MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



11 



means of museum extension only partially exploited. It is super- 

 fluous to say that such an educational program attains fullest success 

 when there is hearty cooperation between schools, colleges, and scien- 

 tific organizations and the museum. 



Finally, like any public institution in the democracy, the museum 

 must be judged by the influence it exerts on the level and standards 

 of community life; in other words, it must be a social force. The 

 individual must be helped in his thinking, and led to find greater 

 satisfaction in the use of all his powers. He must learn to subor- 

 dinate selfish aims and ambitions to the good of civic organism. Such 

 an attitude involves the habit of scientific judgment of facts and 

 conditions. Conclusions should not be based on personal bias, but on 

 a candid and unprejudiced examination of the many sides of any 

 situation. 



Reforms are slow of progress in a democratic society because of 

 the long time required to really inform the public, to dispel prejudice, 

 and to convince the voter of the ultimate advantage all are to gain 

 from the betterment. Now the museum may in most effective fashion 

 contribute to this community service, and so take its rightful place 

 among other agencies in the significant movement to make all knowl- 

 edge a common possession of the people, and transform Plato's vision 

 of a Republic of Letters into the reality of the Democracy of 

 Learning for all. 



WILLIAM ORR, Curator. 



