JReviews — United States National Museum. 523 



(Eeport of the U.S. Nat. Mus. for 1903, No. 132, pp. 177-309, 

 with 29 plates ; 8vo, Wasliington, 1905.) 



II. Studies of the Museums and Kindred Institutions of 

 New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Chicago, with Notes on 

 some European Institutions. By A. B. Mkyer, Director of 

 the Royal Zoological, Anthropological, and Ethnographical 

 Museum in Dresden. (Report of the U.S. Nat. Mus. for 1903, 

 No. 133, pp. 311-608, with 40 plates ; 8vo, Washington, 1905.) 



1. — Professor Huxley defined a museum as " a consultative 

 library of objects." The National Museum is much more than 

 this, for besides being a museum wherein natural history specimens 

 are stored, it is also a distributing agency for the instruction of the 

 people of the whole country, not only for institutions occupied 

 exclusively with science, but also for those in which science is 

 taught as an accessory to other branches of study. Duplicate sets of 

 specimens are accordingly distributed, accurately named, and given 

 to public institutions in all parts of the country. 



The history of the museum may be divided into three periods ; 

 first, from its foundation in 1846 to 1857, during which time the 

 chief object was scientific research by means of the materials 

 gathered; second, from 1857 to 1876 the establishment became 

 a receptacle for scientific material which had already been studied, 

 a portion of it being exhibited to the public and thus made sub- 

 servient to education ; the third period witnessed the further 

 development of the educational purpose of the museum by providing 

 students of all countries with the means of pursuing their researches 

 within its walls. These three functions are indeed essential to the 

 life and progress of every museum, and they are promoted to 

 a remarkable extent by the National Museum at Washington. 



In order to meet the growing demands of the establishment and 

 to relieve the congested state of the storage space in the old building, 

 it was resolved in 1903 to erect a new one fully equipped with all 

 the most recent appliances. This building will be rectangular in 

 shape and faced with granite on all sides. It will have a length of 

 550 feet, a width of 318 feet, and a height above the basement floor 

 of 77 feet. The exhibition space will occupy the two middle stories, 

 the others being devoted to the many necessities of a large museum. 

 The net floor area will be about 411,374 square feet, or about 

 9 '44 acres. 



The last twelve pages of the report contain a detailed statement 

 of the space occupied by the museum on January 1st, 1904, 

 arranged mainly in explanation of the plan of the two principal 

 existing buildings. 



2. — This very full and interesting description of Museums and 

 Libraries is a translation of the original memoir published in 

 Dresden 1900-1903. The author was commissioned by the 

 authorities of the Royal Collections to undertake the work, and he 

 appears to have accomplished his task with great efficiency. He 

 considered that the libraries in the United States had in general 



