REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I914 II 



that the excess of specimens then acquired be distributed to certain 

 schools of the State. A list of about fifty schools, made up largely 

 upon the application from the schools themselves, was approved by 

 the Board and collections were sent to these from time to time, all 

 duly labeled and explained. Today only occasional traces of these 

 collections are to be found, most of them having been thrown 

 together or thrown away in careless disregard. The effort was a 

 fruitless one. It resulted in little good to the schools and in con- 

 siderable damage to the State Museum until by a formal vote of 

 the Regents the sending out of collections to the schools was dis- 

 continued. 



In the present status of natural science in our lower and secondary 

 schools there seems little practical objective in the somewhat costly 

 enterprise of circulating general traveling collections of scientific 

 objects. We are not aware that in any of the older and more 

 experienced countries of the globe efforts are made to disseminate 

 knowledge in this way even where the sciences are still honored as 

 fundamental factors of an elementary education. Experience has 

 taught them that the youth who would know geology or botany or 

 zoology or whatever science, must be encouraged to make his own 

 observations and his own collections and not be overwhelmed by a 

 burden of illustrations from all parts of the world which are beyond 

 his powers of assimilation. 



Much more efficient, as a factor in science training, would be the 

 encouragement of every school in the establishment and mainte- 

 nance of a school museum, the museum to be subject to inspection 

 and supervision by the Museum Department. But even this would 

 be effective only when the teacher of science in the schools is made 

 to inspire an interest in the upbuilding of such museums. 



Birds of New York. During the past year volume 2 of Birds 

 of New York, which constitutes State Museum Memoir 12, was 

 published and distributed. These two sumptuous quarto volumes 

 have aroused a widespread interest and the demand for them has 

 been very large, even though they have been for the most part 

 restricted to sale. On account of the small edition of the work and 

 its large size, made necessary by the lengthy descriptive accounts 

 of every species of bird occurring in the State, and the high price 

 attached to it, the work in this form has not reached the public so 

 fully as desired, and it has been thought best to widen the useful- 

 ness of this publication by issuing more freely a reprint of the 

 106 color plates. As these plates carry the names of the birds, it is 

 thought that they will serve an effective purpose, even without any 



