64 



SCIENCE. 



IVOL. II., No. 24. 



their frequent failures as instruments for the 

 education of the public. 



Two functions, that of museums of research 

 and that of museums of education, have been 

 confused in their dispL\y of specimens ; but, 

 while this shows the necessity of a separation 

 and a change of policj' in their choice of col- 

 lections for exhibition, it does not justify- the 

 withdrawal of valuable and useful records from 

 public view. Leave to consult original speci- 

 mens cannot be lightl}* granted, and the idio- 

 sj'ncrasies of their guardians is a large element 

 of uncertaint}- in the waj' of those desiring to 

 see such treasures. There are also classes of 

 persons dailj- on the increase who should, at 

 any rate, have the privilege of seeing them, 

 though not fit to be trusted with their direct 

 handling ; and the wants of this class cannot 

 be justl3- disregarded. We are therefore most 

 heartilj- in sj-mpathj- with Mr. Goode in his 

 opinion, that the highest value of original rec- 

 ords is given to them when they are placed 

 on exhibition ; but we probably differ in think- 

 ing that this should be done in museums or 

 collections exclusively' devoted to research, 

 and meant for the use of the special student 

 rather than the general public. 



Mr. Goode's third class of museums, the 

 educational, we should designate as the second 

 class ; since these are often separated from 

 the former, and ought always to be conducted 

 with distinct purposes, and governed hj a class 

 of men who are familiar with the educational 

 wants of the public, i.e., all those classes of 

 persons who must get their information through 

 the glass, and are not permitted to handle 

 specimens. The needs of this class are but 

 imperfeetlj- understood by the investigator, or, 

 if understood, very apt to be considered by 

 him as of slight importance. It is certainly 

 not his essential function to satisfy these de- 

 mands, as in the case of the true educator, 

 and as should be the case with the curator of 

 an educational collection. 



Mr. Goode's ideal of a great educational mu- 

 seum is accomplished by the union of the natu- 

 ral history and industrial museums ; and this 

 has evidently arisen from his experience and 



study of similar unions occurring more or less 

 accidentallj- in the ditfeieut great exhibitions 

 held in civilized countries of late j'ears. He 

 points out, that, while these great industrial 

 exhibitions have shown a tendenc}' to become 

 purely commercial, they have served, wherever 

 they have been held, as the starting-points, in 

 time and materials, of permanent industrial mu- 

 seums. The effect of the world's fair in Phila- 

 delphia in 1876, in accordance with this law, 

 demonstrated the educational value of a more 

 permanent industrial museum, and suggested 

 that an immense field of usefulness would be 

 open to an institution which should be based 

 upon similar grounds, but which would endeav- 

 or, by a more efficient and scientific arrange- 

 ment of its specimens, to impart " a consistent 

 and systematic idea of the resources of the 

 world and of human achievement." 



This novel and somewhat startling aim is 

 announced as the future guiding-star of the 

 National museum, which is declared to be in 

 the best possible trim for the accomplishment 

 of such a purpose, since it is now starting 

 anew, and is not encumbered by the immense 

 masses of duplicates which have become the 

 most serious obstacles in the path of the older 

 museums. It is, in other words, free to choose 

 the path of its future work ; and while this seems 

 to be true, and the author must be acknowl- 

 edged the best judge of the fact, we do not 

 find anj- allusion to the accumulations formerly 

 stored in the Smithsonian, nor as to how these 

 and other collections, made upon the old basis 

 for purely scientific research, are to be brought 

 into harmonj' with the new ideal. ^ It is much to 

 be regretted, that, in this prelimiuarj- announce- 

 ment of so important a national enterprise, the 

 author had not taken more space for such in- 

 teresting explanations, and also for the fuller 

 consideration of the arrangement of topics 

 according to their relative importance. 



This treatise shows, nevertheless, in all its 



1 Tbough we do find (as quoted in italics immediately bclow> 

 that these collections, and we presume those which will be con- 

 tinually flowing in from the Geologicil survey, the Fish com- 

 mission, and other sources, are to be arranged on a diflerent plan 

 from all the other collections. It would have greatly enlightened 

 US if we could have known what this plan was, but uothing_fur. 

 ther is said of it. 



