28 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
collections would be made by the members and that these would be secured to 
the state. A curator was elected at the first organization. Materials began 
to accumulate, but it was not until the society was given a place in the rooms of 
the board of agriculture, with space for its collections, that anything like a dis- 
play was made. By the help of Mr. Gray and other secretaries of the board a 
fair series of natural-history specimens was secured; members of the Academy 
labeled and arranged them; and this museum in the rooms of the board of agri- 
culture has been for many years a source of interest to all visitors to our state- 
house. 
There is another part of this museum which, while it would not be so attract- 
ive to the public, has a greater scientific and economic value. The mineralogical 
and geological specimens are stored in boxes and corners where, for the present, 
they are worse than useless. Under the hands of a skillful curator they could be 
made both attractive and instructive, provided a suitable place for their display 
could be secured. 
Then there is the Kansas herbarium prepared by our versatile librarian, Mr. 
Smyth. It is stacked away in a corner where it cannot be consulted without 
great inconvenience. It needs roomy cases, where each genus can be placed in a 
separate compartment, and where any specimens can be readily accessible. 
In addition to these general collections, whose value is unknown and at present 
unknowable, the State Executive Council has appointed the Academy of Science 
as curators and custodians of the magnificent museum of birds—the Goss collec- 
tion —that monument to the energy and enthusiasm of a man who loved his work. 
Some years before his death Colonel Goss was offered $25,000 in cash for his col- 
lection, and afterward he added many rare specimens to it. It has not depreci- 
ated in value, and, if properly cared for, will not do so; for the work of Colonel 
Goss was thoroughly and honestly done. 
The museum under the care of the Academy, as now seen in the agricultural 
rooms and in the Goss collection, and as not seen in the Academy’s rooms, is 
worthy of a place for display —is worthy of the care of a paid curator, and would 
increase very rapidly if encouragement and opportunity were given to the Acad- 
emy to work for its improvement. Forty thousand dollars is a very modest valu- 
ation for the present materials. With favorable legislation, we might in a very 
short time build a museum here in our state capital which would be an honor to 
the Academy and to the state. It is worth the effort. Our commonwealth can 
well afford the small outlay, and the returns to it in the cash value of the museum 
itself would always exceed the cost. No better means can ever be planned for 
advertising the resources of the state and inducing immigration and the invest- 
ment of capital than that afforded by a good exhibit of our economic geology. 
The dilapidated mineralogical ruin now on exhibition in the basement corri- 
dor of the south wing was thought to be a fine advertisement for the state. At 
the World’s Fair it was fresh and attractive; but in the chaotic condition in 
which it has so long existed it is useless. Even when new it lacked the educa- 
tional uses to which properly labeled and arranged museum specimens can be put. 
The chief value of a museum is not display or advertisement. It is educa- 
tional, and it is chiefly for educational purposes that our State ought to maintain 
a good museum at the capital. Here annually come over a thousand of the 
teachers of our state to attend the great educational meeting at the holiday sea- 
son. Here come the delegates to dozens of meetings, whose object is a broader 
culture and an uplifting of our people. Hither come thousands of excursionists, 
men, women, and children, from all over our state, attracted by the fall festival 
and other shows at the capital city. Sightseers by hundreds visit the museums 
