278 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1920. 



the aborigines, native plants and animals, and the mineral resources of Australia 

 is carefully conserved. The Art Gallery attached to the Melbourne Museum 

 takes special cognisance of examples of Australian Art. Public lectures are 

 given at all the Museums, and schools and classes encouraged to visit them, 

 the Museum staffs giving demonstrations and lectures whenever possible. 

 Special student collections are being made at Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane. 

 The Technological Museum, Sydney, loans collections to illustrate lectures 

 given at the Technical Colleges and Nature Study in schools. Timber, minerals, 

 building and ornamental stones, &c., are in process of collection in order to 

 constitute an exposition of the mineral wealth of the country. It also sends 

 out collections of native material to distant towns and schools. 



The educational work of the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, is on a more 

 extensive scale than elsewhere. Carefully graded lectures are given by the 

 Museum staff to classes from elementary and secondary schools, and special 

 time is allotted to classes for definite studies. Higher education and research 

 receive special attention, research being specially encouraged. 



(6) The United States. — Adequately to describe the educational activities 

 of the American Museums would require a large volume. The Committee's 

 delegates visited those at Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, Philadelphia, 

 Harvard, Boston, Brooklyn, and New York. Time did not allow of more 

 extended visits, but information was readily obtained from all to which applica- 

 tion was made. 



The Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

 New York, the Museum of the Academy of Sciences, and the Field Museum, 

 Chicago, the Carnegie Museiun, Pittsburgh, and the Museum in Philadelphia 

 were pre-eminent amongst those visited for their extensive schemes of educational 

 work in connection with the Public Schools. They are also actively associated 

 with higher education and University work, as are the Museums of Washington, 

 Harvard, and Boston. The work of the Natural History Museum, New York, 

 may be outlined as an example of what most American Museums are doing 

 to aid education, as it has probably done more work of this character than 

 any other Museum in the world. Large circulation sets of Nature Study 

 collections have been prepared, and in 1913 were sent out to 501 schools by 

 means of special motor vans. These collections were used by one and a quarter 

 million of pupils. The study collections number about 600, and have been 

 much increased since. Special teaching collections are set up in the Museum, 

 and class-rooms and lecture theatre are available for use at any time. 



Members of the staff frequently lecture to the children and to the teachers, 

 whilst a special guide service is maintained. Special provision has been made 

 for blind students, who are permitted to handle specimens. It is said that 

 they gain in this way quite a remarkable knowledge of the form and adaptations 

 of animals. 



A Lantern-slide Department has been organised for some years, and now 

 possesses over 30,000 slides, which are loaned in series to schools for teaching 

 prurposes. At the time of the delegates' visit the formation of branch teaching 

 Museums was under consideration, and the establishment of ten Lecture Centres 

 in various parts of New York. 



The needs of higher education and research have been met by an arrangement 

 with the Columbia University ; the professors lecture to their students at the 

 Museum, and hold the position of curators in the Museum in their several 

 subiects. 



The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, retains expert guides to assist 

 its members, teachers, and schools when visiting the collections. The service 

 is free to teachers and schools. The city maintains one paid lecturer. Regular 

 visits are paid from schools for instruction in the History of Art. The University 

 and Museum are in close co-operation, especially on the classical and historical 

 sides. It has been suggested that a Faculty of Arts should be established in 

 the Museum, with lectures for special collections. The Boston Museum of Fine 

 Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago are doing similar work ; in the latter 

 case, a School of Art is maintained in connection with the Museum. 



The Field Museum of Chicago has entered upon an ambitious scheme whereby 

 a specially prepared series of Circulation Collections will be available for 

 gplioojs ip the pity area. A quarter of a million of dollars was given for this 



