Julys, 1.898.] 



SCIENCE. 



37 



and with a proper sense of restraint, of the 

 elaborations of the science. 



Mineralogy offers a field of attractive ex- 

 periment and has in some museums reached 

 stages of taxonomic complexity. The his- 

 tory of minerals might very properly form 

 the introductory stage with examples of 

 ancient nomenclature : that followed by 

 Theophrastus, Aristotle, Dioscorides and 

 Pliny ; then the later and mediteval period 

 with reference to the lucubrations of Mar- 

 bodius, Albertus Magnus and Agricola ; 

 and then the crystallographic systemic 

 period of Jamitzer, Steno, Bergman, Ronie 

 de Lisle, Haiiy, Bernhardi, Weiss, Mohs, 

 Newman, AVhewell, Miller. Following this 

 aa a logical pendent would come an exhibit 

 of crystals with an anatomical analysis of 

 their parts, somewhat as Professor Crosby 

 has devised in the Museum of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. The physical 

 properties, color, lustre, hardness, refrac- 

 tion, fluorescence, fusibility of minerals and 

 illustrations of optical principles would be 

 incorporated in this section. Finally, their 

 distribution, which, under lithological and 

 and economic supervision, would show the 

 occurrence of the silicates, crystalline 

 schists, marbles, limestones, elastics, erup- 

 tives, and the zones and centers of deposit 

 of the useful or valuable ores, all illumin- 

 ated by diagrams, maps and photographs. 

 Then would follow the mineral cabinet, a 

 display of expressive and beautiful speci- 

 mens, subordinated to a chemical system, 

 in which the design so well illustrated by 

 Professor Egleston, in the cabinet of the 

 School of Mines, of showing the varieties of 

 a mineral, often so extreme and perplexing, 

 would receive complete vindication. It 

 seems impossible that a conspectus of min- 

 erals, arranged upon so wide and exhaus- 

 tive and illuminative a plan, would not 

 leave the attentive mind notably strength- 

 ened and informed. Similarly, in the va- 

 rious departments of zoology the most at- 



tractive and intelligent development of 

 visual instruction could be followed with 

 most fascinating and novel results. In 

 geology, of which it has been lately re- 

 marked by Professor A. Geikie with rela- 

 tion to the extraordinary vitality of that 

 science in the United States that " surveys, 

 professorships, museums, societies, journals 

 in almost every State are the outward em- 

 bodiment of the geological zeal that appears 

 to animate the whole community ;" in geol- 

 ogy the scheme of historical development 

 might also be partially followed, while an 

 elaboration in diagrams, photographs and 

 discriptions of the morphology and signifi- 

 cance of the groups of fossils should take 

 precedence of an endless display of species. 

 In large and capacious halls the systematic 

 and the explanatory methods might both 

 be utilized and combined. And, finally, in 

 this connection, there seems a fascinating 

 propriety in making a museum also a gal- 

 lery of biography ; the faces and some short 

 sketch of their lives of the great investiga- 

 tors and systematists would seem appropri- 

 ately placed amidst the teeming results and 

 facts their genius and industry have pro- 

 duced and discovered. 



The mechanical details of exhibition re- 

 quire all the charm, convenience, and even 

 beauty, which the resources of the institu- 

 tion permit, and especially, should all archi- 

 tectural construction bend subserviently to 

 the underlying necessity in every museum, 

 the best illumination. Light, bathing every- 

 thing with luminous clearness, is the very 

 symbol of the museum purpose. 



L. P. Geatacap. 



Ameeican Museum op Natueal Histoey. 

 {To he Concluded.) 



ANTHEOPOLOGICAL EXHIBIT OF THE U. S. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM AT THE 



OMAHA EXPOSITION. 



The frequency with which the National 

 Museum has been called upon to prepare 



