FIFTY YEARS OF MUSEUM WORK 



!9 



for children by any large museum. The motto of this room was 

 Knowledge Begins in Wonder, very much like my own belief that if you 

 wish to instruct the average visitor you must first arouse his interest. 

 In 1902 I was placed in charge of the Children's Room, largely, I have 

 always thought, because I suggested How Animals Hide as a substitute 

 for Protective Coloration and Mimicry. 



While Professor Langley was apt to be autocratic in manner, yet 

 he was ever most courteous to me, taking pains to personally appoint me 

 Curator of the Department of Comparative Anatomy. 



Professor Langley believed in never taking a statement for granted; 

 it must either be supported by evidence or investigated. Among other 

 things, he even looked into the question of the existence of the hoop 

 snake and it pleased him to show that a snake's skeleton could be bent 

 dorsally almost into a circle. This frame of mind caused him to send me 

 to Atlanta to investigate a "Mummied Cliff Dweller Giant," for while I 

 was morally sure that this was a fake, I could not produce any facts to 

 prove that this was the case. Professor Langley, too, was probably 

 morally sure that the mummy in question was a fake, for he had promised 

 two credulous anthropologists that he would purchase it if I pronounced 

 it genuine. There was an excellent opportunity to investigate the giant 

 which was reposing in the office of the sheriff, having been attached for 

 debt in spite of the ingenious plea of the owner's lawyer that it was 

 contrary to the laws of Georgia to seize a dead body for debt. I was able 

 to report that the parchment clothing of the mummy was unsized paper, 

 treated with glue, that the hair was jute and the incisors from a cow — 

 transposed at that— and the specimen was not purchased. 



Had not the U. S. National Museum been hampered not only by 

 lack of funds but by restrictions as to their expenditures, it very probably 

 would have taken the lead in museum methods under the administration 

 of Doctor Goode. The bison and moose groups in the U. S. National 

 Museum antedated those in the American Museum of Natural History 

 and it was largely the experience gained by Jenness Richardson in the 

 U. S. National Museum that led to their installation in the American 

 Museum of Natural History. As it was, the younger institution, with 

 ampler funds and greater space, installed the groups in the center of the 

 North American Hall, which are still the largest of their kind and in 

 many respects have never been equalled, let alone excelled.' 



Great progress has been made, especially in our newer museums, in 

 the installation of habitat groups, of various kinds, but notably those of 



'The group of moose was mounted and installed by John Rowley. 



