State Museum of Natural History. 



21 



L Requirements of a Museum. 



"The present condition of science would require in any general 

 museum a series of collections which may be named in the following order : 



" 1. Geological series proper, which should illustrate the nature and 

 succession of all rocks with their accompanying characteristic fossils. 



" 2. A geographical series, exhibiting the character of the formation 

 in each geological area, and for the State, each county or group 

 of counties occupying the same geological formation. 



" 3. An economical collection in its fullest meaning, where all the 

 products of the earth, applied to useful or ornamental purposes, 

 shall be exhibited. This may be so extended as to show the results 

 obtained in the several processes which the substances undergo in 

 being prepared for their final uses. 



" 4. A collection in palaeontology, embracing all the genera and spe- 

 cies of fossils, together with their living analogues, arranged for 

 critical pakeontological and zoological studies. This, of course, should 

 be first carried out for the State, and extended as rapidly as possible 

 to other portions of the country, and finally for the entire globe. 



" 5. A collection in zoology proper, which after being completed for 

 the State, should be extended over the United States, at least for 

 certain classes and orders necessary in the study of comparative 

 zoology. In this collection the external form alone should not be the 

 final object, but skulls, skeletons, dissections and microscopic prepara- 

 tions should form a prominent part. 



"6. A botanical collection, complete for the State, and extended 

 beyond in those forms which present the nearest analogy or aid in 

 illustrating the extinct vegetables of former periods. Specimens of 

 vegetable structures, tissues, etc., should be accumulated from all 

 parts of the country and the world." 



II. Importance of Large Collections. 

 "A prominent object should be the acquisition of stores of dupli- 

 cates in every department. This is necessary (1.) In order to ascer- 

 tain the geographical range of species, their variations in different 

 localities, or as caused by the different surrounding physical condi- 

 tions; (2.) For means of making exchanges with cabinets and institu- 

 tions, both in America and Europe (as is done by the Smithsonian 

 Institution at Washington and by the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 at Cambridge), and also with individuals engaged in scientific investi- 

 gations both here and abroad; (3.) For the great advantages which 

 might be extended to the educatioEal interests of the State, in sup- 

 plying to colleges and academies authentically labeled specimens for 

 illustrating their courses of instruction." 



