Editorial Couiment. 121 
up of exhibits in the niuseuni. Since the Centennial Exhibition 
of 1876, few years have passed in which the nuiseum as a 
whole, or some of its departments, has not been called upon to 
prepare for public expositions of greater or less magnitude. 
In the earlier of these the department of geology took no part, 
but beginning with the expositions of Louisville and Cincinnati 
in 1884, it has contributed to those of New Orleans in 1885, 
Minneapolis in 1887, Cincinnati and Marietta in 1888, Chica- 
go in 1893, Atlanta in 1895, Nashville in 1897, Omaha in 1898, 
and is now preparing for the Pan-American exposition at Buf- 
falo in 1901, with a more than reasonable prospect of being 
called upon for that of St. Louis- in 1903. 
This carrying on of exhibition work outside of Washington 
has affected the department in many ways. "Probably no other 
greatvpermanent museum of the world has had constantly be- 
fore it the problem of guarding its treasures from deteriora- 
tion, and at the same time transporting portions of them hun- 
dreds and thousands of miles and there displaying them under 
such unfavorable conditions as must exist in temporary expo- 
sitions. The advantages lie in the direction of making the 
work of the museum knoyvn to the people at large, and in the 
opportunities offered by direct appropriation for purchase or 
for paying traveling expenses, for securing new material to fill 
out deficielicies in the existing collections. The disadvantage 
lies in damage done to objects in the collection by breakage, or 
perhaps actual loss, and in the interruption of the regular mu- 
seum work and the dissipation of the energies of the scientific 
officers and employes." 
The work of preparing for these expositions is apparently 
not the only work of an ultra museum nature which its officials 
are expected to perform. From the reports for 1895 and 1896 
we learn that 'Tt has always been the policy of the museum to 
examine, free of charge, specimens transmitted to the museum 
for determination, no matter from whom or from what locality. 
The curator of each department in the nuiseinn is expected to 
be an authority in his own line of work, and the knowledge of 
the whole staff of experts is thus placed, without cost, at the 
service of every citizen." (p. 45.) 
"It is much to be regretted that many specialists, intent 
chiefly upon the study of certain scientific problems in which 
