REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 11 
they are put. Judged by this standard, the National Museum may 
claim to have reached a high state of efficiency. From an educa- 
tional 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 care- 
fully 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 seen here, supplementing their class-room 
games or studies. Under authority from Congress, the small col- 
leges and higher grades of schools and academies throughout the 
land, especially in places where museums do not exist, are also being 
aided in their educational work by sets of duplicate specimens, se- 
lected 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, classifica- 
tion, and labeling of collections in order that they may be accessible 
to the public and to students, has yet in these operations made im- 
portant discoveries in every department of the Museum’s activities, 
which have in turn been communicated to other scholars through its 
numerous publications. But the collections have not been held for 
the study of the staff nor for the scientific advancement of those 
belonging to the establishment. Most freely have they been put at 
the disposal of investigators connected with other institutions, and, 
in fact, without such help the record of scientific progress based 
upon the material in the Museum would have been 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 prac- 
tically every prominent specialist throughout the world interested 
in the subjects here well represented has had some use of the collec- 
tions, and thereby the National Museum has come to be recognized 
as a conspicuous factor in the advancement of knowledge wherever 
civilization has a foothold. 
