KEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 11 



assembled and their money value, but upon the use to which they 

 are put. Judged by this standard, the National Museum may claim 

 to have reached a high state of efficiency. From an educational point 

 of view it is of great value to those persons who are so fortunate as 

 to reside in Washington or who are able to visit the Nation's 

 Capital. In its well-designed cases, in which every detail of structure, 

 appointment, and color is considered, a selection of representative: 

 objects is placed on view to the public, all being carefully labeled 

 individually and in groups. The child as well as the adult has been 

 provided for, and the kindergarten pupil and the high-school scholar 

 can be se?n here, supplementing their classroom games or studies. 

 Under authority from Congress, the small colleges and higher grades 

 of schools and academies throughout the land, especially in places 

 where museums do not exist, are also being aided in their educa- 

 tional work by sets of duplicate specimens, selected and labeled to 

 meet the needs of both teachers and pupils. 



Nor has the elementary or even the higher education been by any 

 means the sole gainer from the work of the Museum. To advance 

 knowledge, to gradually extend the boundaries of learning, has been 

 one of the great tasks to which the Museum, in consonance with the 

 spirit of the Institution, has set itself from the first. Its staff, though 

 chiefly engaged in the duties incident to the care, classification, and 

 labeling of collections in order that they may be accessible to the 

 public and to students, has yet in these operations made important 

 discoveries in every department of the Museum's activities, which 

 liave in turn been communicated to other scholars through its nu- 

 merous publications. But the collections have not been held for the 

 study of the staff nor for the scientific advancement of those belong- 

 ing to the establishment. Most freely have they been put at the dis- 

 posal of investigators connected with other institutions, and, in 

 fact, without the help of many such the record of scientific progress 

 based upon the material in the Museum would be greatly curtailed. 

 When it is possible to so arrange, the investigator comes to Wash- 

 ington ; otherwise such collections as he needs are sent to him, whether 

 he resides in this country or abroad. In this manner practically every 

 prominent specialist throughout the world interested in the subjects 

 here well represented has had some use of the collections, and thereby 

 the National Museum has come to be recognized as a conspicuous 

 factor in the advancement of knowledge wherever civilization has a 

 foothold. 



