Apwl 12, 1907] 



SCIENCE, 



585 



■was studying people at close hand, for every- 

 where was present the evidence of intelligent 

 direction. It was evident that the objects on 

 exhibition were neither placed there with the 

 idea of their beauty nor was their arrange- 

 ment such as to present primarily a beautiful 

 picture, but rather one felt that as one passed 

 from the exhibit of one tribe to that of another 

 that the dominating features of each culture 

 were so presented that they were apparent, 

 and of course this was due to the fact that the 

 work of collecting and exhibiting had been 

 performed in an intelligent manner. The 

 collections revealed so far as possible the in- 

 fluence of environment both geographical and 

 historical as the culture of one tribe upon that 

 of another. This great series of exhibits 

 properly excited the admiration of anthropolo- 

 gists both at home and abroad, and the won- 

 derful growth of the department in such a 

 short time deserved the admiration of all who 

 were engaged in the study of anthropology. 



It seems, however, that the point of view in 

 the installation of this great mass of material 

 was wrong, for on visiting the museum to-day 

 one finds the condition so different from that 

 which prevailed two or three years ago that 

 one necessarily infers that the old point of 

 view is no longer held. It seems, furthermore, 

 that the present condition may be regarded as 

 a visible manifestation of this complete 

 change in policy. The first evidence of a 

 change in the point of view became manifest 

 when the great gallery containing the arche- 

 ological collection from South America was 

 thrown open to the public. The character of 

 the scheme of installation of this collection 

 was so singular that one felt that possibly an 

 experiment was being tried and that the ar- 

 rangement of the material might be only tem- 

 porary and consequently a judgment of the 

 merits of the scheme did not at the time seem 

 justifiable. Since this gallery was thrown 

 open to the public, however, the suspicion has 

 become a conviction that the former ideals 

 have been abandoned and new ones substi- 

 tuted. Thus it now appears that a great part 

 of the ethnological collections are to be re- 

 moved from exhibition and placed in storage, 

 where, it is said, they will be available for 



students, and that in their stead will be placed 

 on exhibition a series of type or standard or 

 unit exhibits illustrating certain phases and 

 areas of culture. Two such exhibits are fairly 

 complete and are open to public inspection, 

 namely, the Eskimo and the plains. We have 

 then, on the one hand, the fact that the former 

 scheme of installation has been abandoned, 

 that by far the larger part of the material 

 which was formerly exhibited in the halls de- 

 voted to ethnology has been or is soon to be 

 removed and placed in storage, and on the 

 other hand, we have in place of the old series 

 of actual exhibits, certain systematic exhibits 

 of which the Peruvian, the Eskimo and the 

 plains, which are at present installed, may be 

 regarded as typical. 



First a word concerning the storage of ma- 

 terial. Unquestionably in every institution 

 occasions arise when it becomes necessary to 

 withdraw from public exhibition for a longer 

 or shorter period of time large collections. 

 However necessary this may be, I am con- 

 vinced that collections, especially those of eth- 

 nology, which are forced into retirement al- 

 ways suffer. There is not only the inevitable 

 deterioration which always follows when eth- 

 nological specimens are packed away and 

 which is always to be considered, but there is 

 especially that loss of personal interest in such 

 collections which can never be completely re- 

 stored. The argument that such collections 

 are always available for study is on the whole 

 specious. As a matter of fact, at any rate in 

 anthropology, these collections are rarely de- 

 manded for study. The reason for this is, of 

 course, that one does not know what exists in 

 the storage rooms; nor can a catalogue of 

 storage material ever be of such a nature as to 

 make such collections of any great value. 

 When one visits a public institution like the 

 American Museum, which from its size, wealth 

 and position may be supposed to occupy a com- 

 manding position in American science, it is 

 not for the purpose of finding what they have 

 in storage but to see what they have on exhibi- 

 tion and to take advantage of the information 

 which may be thus obtained. The student 

 who desires to examine this material, having 

 ascertained that it exists in the museum. 



