l.")N THE AMI.niCAS MiSlAM .lorilSAL 



and al)r()a(l as marking' a xcry iiii])()i'taiit aiKaiicc in the cdiu atldna! aii'aiiuc- 

 iiicnt of natural liistory niuscnin--. It is Ijclirxcd that tlii> ai'r'anucnMiil will 

 inc<'t l)()tli the cxactinu' dcnianis of tlic specialist ami also iin|)rc>^ upon tlic 

 minds oT the iniinit iatcd \isitui-s, younu and old, the fi;rea test lesson, [xr-- 

 liaps, that Natni'c ha> to teach n> namely, the iv^^n of law anfl order. 



There are, howcxci', other olijeet^ to he attained in the new |)lan> foi' 

 the cnlarficment of the Mn>enm. ( hief anionu' these are ample provisions 

 for l)ranehes of natnral xienees whieh heretofore ha\'e not been inc-lndcd 

 within the field of any mu>eum of natnral histoi'y, Imt ha\'e lieeii |)re- 

 sented moi'e or less successfully in isolated forms in kindred mu--eums. 

 These ai'e pi'ineipally the suhjeets of Astronomy, of (leoiii'aphy and of 

 Oceanography, iierlin ha> il> i)o])n!ar Astronomic Museum known as 

 "Urania." it also has its Oceanographic Museum, established nndei' the 

 patronage of Kmperor William as a result of the extraordinary interest 

 arousefl in ()ceanogra])hic research by the voyage of Xansen and of ^ugges- 

 tion> made by .Sir John Murray in I'erlin at the subsejuent (icographic 

 ('ongres.->. Later a finely e(|uip]>ed oceanographie museum wa-> established 

 at Monti- ( arlo by the Piince of Monaco in comieetion with his own marine 

 explorations. More recently the I'rince has established an Institute of 

 Oceanography in Paris. To our knowledge liowcxci', there is no nuiseum 

 at present dcNoted to Geography or to Physiography. ^ et these subjects 

 are (juite as intimately related to the disti'ibntion of animal> and ])!ants and 

 to the general laws which go\<'rn li\ ing beings as is Oceanography. 



The interest of the ])ublie in .\stronomy has already been witnessed in the 

 Ainerican Mu.seuin in the models of the planetary system at present installed 

 on the First Floor and of the rotating earth on the .'>econ(l Floor. There is 

 no doubt that a treatment of both (icography and Oceanogi'aphy would 

 subser\e the public educational needs of the ( ity. It i> far better for the 

 .\merican Museum to bring these subject-- within its wal!^ in .\ew \()rk 

 ( ity and thus assemble all the phenomena of nature undci' one roof, rather 

 than to wait initil smaller institutions for these bi'anches s|)ring up as they 

 are doing in Berlin, in Paris an<l in other cities. 



Thus in addition to designs for the future building iI■^e!f, careful study is 

 being put on the ideal arrangement of snbjeet> and collections within this 

 building. This stud\ takes into account the bi'oad i'eI;itions of the li\ing 

 and inanimate worlds as conceixcd in the mind- of Ilumiioldt, I)arwin and 

 other great naturalists. These relations underlie i he phy-ica! welfare of ni;in. 

 They cannot l)e omitted fi'om the i)lan. In fact the .\meriran Museum in 

 the establishment of its l)ei)artmcut of Pnl)lic Health has already entered 

 this new field of service and of pid)lic instruction, which will bring still 

 closer within its influence the well-being of the peoj)!e of New \ ork. 



