602 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 929 



versity in 1883, and in 1889 the museum 

 was made an integral part of the Univer- 

 sity of the State of New York. A further 

 concentration took place in 1894 when the 

 university was fused with the New York 

 State Education Department, under which 

 a division of science was created. This 

 division was charged with the broad powers 

 of administration of the museum and with 

 the geology, paleontology, botany, ento- 

 mology, zoology, and archeology; in brief, 

 it is the scientific scope of the old Natural 

 History Survey of 1836 with the added cus- 

 todianship of all the materials brought in. 

 As compared with our central government, 

 it is the United States Geological Survey, 

 a part of the Agricultural Department and 

 the National Museum swept into one under 

 a bureau of education. Such unification is, 

 so far as we know, unique; it is certainly 

 logical in the sense that all state-supported 

 scientific work should be educational in the 

 very broadest sense as well as in the inter- 

 ests of pure research; as an administrative 

 system it is an experiment which is well 

 worth trying by our state, for it may be of 

 value in Washington, where concentration 

 of all the scientific bureaus of the govern- 

 ment has long been under consideration. 



Under the directors Hall, Smock, and 

 Merrill in the years that have passed since 

 1904, the date of the appointment of John 

 Mason Clarke as head of the museum and 

 of the survey, the historic lines of geology 

 and paleontology have been ably sustained, 

 lines which are among the most honored 

 traditions of the institution, together with 

 greater activity along lines which had not 

 been especially developed in its previous 

 history. Thus while the study of plant and 

 insect life has followed the earlier lines of 

 economic service to the state, there has been 

 continued advance in the study of mammal 

 and bird life, of the past and present life 

 of the Indian. Every effort is being made 



to represent in full in the museum the 

 fauna of this state and to exhibit it as 

 effectively as practicable. In archeology 

 the unique field is the study and portrayal 

 of the culture of the Iroquois, which brings 

 the museum in touch with the 6,000 Indians 

 of the state, their history, ambitions, and 

 ideals, and it is fortunate that the preserva- 

 tion of the traditions and the folklore of 

 this declining race is entrusted to the State 

 Museum. Following up the work of Lewis 

 H. Morgan, who probably contributed more 

 to initiating and advancing anthropological 

 work among the Indians of the state than 

 any other person, there were the writings 

 of Beauchamp and the studies of Converse, 

 while among the younger contributors may 

 be mentioned Parker, the present state 

 archeologist, and Skinner.^^ 



The law also provides that the State Mu- 

 seum shall cover the field of history, and 

 the initiation of this problem is large be- 

 cause it has hitherto been entirely neglected 

 by the state and important because of its 

 educational bearings. 



The original function of the museum as 

 a depository of all the scientific materials 

 brought in by the survey should be ex- 

 tended along lines similar to those followed 

 hy the National Museum of Washington, so 

 that the new Conservation Commission with 

 its interests in the forests, the fisheries, and 

 the game of the state shall find the rooms 

 of the State Museum equipped for the 

 scientific materials which come to the com- 

 mission. Similarly the department of the 

 state engineer, the departments of agricul- 

 ture, of health, and highways, should re- 

 gard the halls of the museum as the place 

 where the people are to find the visible 

 educational materials developed with the 

 growth of these several departments. This 

 cooperation is in keeping with the unifica- 



" Harriet Maxwell Converse, Arthur C. Parker, 

 Alanson Skinner. 



