7J 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 73. 



taste and skill displayed in their housing and 

 installation, the latter half, and especially the 

 last quarter, of our century marks a prodigious 

 advance. 



It is rather remarkable that, while so much 

 of thought and labor has been expended upon 

 museums, and so much has been written upon 

 various special questions connected with their 

 administration, hitherto no attempt has been 

 made to give a compact, systematic and com- 

 prehensive formulation of the principles of mu- 

 seum administration. That desideratum is ad- 

 mirably supplied by Dr. Goode's little treatise. 

 No more competent hand could have essayed 

 the task. Graduated from Wesleyan University 

 a quarter of a century ago. Dr. Goode served 

 an apprenticeship of a few years in the adminis- 

 tration of the little museum of that institution, 

 and displayed from the beginning the scientific 

 and administrative ability which was soon to 

 find an adequate field in the National Museum. 

 To his genius is largely due the rapid advance 

 in methods of installation, labeling and general 

 administration, which has given the United 

 States National Museum a rank among the 

 foremost, not only in the wealth of its material, 

 "but also in the excellence of its arrangement. 

 In the study of museum administration. Dr. 

 Goode has made himself familiar with most of 

 the great museums of the world, and with many 

 of the most important of the great expositions 

 of the last quarter-century. On this subject, 

 therefore, he speaks ' as one having authority. ' 



Within the compass of about three score and 

 ten pages he has formulated the general prin- 

 ciples of the relation of the museum to other in- 

 stitutions and to the community, the classifica- 

 tion of museums, the preservation, preparation, 

 installation, labeling and use of the materials of 

 which the museum is the custodian. These 

 j)rinciples are often stated in the sententious 

 form of aphorisms, many of which deserve to 

 become maxims for the guidance of museum 

 workers. The author finds room, however, to 

 illustrate the subject by brief but exceedingly 

 interesting notes on many of the leading mu- 

 seums. 



The sections of the paper treating of the gen- 

 eral relations and classification of museums have 

 been published in Science, August 23, 1895, 



and January 31, 1896. It is therefore super- 

 fluous to give any criticism on those portions of 

 the work. The more technical parts of the 

 work, referring to the treatment of specimens, 

 labeling, and installation in general, are of spe- 

 cial interest to museum workers. 



In the section on specimens, emphasis is 

 placed on the idea of the limitation of every 

 museum to a definite plan and scope. The 

 authorities of a museum, instead of collecting 

 with a dragnet all objects that may be of inter- 

 est to anyone, should decline to receive speci- 

 mens or collections of specimens not germane to' 

 their plan. In the interest of this limitation and 

 specialization, the policy is advocated of exten- 

 sive transfers of material from one museum to 

 another by exchange or gift. The doctrine is 

 undoubtedly a sound one, though it is easy to 

 see that, in the case of small museums with 

 limited endowments, dependent for their main- 

 tenance and progress on the good will of vari- 

 ous benefactors, the doctrine cannot be rigor- 

 ously put in practice. In the same spirit it is 

 urged that not all the specimens belonging to 

 any museum should be exhibited. The exhibi- 

 tion series especially should be made to conform 

 to a definite plan. The series should be sym- 

 metrical, and superfluities should be rigorously 

 excluded. This rule, unquestionably sound in 

 principle, will naturally be subject to some 

 modification in practice. The distinction in 

 purpose and in administration between the ex- 

 hibition series and the study series is admirably 

 formulated. 



The subject of labels is treated very fully and 

 satisfactorily. Emphasis is placed on the value, 

 in the exhibition series, of somewhat elaborate 

 descriptive labels — a means of popular instruc- 

 tion which is admirably exemplified in the 

 National Museum. 



"We are tempted to copy a few of the pithy 

 aphorisms in which the paper abounds. 



"A finished museum is a dead museum." 



" It is the duty of every museum to be pre- 

 eminent in at least one specialty. ' ' 



"A museum officer or employ^ should neyer 

 be the possessor of a private collection." 



"An efficient educational museum may be 

 described as a collection of instructive labels, 

 each illustrated by a well-selected specimen." 



