Museum of Natural History

“ The American Museum of Natural History, on Central Park West, contains vast collections of stuffed animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, shells, and fossils. The main lecture hall will seat 1000 persons. Museums of great interest are maintained also by the Historical Society, Columbia University, and the Lenox Library, the last named having a fine picture gallery. ”

“ It appears, from evidence, that many of the middle classes are in the habit of forming collections in various branches of Natural History, and that many, even the working classes, employ their holidays in the study of botany or geology, or in the collection of insects obtained in the neighbourhood of London; that they refer to the British Museum, in order to ascertain the proper classification of the specimens thus obtained, and that want of leisure alone restrains the further increase of this class of visitors. ”

“ The natural history collections contained in the museum of science, although the institution was only founded in 1896, are large and important, and are particularly rich in mineralogy, geology, paleontology, botany and zoology. The entomological collections are among the most important in the new world. The conchological collections are vast, and the paleontological collections are among the most important in America. ”

“ There are five galleries devoted to natural history, and are named thus: the Botanical Museum, Mammalia Gallery, Eastern Zoölogical Gallery, Northern Zoölogical Gallery, and the Mineral Gallery. The specimens in all these are very fine. Nothing can be finer than the mammalia. The preservation has been perfect, and far surpasses what I have been accustomed to see in museums, where decay seems to be often rioting upon the remains of nature. ”

“ A third museum is found to be full of stuffed birds, eggs, and nests; some of the birds stuffed in their natural surroundings are very beautifully done. The zoological library adjoins. A fourth museum, built in 1894, contains a large collection of stuffed animals and a collection of shells. Here is a huge skeleton of an African elephant, with good tusks, and a stuffed giraffe; a whole unmounted hippopotamus skin, and a stuffed quagga, now extinct.
Close by this museum are some pens containing zebras and wild asses. The new bear house, built in 1897, contains a fine collection. ”

“ When the boys left this museum, they went to another and saw a wonderful collection of fossil animals, skeletons, birds, minerals, precious stones, and other natural specimens, but as they were not learned men, they could only walk about and stare, enjoy the little knowledge of natural history they possessed, and wish with all their hearts they had acquired more. ”

“ The contributions from the National Museum represented the natural resources of the United States: Rare specimens of the American fauna; illustrations showing the geological variations within the limits of the United States and the utilization of nature's rich gifts bestowed upon this country. This department gave us occasion to obtain an entire idea of the enormous melioration, arts and industries have experienced in modern times—by means of exhibits demonstrating the history and development of ceramics, graphic arts, musical instruments ”

“ The Museum and Hall of the Natural History Society, in Peter-street, can only be entered on presenting an order from a subscriber. The Museum is very rich in almost every description of natural history; we believe in ornithology it is particularly so; its collection of British birds is said to be unequalled, and its entomological department is becoming exceedingly extensive. ”

“ The amphi [298] theatre for lectures will hold twelve hundred persons; and among the lectures on the list, which is posted up at its entrance, and also at the entrance of the gardens, were the subjects of chemistry, geology, anatomy, physiology, botany, and zoölogy. Many scientific men of celebrity received their education here, and the different museums are rich in rare specimens of their departments. The Zoölogical Museum has a fine collection of stuffed specimens of natural history, zoöphites, birds, butterflies, large mammiferous animals, &c. ”

“ The loss the city has sustained through not possessing a properly appointed natural history museum, presided over by a competent curator, at the time when this great collection was handed over to the custody of our authorities, is absolutely irreparable, and the fate which has befallen the bulk of that collection forms one of the strongest arguments which could be advanced for the establishment of a museum, for there are still a few gems left in that collection which ought to be saved. ”

“ It is well to remember in what Museum a fauna, or section of a fauna, is best represented. Again, well-known private collections are constantly, through death or other circumstances, either sold in their entirety or disposed of in parts by the auctioneer or natural-history agent ”

“ But in the animal or vegetable branch of natural history there is a great deficiency, and altogether the Museum is not worthy of a country which seems destined by nature to be the great emporium of all natural science. ”

“ On this principle all the large museums of the world are arranged, and the result is that no student who has previously acquired an elementary knowledge of an art or science from text-books should experience any difficulty in finding his way about a museum. It is true that, for purposes of popular display and to tickle up juvenile interest in natural history, some museums exhibit fine specimens of birds or mammals out of their order, where they will attract notice, but the bulk of the collection will be found in strictly classified order. ”

“ A museum of this kind should further be supplied with specimens of all the natural productions of the vicinity, which may be collected from time to time by those who are, or may become, most interested in the study of natural history. ”

“ Lately the ruling spirits of the Natural History Museum, on the principle, probably, that "all is Fish that comes to their net," have commenced a rival Collection of Antiquities, which contains indeed some valuable and interesting specimens, but these are so jammed together that they cannot be seen or studied to advantage, while every canon of good taste is violated by the incongruity of their surroundings. ”

“ Since then these collections, with additions of similar character, have formed by far the most important feature of the British Museum. But in the mean time archaeology has become a science.
Within recent years the natural history collection has been removed in toto from the old building to a new site far out in South Kensington, and the casual visitor is likely to think of it as a separate institution. The building which it occupies is very modern in appearance as in fact. ”

