August 13, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



207 



may be said to be the introduction of art 

 into their methods of illustration and exhi- 

 bition. Not only has a pleasing variety thus 

 been gained in the old methods of installa- 

 tion, but the attractive and well modeled 

 groups which have been made effectively 

 supplement the long rows of birds, shells, 

 rocks, etc., which constituted the sole ex- 

 hibits of earlier museums. In modem prac- 

 tise there are thus shown with more or less 

 detail not only objects, but their environ- 

 ment and surroundings. The lesson taught 

 by a single object no longer suffices; it must 

 be represented, if possible, in its natural 

 setting. This is, consciously or unconsci- 

 ously, a recognition of the fact that nothing 

 in nature is of isolated origin ; it is the prod- 

 uct of the working of complex and varied 

 forces. These forces, then, should be at 

 least hinted at in the representation of the 

 object. The food of an organism, the vari- 

 ous stages of its development, its habitat 

 and its habits must be represented before 

 the organism itself can be thoroughly 

 understood. But in the development of this 

 attractive and fascinating field, one note of 

 caution should perhaps be sounded. A 

 tendency to prefer imitation to reality is 

 not one which those interested in the prog- 

 ress of science at least should seek to pro- 

 mote. The existence of this tendency from 

 early times is shown us in the incident of 

 the Greek audience who applauded wildly 

 the actor who imitated the squealing of a 

 pig, but drove off as an impostor the peasant 

 who produced real squeals from a pig 

 hidden under his coat. A chance compan- 

 ion with whom I visited the battlefield of 

 Gettysburg was continually referring with 

 enthusiasm to the well-known panorama of 

 that battlefield, while in the locality itself 

 he took not the slightest interest. Desir- 

 able as is the introduction of the best of art 

 into our natural history museums, it should 

 not usurp the place of science, for other- 



wise they become museums of art and not 

 of science. Highly desirable as are mu- 

 seums of art and much as observance of 

 the principles of art is needed in the con- 

 duct of natural history museums, we should 

 not confuse them in modem development. 



Another cause for recent increased inter- 

 est in natural history museums is doubtless 

 a growing appreciation of the value of na- 

 ture study. The exigencies of city life have 

 practically closed the book of nature to 

 many dwellers in cities. There is one school 

 district that I know of in Chicago which 

 contains only two trees and at last accounts 

 one of them was dying. How shall the 

 wonderful lessons of nature of which man 

 is after all but a part, be taught to children 

 in the city unless there be institutions which 

 will depict and reproduce its forms? If 

 city life means that thousands of children 

 can never see birds, butterflies, flowers, 

 rocks, etc., in their native haunts, the city 

 should try to provide means to show the 

 form and, wherever possible, the substance 

 of these things, especially as in doing so it 

 can provide a far larger variety than would 

 naturally occur in any single locality. 



Another reason for an increased interest 

 in the work of natural history museums 

 may arise from a realization of how rapidly 

 many of the forms of nature are vanishing 

 before the progress of man and his works. 

 The leveling of forests, draining of marshes 

 and irrigating of deserts cause marked 

 changes in nature. The destruction of one 

 species makes changes in the habits and 

 habitat of others. These in turn react upon 

 their environment and cause new confu- 

 sion. The practical disappearance of the 

 Indian from the North American continent 

 was not wholly due to his forcible segrega- 

 tion by the white man, but in part at least 

 to the destruction of the buffalo, which con- 

 stituted his normal food supply. With the 

 buffalo disappeared, in part, at least, the 



