HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Physical 

 Geography. 



Geography. 



Thalassog- 

 raphy. 



student of .this subject. He is ready to plan a hall which shall be 

 devoted to the great surface phenomena of the earth, to the mountains, 

 the rivers, the glaciers, the snow peaks, the volcanoes, the valleys, the 

 canons and all the other wonderful features of the earth's surface 

 which may be displayed through photographs and through models. 



The beginning which has been made by the Museum in geography 

 in the projection of the Arctic and Antarctic regions has attracted so 

 much attention and such close study by visitors that it is clear that the 

 way is open for a complete geographic exhibit. Already, through an 

 arrangement with the American Geographical Society, under President 

 Huntington, a typical globe, embodying the very latest results of 

 geographical research, has been prepared, which will serve as the basis 

 on which can be recorded not only all the geographical and physical 

 features of the earth, but the distribution of plants and animals and 

 of the races of men. It is obvious that geography is the subject above 

 all others through which we may get into close touch with the work 

 of the public schools; that advanced museum methods of geography, 

 such as we shall adopt, will be a great aid both to teachers and to pupils 

 — in fact, it will put the whole science on a new basis in the City of 

 New York. 



Thalassography is another of the new subjects which it is proposed 

 to develop, both on its physical side — the content of the sea and of the 

 geographical sea bottom — and on its living side — the marvelous and 

 peculiar forms of sea life. America has been one of the leaders in this 

 subject, through the voyages of the "Blake" and of the "Albatross," 

 under Alexander Agassiz and others. At the present time, the "Alba- 

 tross" has been offered to us by the United States Department of 

 Fisheries for use in the Antarctic, which will enable the Museum to 

 secure its first thalassographic collections and train its first observers 

 in this field. 



The following conspectus of the present and future scope of the 

 exhibitions is the taking stock of what we have and of what we need 

 to carry out these plans. 



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