77//; Mi'srjM OF Tin: irrrni: 



225 



cannot he jjiven in lK)()ks, in classrooms or in lalxtratorics. Tliis is a luaiuli 

 of public e(lucjitioi\ wliicli is especially urjjent in a fjreat city, crowded with 

 the works of man, and where e\ce])t for the nightly vision of the heavens 

 obscured hy smoke an<l dust, and the altered wild life of our parks, the works 

 of Nature are totally destroxcd. 



Our future ideal for the Museum is to pro\ idi' at no cost a little journey 

 on this planet and amonjj the heavens beyond it. Our ideal of nuiscum 

 order is to pass, by a natural and easily seen sequence, from country to 

 coimtry as you would in travel, or from age to age in the past history of 

 the earth, or from lower to higher stages of life in the history of animals 

 and plants. This is w liat we are working toward although it is by no means 

 attained. We propose to adfl astronomy, and geography of the land and 

 of the sea to the older and traditional subjects of the museum. Already the 

 child can see here what Aristotle dreamt of but never saw, and what Darwin 

 and Huxley put into prophecy but did not live to see. 



AVe want the teachers of New ^()rk to feel that this Museum is part 

 of their educational plant, we want their cooperation, their suggestions, 

 and their fre(|iient presence. 