“ Then there are the squirrels and the trees on the Common; the flowers, bees, butterflies, and even the schools of goldfish, in the pond of the Garden—enough of life, insect-life, plant-life, bird-life, fish-life, for more than a summer of lessons.
Nor is this all. One block beyond the Garden stands the Natural History Museum, crowded with mounted specimens of birds and beasts, reptiles, [Pg 43] fishes, and shells beyond number—more than you can study, perhaps. You city folk, instead of having too little, have altogether too much of too many things. ”

“ The cause of the fall of these museums lies in the fact that their place has been filled by natural history museums and zoological gardens which teach true natural history in place of the fake natural history of the dime museum. Although Peale's Museum seems to us to-day a very primitive affair, yet, considering the time when it was founded, the institution must be looked upon in a different light. Then there was no other collection of any kind in the country that could be called a museum. Not having any precedent of museum arrangement, the whole evolution was independent. ”

“ As a visible sign of the existence and utility of the institution, and around which the members might at all times rally, with a view there to afford this bond, to prevent this tendency to devolution, the proposers of this Natural History Society resolved to found a museum, an institution which experience has proved to have great power in calling the attention to scientific pursuits and the wants of which was firstly felt by several members, who looked back upon the various causes which in their younger days retarded their own improvement. ”

“ An important activity of the museum is its generous distribution of duplicate specimens in natural history to scientific societies, colleges, and other educational institutions throughout the United States. ”

“ Such a relation our National Museum should hold to scientific men and affairs in America. It should receive and take care of all material that has been or may be valuable for investigation or for the illustration of the ethnology, natural history, geology, products, and resources of our own country, or for comparison with the material of other countries. It should furnish material for all kinds of scientific investigations which deal with specimens or types, and give aid to such researches and publish their results. ”

“ A caretaker, equipped to guide the visitor and offer any other assistance, resides on the Monument grounds.
A small admission charge is made to the Monument Museum. Special rates are available to groups provided reservations and arrangements are made in advance. Free showing of sound movies illustrating Moundville Indian culture may be arranged for at the Administration Building. Arrangements for group visits should be made by addressing: The Curator, Alabama Museum of Natural History, University, Alabama. ”

“ It may be sufficient to observe that the late Leverian Museum, rich in every branch of Natural History, has tended in an eminent degree to this effect; the author having been favoured with unreserved permission to take drawings and memoranda of whatever he deemed important, besides having subsequently enriched his own Museum with a very ample portion of that fine collection, by public purchase, at the time of its dispersion; particularly in the different tribes of the Mammiferous animals, in Ornithology, Ichthyology, and various others ”

“ He, on his part, always ready to assist anyone fond of natural history, succeeded in obtaining a site in 1837, and built and [Pg 37] arranged a natural history museum upon it. It was opened to the public for a small entrance fee the same year. In spite of great efforts, the enterprise flourished but little; but, aided by two friends, M. Westerman bought other large buildings, and laid out some beautiful gardens, which he thought would be more attractive to the visitors. ”

“ Perhaps it is not desired that there should be, since long experience seems to have settled fairly well the problem of greatest economy of space, combined with best lighting facilities, which always confronts the architect in founding a natural history museum. ”

“ Much knowledge is lost because it comes in the way of those who do not know how to profit by it or to record it. Accordingly, just as the Natural History Museum has issued a series of pamphlets of advice to the collectors of natural history specimens, so it has been thought that a handbook of elementary information and advice may be found of service by travellers with archaeological tastes ”

“ A museum in connection with the library, either historical or scientific, or an art gallery, may be made a source of attraction, and of much educational value. The collecting of antiquities, or natural history specimens, or rare bindings, or ancient books or manuscripts, is generally taken up by societies organized for such purposes. The library should try to bring these collections into such relations with itself as to add to its own attractiveness, and to make more interesting and instructive the collections. ”

“ Independently of the increased accommodation, the advantage of acquiring for Natural History the exclusive possession of the upper floor is obvious and unquestionable, though the gain is not limited to that department. By separating its galleries entirely from those of Antiquities, the practical superintendence of each would be simplified; one department would no longer be a necessary thoroughfare to another ”

“ But in treating of it—in the ‘Postscript’ which closes the present volume—it has been my single and earnest aim to state, with the utmost impartiality I am able to attain, the leading arguments for maintaining the Museum in its full integrity; and also the leading arguments for severing the great Natural History Collections 17from the rapidly growing Libraries and from the vast Galleries of marbles, bronzes, pottery, medals, and prints. It is the business of writers to state and marshal the evidence. It is the business of Parliament to pronounce the judgment. ”

“ His chief recreations, in those latest years, lay in the continued examination of the stores of nature and of art which never palled upon his capacity of enjoyment, and in the regular weekly visit of a much younger man, who was 301very conversant in the busy world without; who could talk, and talk well, alike upon public events, upon the novelties of science, and upon the gossip of the coffee-houses and the clubs. This friend of old age was George Edwards, a naturalist of considerable acquirements, and the author of some Essays on Natural History which are still worth reading. ”

“ The opening of this Museum to day is an important event in the annals of American science, and one from which great results are sure to follow. We see around us here, already, treasures of Nature from every land, and representing all periods of the earth's history. Not merely a few typical specimens, as in most new museums, but rich series, illustrating the marvelous diversity of Nature, both in the present and in the past. ”