January 8, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



,41 



that the Museum constitutes no organic 

 part of the Institution, and that, whenever 

 Congress so directs, it may be transferred 

 to any designated supervision without af- 

 fecting the general plans and operations 

 connected with the ' increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men.' " 



There is another and most serious objec- 

 tion to the present organization which is, in 

 a degree, personal in its nature. There is 

 an approved tradition that the Assistant 

 Secretary shall, on the occurrence of a va- 

 cancy, succeed to the Secretaryship, and 

 the latter should, in the best interests of 

 science, be held alternately by representa- 

 tives of the two great divisions of science, 

 physical and biological. It will almost in- 

 variably happen that the naturalist only 

 will have any special taste or fitness for 

 museum work, and upon him, then, both as 

 Assistant Secretary and Secretary, this bur- 

 den will fall. If he is chosen for his expe- 

 rience and skill as a museum director, he 

 may fail as a Secretary of the Institution 

 if he should in time succeed to this high 

 office, for we may not expect to find many 

 such men as Goode, who, in a remarkable 

 degree, combined the qualities necessary to 

 a successful administration of both func- 

 tions. On the other hand, one selected with 

 a view to his eventually being a worthy suc- 

 cessor to the distinguished men who have 

 thus far guided the destinies of the Insti- 

 tution may not be a good museum admin- 

 istrator. 



Finally, the whole may be put in two or 

 three simple propositions. There is no 

 logical connection between the Smithsonian 

 Institution and the National Museum. The 

 Museum is a most important institution. 



it is now well established, its maintainance 

 is demanded by the people, and it will thrive 

 under a competent director, responsible only 

 to Congress or to the head of some depart- 

 ment under which it could properly be placed. 

 The usefulness of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion will be increased by the diminution of 

 burdensome administrative duties which 

 were never contemplated in its original 

 scheme, and for the existence of which there 

 can be no reasonable excuse. Its legitimate 

 work is too important to be interfered with 

 by demands which can be met in ordinary 

 channels, and if such wide departures from 

 its early policy continue to be forced upon it 

 by ill-considered legislation, there is reason 

 to fear that its splendid career during its 

 first half century will not be repeated in the 

 second. 



In conclusion it ought to be said that in 

 the above it is not intended to reflect the 

 views of the present distinguished head of 

 the Institution or of any of its officers. We 

 are quite ignorant as to what these views 

 may be, nor do we wish to be understood 

 as criticising, in the slightest degree, the 

 present admirable administration of the 

 Institution or of the Museum. There are 

 doubtless valid arguments, such as the dan- 

 ger that the Museum might fall among politi- 

 cians, which could be urged for the contin- 

 uation of the present arrangement. Still 

 we believe that, for the reasons recorded, the 

 interests of both institutions and the interest 

 of science throughout the world would be 

 furthered by a separation of the two organ- 

 izations. If the regents are strongly of the 

 opinion that the danger of political inter- 

 meddling is too great to justify a complete 

 severance of existing relations at this time, 



