gather large numbers of 



duplicates and exchange them with 

 other collectors, whose addresses may 

 be easily obtained from science papers. 



It should be a fixed principle with 

 any collector, or any person in charge 

 of a collection, that any specimen worth 

 a place in a collection should be made 

 to show to the best possible advantage. 



Nice type or pen printed card labels, 

 and pure white trays, and suitable 

 devices for showing small specimens to 

 advantage should be used. 



A collection should be — yes will be, a 

 monument of the taste displayed by 

 the collector, or a standing advertise- 

 ment of the systematic — or unsystem- 

 atic — management of the educational 

 institution possessing it. 



It is not to be expected that the 

 chancellors of universities, can give 

 their time to the proper in- 

 auguration of their museums, even if 

 their knowledge of natural history 

 would enable them to do so; but they 

 should never forget the story that a 

 well equipped museum will tell to their 

 students, and to all who may even 

 visit the educational institutions over 

 which they preside. 



The adage "A thing of beauty 

 is a joy forever, " holds as true of a 

 natural history collection as of any 

 thing else, and museum inauguration is 

 becoming an art calling for a special- 

 ist. Most universities and many col- 

 leges, and academies and normal 

 schools have, and all should have, per- 

 manent curators, not only to properly 

 organize the material they possess, but 

 to augment the collections by means 

 of exchanges and purchases. Schools 

 that cannot afford to employ per- 

 manent curators, should have their 

 collections properly organized by per- 

 sons whose knowledge of natural his- 

 tory, and whose taste and experience 

 in such work qualify them to do 

 the work. After a thorough organiz- 

 ation of the accumulations of years, 

 accessions may often be safely intrust- 

 ed to the instructors. 



It should be remembered that spec- 

 imens bear the same relation to nat- 



