3 
exchange for duplicate Canadian specimens. Valuable additions to the 
fossil collections have been acquired by the exchange of duplicate speci- 
mens and casts. The museum officials have had the pleasure of supplying 
other institutions with anthropological material, and have directed to 
other Canadian museums collections that they were not in a position to 
purchase, and have thus been instrumental in having them retained in this 
country. 
The staff of the National Museum is in touch with scientific investi- 
gators of other institutions, exchanging information and opinions, assisting 
and being assisted in the solution of difficult problems, and furthering the 
advance of scientific research. The members of the staff are recognized 
throughout the country as authorities on their subjects and their advice 
is constantly sought by the general public, and particularly by amateur 
naturalists. Observations made in the field by amateurs are presented to 
the Museum to be incorporated in the records and embodied in reports. 
In view of the fact that the museum staff is small and the field for scientific 
investigation extremely wide, this assistance from amateur and trained 
Canadian naturalists is of great value, is encouraged, and is much appre- 
ciated. Recompense in a small way is made by suggestions on making 
further observations and collections and by assistance in the determination 
of botanical, biological, palaeontological, and mineral ogical specimens. 
MUNICIPAL MUSEUMS 
The function of the museum in the educational world is in these days 
becoming increasingly recognized. Information gained through the eye 
is definite, exact, and lasting; the mental image of things seen is as a rule 
more firmly impressed than any other. A clear concept of an object is 
always better obtained by seeing it than by any description. The teacher 
knows the value of material objects to illustrate the lesson: a copy of Magna 
Charta rouses the imagination and carries the pupil back to the stirring times 
of King John; a flint arrowhead, a bone needle, or a fragment of pottery 
speaks of the prehistoric life of the Indians; a passenger pigeon opens a 
vista of thought on the conservation of wild life; an old manuscript illus- 
trates the source material of histories; a suite of minerals is useful to 
illustrate a lesson on one of Canada's leading industries; and a collection 
of fossils opens the door to a study of geological history, the changing con- 
ditions of the continents throughout the ages, and the development of life 
upon the earth. 
The municipal museum can readily adapt itself in a measure to the 
needs of the schools and may be closely associated with the educational 
organization of the municipality. The small local museum in a great 
many cases is dependent for its origin and early growth on the enthusiasm 
of some one public-spirited man who places on exhibit some valued personal 
collection and devotes a part or all of his leisure to acquiring additional 
material and arranging it for display. A good room is needed, as in the 
public school building or the public library; there must be cases for exhi- 
bition and storage, and legible descriptive labelling. For the cases it may 
suffice to enlist the sympathies of a few of the more generous citizens. 
The interest of the general community is needed for acquiring exhibition 
material. The best material is not always found in the possession of the 
