158 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. m. No. 57. 



With the commercial museum iu respect to 

 all products and materials used in com- 

 merce and manufactures. 



3. There is no such thing in existence to- 

 day as a general Technological Museum, 

 conducted upon a liberal plan and doing 

 useful educational work. The possibility 

 of establishing such a museum remains to 

 be demonstrated. Attempts have been made 

 at the close of various international exposi- 

 tions, but without success. 



4. It is possible that experience may .show 

 that museum work in this field can best be 

 done in connection with Museums of Nat- 

 ural History and Anthropology, organizing 

 sections of economic zoology in connection 

 with zoological museums, economic geology 

 and botany, respectively ,with the botanical 

 and geological collections. In this way, at 

 least, the natural products and the crude 

 materials could be disposed of to advantage, 

 and the manufactured products, tools and 

 processes, on the other hand, could be 

 shown by the Museums of Anthropology 

 and Art, and in connection with the Me- 

 chanical or Patent Museums ; though after 

 all a factory in actual operation is the best 

 place to study most modern industries. 



[The constantly changing interests of com- 

 merce, dependent upon changing fashions and 

 the caprice of markets, might safely be left to 

 the Exposition and Fair, or, if need be, cared 

 for by commercial organizations. In the City 

 of Philadelphia, for instance, there is a most 

 useful permanent exhibition of objects and ma- 

 terials used in the construction and ornamenta- 

 tion of houses, kept up by the ' Building Trades 

 Association.'] 



F. Commercial Museums. 



1. The Commercial Museum has to do 

 with salable crude material and manufac- 

 tured articles; with markets, means of com- 

 mercial distribution, prices and the demand 

 and supply of trade. 



2. It may properly be connected with the 

 Technological Museum, but for the fact 



that its purposes are likely to be more akin 

 to those of the exposition or fair, involving 

 a frequent renewal of exhibits in connection 

 with commercial changes, and often certain 

 features of competitive advertising or dis- 

 play on the part of private exhibitors. 



3. The function of this class of museums 

 is two-fold: 



a. To exhibit to home producers the char- 

 acter and location of foreign markets. 



b. To exhibit to foreign buyers the location 

 and products of the home producer. 



4. Although the usefulness of the com- 

 mercial museum has not yet been fully 

 demonstrated, it is conceivable that it might 

 be of great service, could it be made the 

 medium of wide international communica- 

 tion, and the means of a comprehensive 

 system of exchange, through which the col- 

 lections should be kept up to date and in- 

 dicate the condition of the various markets 

 of the world. 



Essential to the success of such a museum 

 would probably be a bureau of information, 

 through which practical knowledge con- 

 cerning prices, shipment and the quality of 

 products might be obtained by manufac- 

 turers and other interested persons, and 

 samples distributed for use in experiment 

 and comparison. 



[Examples of Commercial Museums may be 

 found in the Mus6e de Melle at Ghent ; that of 

 the Chamber of Commerce at Liege, founded in 

 1888, and the Ottoman Commercial Museum, 

 established in 1890 at Constantinople. These 

 are too recent, however, to afford many lessons.] 



G. National Museums. 

 1. National Museumscontainthetreasures 

 belonging to national governments and are 

 the legitimate successors of those treasure- 

 houses of monarchs, princes, and ecclesias- 

 tical establishments which, until within the 

 last two centuries, were the sole representa- 

 tives of the museum idea. Every great 

 nation now has a museum, or a group of 

 museums more or less liberally supported, 



