1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 9 
way to secure collections for a museum,’ a sentiment that we 
heartily endorse. There is also contained in this report an account 
of a collecting trip made by Mr Dorsey and Mr Allen, the photo- 
grapher of the Museum, among the Indians of the far west. Asa 
consequence of this, it is believed that the Museum now possesses 
the most complete existing representation of the North-west coast 
Indians. Our American cousins, advanced as they are in all 
branches of museum work, naturally understand the importance to 
a museum of having its own trained collectors, and the urgent need 
at the present stage of the earth’s history of securing specimens of 
those zoological and ethnological types which may be extinct before 
many years have passed. Is it not better to invest money in this 
way, than to waste it on the purchase of ancient collections and un- 
authenticated dealers’ specimens ? 
An exhibit illustrating the forestry of North America is being 
prepared by Mr Millspaugh. Each section of the exhibit comprises 
a glazed and framed tray, containing a branch, flowers and fruits, 
and a block of wood from the same tree; a photograph of the tree 
in summer and the same tree in winter, both from the same point 
of view; a seven-foot trunk and transverse section; a commercial 
plank; a two-foot map of North America, coloured to show the 
distribution of the species; and a series of ornamental cabinet 
specimens of the wood. A detailed account of these exhibits and 
the method of preparing them is given, and will well repay 
study by curators. We may also recommend to practical museum- 
workers the account of the exhibit of metallurgical processes, which 
is arranged on a somewhat novel plan, showing the various stages of 
the process by means of lines connecting the specimens. 
The report is illustrated by twelve plates, most of them in half- 
tone. Some of them illustrate practical details, others show some 
mounted groups. Among the latter we may draw attention to the 
group of herons and that of the Lesser Koodoo. If our readers 
inquire how it is that an institution which has none too much 
money can afford to illustrate its reports in this lavish style, we may 
explain that the Museum retains the services of a professional photo- 
grapher, and keeps all the blocks illustrating the publications of the 
Museum. Most leading museums now have photographers attached to 
their staff, the exception, as usual, is furnished by our own country. 
In conclusion we should like to ask why it is that reports which 
come to us from American museums are always interesting to read, 
in strong contrast to the reports which come from most similar 
establishments in our own country and in Europe. It would seem 
that the writing of these reports is a labour of love to the Ameri- 
cans, while our own curators only do it as a piece of official routine. 
The consequence is that, in the present Report, as an example, the 
