Standards and Functions of Museums

Abstract

DR. LUCAS'S brief summary of the ground covered by the Department of Public Health in the American Museum of Natural History is more complete than that which appeared in the forty-sixth annual report of the museum, which formed the subject of the article against which Dr. Lucas now lodges his protest; hence the “error” of the writer. We contend that only by a very elastic use of the term “Natural History Museum” can such subjects as the disposal of sewage, and water supply, be included. These are surely more fittingly themes for a Museum of Technology, while military hygiene and problems of diet would find a more suitable home in a Museum of Physiology. If these were omitted the funds and space which they absorb would be available for the collection of domesticated animals which Dr. Lucas is now obliged to neglect, to the great hurt of his museum.