668 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 672 



the label, and if the latter is not there, then 

 the visitor, if he is from Chicago, will hunt 

 up the first available attendant and ask what 

 the name of the specimen is. This experience 

 has been repeated a thousand times in the 

 museum under the charge of the writer. This 

 shows clearly that a good label is an im- 

 portant item. It has been stated by some mu- 

 seum men that the public will not read labels, 

 but here again the writer's experience, both in 

 his own institution and while visiting the mu- 

 seums in New York and Washington, is at 

 variance with this statement, for of the 

 visitors actually seen fully seventy per cent, 

 read some of the labels. This presupposes, of 

 course, that the labels are printed or are 

 written in a legible manner. 



For purposes of instruction it is obviously 

 impossible to arrange large collections from 

 all points of view, nor is this necessary, be- 

 cause the teacher will select from the exhibit 

 material those sections which best illustrate 

 the problem at hand. The possibilities of 

 variation in systematic exhibition are endless 

 and it requires an administrator with positive 

 genius to successfully travel the middle road. 

 The large museums, however, should aim to 

 have systematic collections in all branches, 

 sufficiently exhaustive to clearly indicate our 

 present knowledge of the science. This does 

 not mean, of course, that every known species 

 and variety shall be exhibited, but that enough 

 shall be available to the public to indicate the 

 advance in each particular branch of science. 

 The public expects this and should not meet 

 with disappointment. 



It is a mistake to prepare large exhibits 

 primarily for the schools, because each school 

 will use the collections for a different purpose 

 and in a different manner and the selection of 

 material must be left to the teacher. It is 

 becoming apparent to some museum men that 

 each school must possess its own small and 

 selected museum with which to teach the prin- 

 ciples of science, and the larger museum will 

 be ultimately used as an adjunct to the school 

 museum when the pupil is able to more easily 

 grasp the significance of the larger exhibits. 

 This plan is now being successfully carried 

 out by several Chicago schools and these 



schools have also successfully demonstrated 

 that concentration of thought can be secured 

 in a large hall which is used by the public 

 and which is as systematically arranged as it 

 is possible to make a collection.^ 



It is probably true that the smaller museums 

 are in closer touch with the schools and with 

 the public than the larger museums are. This 

 may be due to the fact that the collections are 

 more concentrated and hence more available 

 for systematic study. It has seemed to the 

 writer that an expansion of the systems in 

 use by the smaller museums would make the 

 larger museums much more useful to the 

 schools as well as to the general public. The 

 writer can by no means agree with the state- 

 ment made by Dr. Boaz that a thorough sys- 

 tematization of the large museum is impos- 

 sible or that systematic museums must of 

 necessity be small. A museum, large or small, 

 without a thorough systematization would be 

 an absolute failure and of little value for 

 scientific study. There seems also, to the 

 writer at least, too much concern about the 

 seeming conflict between the interests of the 

 public and of the scientist. There should be 

 no conflict if once we divorce ourselves from 

 the idea that we must of necessity try to please 

 the public. Visitors will crowd the museum 

 halls no matter what is exhibited or its manner 

 of exhibition, and it lies with the museum 

 administrator to arrange and install his col- 

 lections for the best interests and for the ad- 

 vancement of science, for which reason alone 

 the museum is in existence. The principal 

 function of museums, large and small, is the 

 acquisition and preservation for future study 

 of such material as will throw light upon the 

 great problems of life which confront us and 

 which are engaging our attention. The ex- 

 hibition of material is secondary to this great 

 work. In the near future more of the larger 

 museums will doubtless follow in the foot- 

 steps of the National Museum and select 

 broad-minded men as curators of exhibits, 

 leaving the specialists free to carry on their 

 studies. 

 In conclusion the writer wishes to state as 

 = See the Museums Journal for August, 1905, 

 p. 50. 



