July 15, 1898.] 



SCIENCE, 



61 



the parent. A few Aurelia of medium size 

 were taken on the 7th, and again on the 

 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th. 



On May 10th a few small specimens of 

 Tubularia couthouii were dredged at Quick's 

 Hole, and the large stems of specimens 

 dredged on the 17th seemed to show signs of 

 regenerative processes. On the 11th hydro- 

 medusse were hatched from hydroids of 

 Obelia, and on the 13th a few were seen in 

 the water around the station. Tima formosa 

 was not seen during the month, though in 

 1896 the species was abundant in Narra- 

 gansett Bay. H. C. Bumpus. 



NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS {11.). 

 THE MUSEUM AS A TEACHER. 



The museum, by an intellectual treat- 

 ment of its collections,^ has, as I have shown 

 already, discharged a large part of its 

 function as a teacher. It remains for it to 

 provide guides and lectures. The guides 

 can be small books, leaflets or albums. 

 The lectures are a more important feature. 

 They are inaugurated in many museums ; 

 the series given in Washington, under the 

 auspices of the National Government, and 

 those given in London by the British 

 Museum are examples illustrating this 

 feature at its best. Lectures demand for 

 "their best popular value a combination of a 

 firm and thorough command of the subject, 

 a simple and yet adequate verbal exposition 

 which may with some, according to their 

 exceptional talent, assume a high literary 

 quality, and lastly ample and stimulating 

 illustration, either in slides by projection or 

 in natural specimens. It is unnecessary to 

 discuss the best form of a lecture. One 

 point can be conclusively claimed, that the 

 feature of entertainment should not expel 

 out of all semblance of existence correct 

 definite instruction, and that the philosophy 

 of the topic should not be presented in 

 broken half-truths, but envelop the listener 

 •with the penetrating atmosphere of thought. 



THE MUSEUM AS AN INVESTIGATOE. 



The museum completes its scope of rela- 

 tions to the great world of scientific in- 

 terests when it uses its resources in the 

 prosecution of original research and in 

 publishing that which requires publicity. 

 Biological problems are more naturally 

 carried on in schools devoted to that 

 subject, but the gathering of evidences and 

 facts in natural history, facts bearing on 

 distribution of animals, their habits and 

 physiology, the solution of problems in 

 ethnography and archseology, the collect- 

 ing of new and valuable specimens in 

 geology and mineralogy, the illustration of 

 faunas and floras, description of new species, 

 and revision of old, are topics which natu- 

 rally engage the attention of the Museum of 

 Natural History. The series of publica- 

 tions that have proceeded from the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, the National Museum, 

 and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge, form a library of research and 

 generous compilation almost unrivalled. 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL 

 HISTORY. 



In 1867 New York was without a 

 museum. The American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences had in Boston brought together 

 collections which formed a nucleus for 

 yearly accretions, and furnished material 

 for study and publication. In Philadelphia 

 Franklin had unmistakably imparted, by 

 example and a contagious influence, the 

 spirit of research to groups of scientific 

 minds. The American Philosophical So- 

 ciety and the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Sciences by their important papers, the 

 accumulation of a varied store of material, 

 and the establishment of a remarkable 

 library, furnished the most significant mon- 

 ument to the imperishable ardor of the 

 great printer. 



In Washington Smithson had laid the 

 foundation of a museum and established a 



