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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. ! 



produce little except rivalry and bad feel- 

 ing, nor through socialism which is essen- 

 tially unnatural, but through the applica- 

 tion to human welfare of all of nature's 

 resources, known and still to be discovered. 

 Thfise resources are those of the Creator 

 and therefore administer to our spiritual, 

 intellectual and moral as well as to our 

 bodily welfare. The great pathway to 

 state progress is knowledge, obedience and 

 unselfish utilization of the happiness which 

 nature puts in our hands. 



Our theme to-day is the part which the 

 museum has exerted and is destined to 

 exert toward this millennium of the twen- 

 tieth century. 



The rise of the museum as a new force 

 in town, city, state and nation is the 

 latest phase of educational evolution. The 

 school, the coUege, and the university have 

 gone in advance; the museum follows and 

 is winning its own place and influence 

 because it supplies a demand which none 

 of its sister institutions fills. The very 

 fact of this independent development is a 

 proof that the museum is not one of the 

 luxuries of civilization but an essential and 

 vital force in the enlightenment of the 

 people. Every community, small or large, 

 needs its museum as it needs its schools 

 and its churches. This rise, which is espe- 

 cially remarkable in certain cities of Ger- 

 many and Austria, throughout England, 

 and above all in the United States during 

 the past quarter century, is largely due to 

 what may be called the new museum idea, 

 namely, that the museum is not a con- 

 servative but a progressive educational 

 force, that it has a teaching quality or 

 value peculiar to itself, that the museum 

 succeeds if it teaches, fails partially if it 

 merely amuses or interests people and fails 

 entirely if it simply mystifies. The old 

 museum idea was that of a sanctuary or 

 refuge, a safe deposit vault for curious. 



rare, or beautiful objects which might be 

 lost or destroyed ; the ignorant visitor was 

 tolerated rather than attracted, the curator 

 was a keeper, not a teacher. The new 

 spirit within the natural history museum 

 is the educational spirit, and this is ani- 

 mated by what may be called its ethical 

 sense, its sense of public duty, its realiza- 

 tion that the general welfare of the people 

 is the prime reason for its existence, that 

 exploration, research, exhibition and pub- 

 lication should all contribute to this, that 

 to serve a community the museum must 

 reach out to all parts of nature and must 

 master what nature has to show and to 

 teach. The museum will flourish if the 

 high educational service of the state is 

 inscribed over its portals and instilled in 

 the minds of every member of the staff 

 from the highest to the lowest. 



What renders this celebration a great 

 one is that the ideal just sketched is largely 

 exemplified in the New York State Mu- 

 seum, in the historic fact that the noble 

 men of science and the wise rulers of our 

 state have long been leaders in one of the 

 great principles of museum development, 

 namely, that the foundation of a state 

 museum is mastery of the natural history 

 of the state itself. In this regard since 

 1836 New York has been holding the torch 

 for all the other states of the union. There 

 has already evolved here that intimate 

 union between a natural history survey, 

 pure scientific research, a museum and the 

 public welfare which the most enlightened 

 communities in the civilized world have 

 either attained or are striving to attain. 



There remains to be developed by the 

 Education Department through the mu- 

 seum the great work of spreading the 

 beneficent products of this union through- 

 out the public educational institutions of 

 the state. This celebration is auspicious 

 because it prepares the way for this new 



