6 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



properly base their judgment as to the nature and degree of the civil- 

 ization of the people. 



It should be borne in mind that here in Washington under the roofs 

 of the Smithsonian and new Museum buildings are grouped together 

 collections which in London, Paris, or any other of the European 

 capitals are provided for in a group of museums, for accommodating 

 which a much larger number of equally commodious buildings is found 

 needful. 



POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE. 



It is possible, as I have pointed out in previous reports, to show that 

 Washington may readily be made the seat of one of the greatest 

 museums in the world. It will perhaps be neither practicable nor 

 desirable to gather together in Washington collections of ancient medi- 

 aeval art, such as those which adorn the capitals of Europe j but a 

 representative series of such objects will undoubtedly grow up, which 

 shall tend to educate the public taste, and to promote, so far as possi- 

 ble, the study of the elements of art and the history of civilization, as 

 well as to forward the growth of the arts of design. This having been 

 accomplished, the attention of the Museum should be directed mainly 

 toward the exhibition of the geology and natural history of America, 

 and its natural resources, to the preservation of memorials of its 

 aboriginal inhabitants, and'the exposition of the arts and industries of 

 America. 



It is evident that the National Museum of the United States will of 

 necessity have features peculiar to itself, developed in response to the 

 peculiar needs of the people of this continent. It should be remem- 

 bered that the national collections of every principal European nation 

 are divided into several groups, each under separate administration, 

 though often within the general control of some central authority. In 

 France, for instance, most of the museums are under the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction, and in England, to a less extent, under the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art. 



In the great European capitals the public collections are scattered 

 through various parts of the cities, in museums with distinctive names 

 and independent in their organizations. Much of the work which 

 should properly be done by such museums is omitted, because no one 

 of them has seen lit to undertake it; while, on the other hand, much 

 labor is duplicated, which is perhaps equally unfortunate, collections of 

 similar scope and purpose being maintained in different parts of the 

 same city. One of the chief objections to such division of effort is that 

 much of the value of large collections in any department is lost by 

 failure to concentrate them where they may be studied and compared 

 side by side. In Washington the national collections are all, without 

 exception, concentrated in one group of buildings. The Army Medical 

 Museum now occupies a building side by side with those under the 



