80 



may reasonably be expected of the museum can be obtained 

 by considering the magnificent work being carried on by the 

 greatest of the museums in the United States, such as the 

 American ]\Iuseum of Natural History in New York, the 

 National Museum in Washington, and the Field Museum 

 in Chicago. These institutions send out exploring expedi- 

 tions, collect, prepare, study and exhibit materials, publish 

 reports of investigations along special lines and furnish lec- 

 ture courses. They are educational institutions of an effec- 

 tive type. Any museum which is doing its work properly is 

 an educational institution. The State Museum aims to be 

 such. Two years ago the writer applied to a United States 

 Government official for tax-free alcohol for preserving muse- 

 um specimens, but was refused on the ground that the muse- 

 um is not an educational institution. Some discussion was 

 necessary to make it clear that the institution exists for noth- 

 ing else than to educate. Its collecting is with that end in 

 view. Its study, preservation, exhibition and publication is 

 for that purpose and for that alone. 



While dealing with historical objects in archaeology, 

 palaeontology and other sciences, it affects modern questions 

 and present-day issues. When attention is being so strik- 

 ingly called to the necessity of conserving the natural re- 

 sources of the country, museum collections are of unusual 

 interest, since they offer tangible illustration of the passing 

 of fauna and flora and of the origin, value, and limited quan- 

 tities of our mineral resources. One needs but to pass 

 through a good museura to gain a vivid impression of the 

 changeableness of nature, of the destructiveness of man and 

 of the danger of watchfulness. The museum should make a 

 concrete and compact plea for care and wisdom in the use of 

 natural resources. 



The excellent work which is being performed by a number 

 of departments of the State would be better appreciated if 

 the material results were well exhibited in the State Museum. 

 The law provides that the Geological Survey may deposit 

 materials in the museum, and it is the wish of the director 



