236 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the call of the directors of the New York Museum, he became manager 

 of it. 



The sons of Peale who had real tastes in zoology were both of the 

 name of Titian. Titian Peale, by Charles Willson's first wife, was 

 becoming a naturalist of great promise and of great help to his father, 

 when he died at the age of eighteen. In memory of this son Peale 

 named a child by his second wife Titian. This Titian became an or- 

 nithologist 13 of some distinction, and was conservator of the collections 

 of the Philadelphia Museum for many years. 



Peale as a Museum Director 

 As we have seen, Charles Willson Peale was an enthusiastic col- 

 lector. The object of these collections was the education of the public. 

 Peale's ideas as to the function of museums are best illustrated by some 

 extracts from a lecture introductory to a series of forty that he de- 

 livered in the winter of 1800-1801. 1 * He wrote that a museum should 

 teach the economic use of animals and plants. Says Peale : 



A farmer ought to know what reptiles best aid and protect the fruit of his 

 labors, and not through ignorance destroy such as feed on animals more de- 

 structive to his grain and fruits; nor possess antipathies to those that he 

 ought to cherish. 



A museum should exert a moral influence in the community. Said 

 the lecturer: 



An instance of this is in the memory of many of my hearers. The chiefs 

 of several nations of Indians who had an hereditary enmity, happened to meet 

 unexpectedly in the museum in 1796; they regarded themselves with consider- 

 able emotion which in some degree subsided when, by their interpreters, they 

 were informed, that each party, ignorant of the intention of the other, had 

 come merely to view the museum. Never having met before, but in the field of 

 battle, . . . now for the first time finding themselves at peace surrounded by 

 a scene calculated to inspire the most perfect harmony, the first suggestion was 

 that as men, they were of the same species and ought forever to bury the 

 hatchet of war. After leaving the museum they formed a treaty. At the 

 request of the Secretary of War, I supplied them with a room. They heard a 

 speech written by General Washington recommending peace. Their orators 

 spoke, and they departed friends. 



After giving a brief account of the history of the museums in the 

 world, from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, he describes his ideal 

 museum. Says he : 



First let us suppose we have before us a spacious building ... in which 

 are arranged all the various animals of this vast continent and all other 

 countries. Let us suppose them classically arranged so that the mind may not 

 be confused and distracted in viewing and studying such a vast multitude of 

 objects. Here should be no duplicates and only the varieties of each species, all 



13 See Stone, Witmer, Awk, 1899, Vol. XVI., pp. 166-177. 



14 See " Discourse Introductory to a Course of Lectures, etc.," 1800, C. 

 W. Peale. 



