A PLEA FOR NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS.. 645 



group of rocks in that section of the country, so one could hardly fail to see the 

 plan in the order of creation, could see where coal may or may not be found, 

 and also determine the probable presence or absence of iron, lead, zinc, baryta, 

 ochres, clays, etc. A complete museum would also show the plants, animals, 

 fruits, and other products from every quarter of the globe, so one in reading 

 about different countries, or who has a special interest in some one. can see what 

 organisms belong there and can get a good idea of the country without going to 

 see it. 



The wanton destruction or waste of valuable scientific material is a matter 

 for very serious consideration. This unintentional, though not less impoverish- 

 ing vandalism, is lamentably frequent and prevailing. Skeletons, pottery, stone 

 and flint implements, and other remains of our pre-historic inhabitants are fre- 

 quently plowed up in the fields. They attract a moment's notice, perhaps are 

 picked up, then laid away and forgotten, or more frequently are crushed and scat- 

 tered by the plow till they are rendered utterly worthless. Mastodon and other 

 remains often share the same fate. It is exceedingly trying to the sensibilities of 

 a lover of nature to see the almost criminal carelessness of the unappreciating 

 possessors of these instructive objects. Sometimes they are held, from some in- 

 definable fancy, with a tenacity which might argue a love of nature, and yet the 

 way the precious things are abused and ruined dispels at once this charitable de- 

 lusion, and is often enough to stir up the righteous indignation of a saint. May 

 not the lover of science under these circumstances obey the command of Scrip- 

 ture, "be ye angry and sin not." Among several somewhat similar experiences, 

 the writer distinctly remembers one in which a student solicited a valuable speci- 

 men for him as curator of a growing museum, and was indignantly refused with 

 the statement that the owner thought more of the specimen than of the curator. 

 Yet its beautiful angles and faces were destroyed and the whole ruined by the 

 knocks and kicks it received b.y being tumbled about in a dingy out-building. In 

 nearly every home, or about it, objects of scientific value are to be found lying 

 about where they are liable to be injured and lost. They are doing nobody any 

 good, yet they could readily command valuable returns to those possessing them, 

 and at the same time would contribute very greatly to the interest of people in 

 science and, hence, to its rapid advancement. These are held as curiosities or given 

 to children for their amusement; and whether held by young or old, if they elicit 

 no thought or study, and create no knowledge or inquiry concerning their' his- 

 tory, they are merely children^ s toys, affording no profit — simply idle amusement. 

 A child can be amused with either a watch or a jumping-jack to play with ; but 

 the latter is more economical and equally effectual. These valuable historic ob- 

 jects, as mere curiosities, in the hands of old or young, are virtually watches for 

 children's playthings instead of jumping-jacks. It may be of interest to such de- 

 lighted owners to know that all scientific material has a certain money value — " a 

 value which," says a dealer in this material, "can be as surely and as speedily 

 realized as that of any description of property." Holders of such specimens can 

 also exchange them, with any well-stocked museum, to mutual advantage, for 



