RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



79 



Educational Museums of Vertebrates * 



From what is known of man's present 

 constitution and environment, and from 

 what is commonly believed respecting his 

 future form, condition, and associates, it 

 seems to follow that all kinds and degrees 

 of zoological instruction, whether anatomi- 

 cal, histological, ph3'siological, pathological, 

 ps3'chological, or religious, should be based 

 upon some knowledge of vertebrated ani- 

 mals. As aiding to make this knowledge 

 real and lasting, every educational institu- 

 tion, of whatever grade, should have a 

 vertebrate museum. 



From many vertebrate collections the 

 average visitor carries awa^', besides the 

 sense of fatigue, certain impressions which 

 are inadequate or erroneous, or if correct, 

 uncomplimentarj'. 



The following plans and methods are fol- 

 lowed in a preliminary re-arrangement of 

 the vertebrate collections at Cornell Univer- 

 sity : The exhibition-cases should contain 

 onh' specimens which can instruct or in- 

 terest the visitor. Not only should facts 

 be displayed, but fundamental principles 

 should be illustrated. Quality is more im- 

 portant than quantity, and arrangement is 

 usually more needed than acquisition. True 

 economy consists in paying liberally for 

 what is wanted, rather than in taking what 

 is not wanted as a gift. The usefulness of 

 a specimen, and thus its real value, is to 

 be measured, not b}^ its rarit}^ or cost, but 

 by the degree in which it exemplifies im- 

 portant facts or ideas. Many specimens 

 should not only be labeled, but also ac- 

 companied by figures and explanations. 



In addition to, or more often in place of 

 the three great series — physiological, tax- 

 onomic, and geographical — which are com- 

 monly attempted in museums, but which it 

 is rarely possible to complete, specimens 

 representing an equal amount of time or 

 money would have a higher educational 

 value if divided among a considerable num- 

 ber of special series, each illustrating some 

 morphological or teleological principle. 



Some of these series are strictlj' artificial, 

 yet useful; as, e. r/., animals exterminated 

 by man ; those which supply us with food. 



♦Taken from the abstract, in Science, of the address 

 of Dr. Burt G. Wilder, before the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, 1885. 



medicine, weapons, clothing, or materials 

 for habitation ; fabulous, mythical, and 

 sacred animals ; and those which are men- 

 tioned by Shakespeare, and in the Scrip- 

 tures. 



Instead of vainly attempting to obtain 

 and exhibit all the species of all the groups, 

 most educational museums would attain 

 more satisfactory results by selecting the 

 more interesting or instructive forms from 

 all classes, and limiting their efforts to 

 complete groups for a few, upon which, as 

 well as upon a larger number, may be illus- 

 trated the principles of classification, and 

 of individual and geographical variation. 



Among special series other than system- 

 atic, are analogous forms and structures 

 which are sometimes mistaken for one 

 another, but more readily discriminated 

 when brought together. Such series are 

 the rostrated animals, spinous forms, and 

 those which have parachutes. Physiologi- 

 cal series would contain the hibernating 

 animals, those which are blind or nearly so, 

 and such as are provided with scent-glands, 

 tusks, and all poisonous vertebrates. 



A local collection should embrace all the 

 animals of the vicinity, and will benefit the 

 student, both as an example for him to fol- 

 low or improve upon, and as exemplifying 

 the laws of geographical distribution and the 

 influence of environment. The local col- 

 lection need not contain anatomical prepara- 

 tions, but should exhibit both sexes, and 

 all stages of growth of each species, — its 

 mode of life, friends and foes, — so as to 

 interest also the children, farmers, fisher- 

 men, hunters, and other residents of the 

 neighborhood. 



Although more than a quarter of a cen- 

 tury has passed since the modern scientific 

 doctrines respecting the methods of creation 

 began to be accepted ; although opposition 

 to the general idea of organic evolution is 

 now nearl}' confined to the stubborn and ill- 

 informed ; and although its substantial 

 truth is tacitly admitted, or openl}- claimed, 

 in nine out of ten higher educational insti- 

 tutions in this countr}', — I have yet to 

 learn that any considerable part of a col- 

 lego museum has been specifically devoted 

 to the exhibition of the facts which are 

 described or figured in most zoological 

 manuals, and in many works upon popular 

 science. 



