16 The American Museum of Natural History 



especially adapted to her needs. From a list of ten or fifteen topics 

 on nature study, geography and travel, industrial life, and history, 

 five are generally chosen by each class. The talks are given by 

 Museum docents, and the lessons are carefully illustrated by ob- 

 jects that every pupil may handle. The lectures are planned both 

 to supplement the prescribed school work, and to add interest and 

 general knowledge to the life of the blind child. 



Not only do the children come to the Museum, but the Museum, 

 through its circulating collections, is carried to them. Nature Study 

 material — native birds, small mammals, minerals and rocks — and 

 large relief globes of the world are delivered at the schools to be 

 used during the lesson hours as the teachers desire. 



The constant moving of the adult blind of a great city, their 

 sickness, helplessness, poverty, and inability to face inclement 

 weather, make it difficult to reach them except by lectures. The 

 Museum has a directory of the names of about seven hundred blind 

 persons. With the aid of this and the various charitable institutions 

 of New York City, it gets its invitations into the hands of all in- 

 terested adult blind. The lectures are free. They are given in the 

 evening, and Boy Scouts kindly act as guides. Before the talk, the 

 animals, birds, or flowers about which the lecturer is to speak are on 

 exhibition in the entrance hall, where they may be examined under 

 guidance. Among the speakers, during the last few years, have, been 

 Rear Admiral Peary, Ernest Harold Baynes, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, 

 Ernest Thompson Seton, Charles Crawford Gorst, George K. Cherrie 

 and G. Clyde Fisher. 



Indications of the value of the instruction for adults reach the 

 Museum occasionally. Sometimes they come from the happy faces 

 of the blind as they leave the foyer with their hands full of flowers; 

 sometimes they come in letters of thanks. From the school children, 

 however, the Museum gets direct expression of the helpfulness of the 

 work. The classes are regular in their attendance, and often com- 

 pose essays based on the lessons. To them, the visit means more 

 than an hour's instruction. One teacher writes, "General class in- 

 struction is easier because of their visits to the Museum. Children 

 of little experience in life and meagre opportunity for general infor- 

 mation speak with some ease and familiarity of animals, birds, 

 people, and customs about which they have been informed under 

 your guidance. I thank you heartily in behalf of these children, who 

 scarcely realize to what extent you are broadening their horizon." 



