(2) 
In addition to these special exhibits, we possess a number 
of museums organized on the basis of a general representa- 
tion of vegetable products, each of them possessing some 
special characteristic of its own. The most important of 
these collections is that of the federal government at Wash- 
ington. Its object is chiefly economic, although its sci- 
entific value is great. Next in importance, perhaps, are 
the collections of the Philadelphia Museums. These, how- 
ever, are purely commercial and the method of their 
accumulation has been such as to preclude, to a great 
extent, the element of botanical authentication of the 
article, the commercial relations of the products themselves 
being the special object of illustration. In Chicago, we 
have the Field Columbian Museum, which aims particularly 
at the most elaborate possible representation of types. 
The special characteristics of our Museum are correct 
nomenclature, this method being followed throughout, and 
positive authentication of the articles exhibited. We pos- 
sess, it is true, a large amount of material from commercial 
sources, which, although gathered with every possible pre- 
caution as to authenticity, presents no prima facie evidence 
as to its botanical origin. ‘The more valuable portions of 
our exhibits are those which have been taken from the 
growing plants by special collectors, in connection with 
herbarium material displaying flowers, fruits, leaves, etc., 
which is suitably preserved in our own herbarium, with 
cross references from one collection to the other. In the 
pursuit of this object and in the extent to which it has been 
carried, our collections are probably unique. The presence 
of such authenticated specimens beside commercial samples 
of the same, and with an opportunity thus presented for 
comparison and confirmation, imparts a value to the latter 
which is beyond estimate, even from a practical point 
of view. 
Another distinguishing character of our collections is the 
extent to which aboriginal and domestic customs and uses 
are represented by them. At the first establishment of our 
