Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo11amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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.\nii.i.\(!i:Mi:\T i.\ iim.i.s or .wTiinoroi.ocy 2"^ develop, he is at lilxTty to do so and will not liiid his (li.i,dit iiiiprdcd for lack of insight into the true relation of things, for sliould ;i museum olheer decide this jioint for liimseH" and select out ull the house models for exhihi- tioii in a >inL;l(' liall, ai-i'anging them according to his notion, the visitor could not si'c each type in its projjcr cultiu-;d setting. The ()oiut however is this: scarcely any two anthropolo<iists ai'e agreed upon uny one of such sequences and until they are, or imtil the facts axailahlc make a dclinite conchision ine\it:il)lc, it is imi)ossil)le to ha\-e other tlum a geographical arrangement in our exhibition halls. There are, of course, .some very fundamental prolilems now occupying the minds of anthropologists, hut their working hyi)othesis is a geograj)hical classification of cultures rather than an evolutionary hypothesis. The general cultiu'al \alue of such comparative studies as methods of fire-making and hou.se tyjx's is obvious. In the ca.sc of fire-making, we iiave real historical data on the evolution of matches, and know that they were preceded In ilint and steel and wood friction. We a,re not (juite sm-e that wood friction was first, hut think it safe to a.ssume as much. Beyond this we cannot go, ))ut wc feel that the child who sees the various methods demonstrated in school and sees real specimens in museiun collections, is likely to grasj) some fimdamental principles of j)ractical life as well as the significance of certain physical and chemical conceptions. The same is true of house types, canoe types, hatchet types, food types, and e\ery other phase of culture.
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A SYMPOSIUM OF EXPRESSIONS FROM PRIMARY AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS THE following (piotations representing a few of the many letters reeei\'ed from i)rincipals and teachers of the Public Schools can btit make the Museum lunnble before the vastness of its oppor- tunity, the far reaching of e\'en the smallest effort put forth, and again proud that the American Museum was the institution to which came the rare fortune of devel()i)ing the working system of cooperation with the schools. The Musemn holds an unusual opportunity as providing free and pleasurable instruction in the heart of New York. Moreover, it is an insti-

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