12 



Lam in the past year, however, has rendered it neces- 

 sary or desirable that the material used to illustrate 

 the present day treatment of those studies be gathered 

 together for ready consultation. To do this has meant 

 a nearly complete rearrangement of the Museum. 

 Such a rearrangement as stated above was begun in 

 October of this year (1901). 



Some of the objects to be sought in the rearrange- 

 ment are as follows : 



That every specimen on display should teach some 

 lesson, or should be a necessary part of a series teach- 

 ing some lesson. A corollary of this is that every 

 specimen that does not teach something should be re- 

 moved from the display collections to some place ac- 

 cessible to students, but where it need not inflict 

 itself upon the public. A second corollary is that 

 every specimen should be accompanied by descriptive 

 labels, and whatever else, such as photographs, dia- 

 grams, maps, etc., may be necessary to make clear 

 the lesson it is to teach. This means that the former 

 often monotonous succession of related forms, or oc- 

 casional unmeaning association of unrelated forms, will 

 be replaced by small series, each grouped about some 

 central idea, with the group as a whole as well as 

 the individual specimens labelled and explained. 



In the second place the attempt will be made to 

 follow the pedagogical precept " From the known to 



