200 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 34. 



seums, and the principles of museum ad- 

 ministration are entirely applicable to them. 



2. An herbarium in its usual form corre- 

 sponds to the study series in a museum, 

 and is capable of expansion to the full scope 

 of the general museum. 



3. Certain churches and ecclesiastical 

 edifices and classical anticxuities in place, 

 when they have been pronounced ' public 

 monuments,' are subject to the principles of 

 museum administration. 



4. Many cities, like Eome, Naples, Milan 

 and Florence, by reason of the number of 

 buildings, architectural features, sculpture 

 and other objects in the streets and squares, 

 together with the historical houses duly la- 

 beled by tablets, have become j^ractically 

 great museums, and these various objects 

 are administered much in the manner of 

 museums. Indeed, the number of ' Public 

 Monuments ' in Italy is so great that the 

 whole country may properly be described 

 as a museum of art and history. A govern- 

 ment commission for the preservation of 

 the monuments of history and art regulates 

 the contents of every church, monastery 

 and public edifice, the architectural features 

 of private buildings, and even private col- 

 lections, to the extent of requiring that 

 nothing shall be removed from the country 

 without governmental sanction. Each Ital- 

 ian town is thus made a museum, and in 

 Rome the site of the Forum and the adja- 

 cent ancient structures has been set aside 

 as an outdoor museum under the name of 

 the Passegiata Archeologica. 



Similar government control of public 

 monuments and works of art exists in 

 Greece and Egypt, and in a lesser degree 

 in the Ottoman Empire, and for half a cen- 

 tury there has been a Commission of His- 

 toric Monuments in France, which has not 

 only succeeded in protecting the national 

 antiquities, but has published an exceed- 

 inglj^ important series of descriptive mono- 

 graphs concerning them. 



THE RESPONSIBILITIES AIJD REQUIREMENTS 

 OF MUSEUMS. 



A. ITie Relation of the Museum to the Com- 

 munity. 



1. The museum meets a need which is 

 felt by every intelligent community and fur- 

 nishes that which cannot be supplied by any 

 other agency. The museum does not exist 

 except among enlightened peoples, and 

 attains its highest development only in 

 great centres of civilization. 



2. The museum is more closely in touch 

 with the masses than the university and 

 learned society, and quite as much so as 

 the public library, while, even more than 

 the last, it is a recent outgrowth of modern 

 tendencies of thought. Therefore, 



3. The public museum is a necessity in 

 every highly civilized community. 



B. The Mutual Responsibilities of the Com- 

 munity and the Museum. 



1. The museums in the midst of a com- 

 munity perform certain functions which are 

 essential to its welfare, and hence arise mu- 

 tual responsibilities between the community 

 and the museum administrator. 



2. The museum administrator must con- 

 duct bis work with the highest possible de- 

 gree of efficiency, in order to retain the con- 

 fidence of the community. 



3. The community should provide ade- 

 quate means for the support of the mu- 

 seum. 



4. A failure on the part of the one must 

 inevitably lead to a corresponding failure 

 on the part of the other. 



C. The Specific Responsibilities of the Museum. 

 1. The museum should be held responsible 



for special services, chiefiy as follows : 



a. For the advancement of learning. — To aid 

 learned men in the work of extending the 

 boundaries of knowledge, by afitbrdiug them 

 the use of material for investigation, lab- 

 oratories and appliances. 



