FUTURE SCOPE AND ARRANGEMENT OF 
THE EXHIBITIONS 
THE wonderful growth of the American Museum, which gives 
it a rank second only to the British Museum, which places 
it among the first of our educational and research institu- 
tions in this country, which relates it to the college and university 
system not only of New York but of the entire United States, 
should encourage us not to stop, but to go on with increased vigor 
and intelligence. If this is to be a truly great country, its intel- 
lectual growth must keep pace with or in advance of its material 
prosperity. 
It is important to realize that only a beginning has been made ; 
that the new methods which have been developed in certain depart- 
ments should be extended to all departments; that some of our col- 
lections, as compared with those of the British Museum, or even of 
other American museums, are in their infancy; that certain depart- 
ments of science, which properly belong to a natural history museum, 
have barely been suggested ; that everywhere the lack of sequence in the 
arrangement of the collections is most confusing to the visitor. Finally, 
while gratifying progress has been made in connection with the public 
educational system of the City, we should render even greater service 
than we have been doing to the common schools, the high schools, 
the colleges and the universities. In other words, the Museum, 
through its influence on teachers and on pupils, should become a 
more vital part of the educational system of the City, which alone 
will justify increased appropriations for maintenance and will justify 
the Trustees in their appeal to liberal-minded citizens for an increased 
endowment. 
[126] 
