would have passed, and such a collection still remain little more than a skeleton; whereas, a subdivision of a class, say flint implements of an archæological collection, to cite another illustration, is something manageable, but to bring even it to completeness is no small undertaking. Of course, there is a difference between one class and another, one subdivision and another, as regards the plentifulness or scarcity of material necessary to its formation, and the facility or difficulty with which it may be obtained; but I doubt whether a complete collection of the flint implements of North America could be made in twenty years, and, were an attempt made to include the flint implements of the world, it would be simply courting failure.
Possibly it may be thought that a museum governed by what is advocated in this paper must progress slowly, and at best long remain a meager and insignificant affair. If progress consists in extending in every direction, the objection is well taken; but, if in an orderly advance toward a fixed point, it is not. But let us see how things would work in practice. A library, of which books relating to the Mississippi Valley are the specialty, completive of its specialty, would find itself in possession of a pretty large collection treating of the history, geography, and legislative affairs of the United States and Canada, and of their aboriginal races, books of statistics and travel, biographies, compilations of documents, histories of the three most prominent countries of Europe, including treatises on their laws and colonial regulations, and numerous publications relating to their religious and ecclesiastical affairs. Again, works on archæology or natural history are an integral part of an archæological or natural history museum, and included in its specialty, no matter what the specialty may be. But to cite the first, as sufficient for our purposes, its books would comprise many thousand titles, beginning with the Bible, and including Homer, Herodotus, and others of the ancients, a multitude of historical books, books of travels, works relating to the aboriginal populations of the world, besides the untold number of publications directly treating archæological topics. In fact, I much doubt whether any one who has not set himself to the task of ascertaining just what an archæological library includes can have even a vague notion of its diversity or extent. As to variety of specimens we shall see presently that it would not be wanting.
But, in insisting that a museum to attain to real excellence should pursue some specialty, it is not intended to limit the choice to any class or subdivision, for circumstances will determine the selection, or to exclude everything else; or, still less, to make the completion of the specialty its ultimate goal, for of all works a museum contains the most vigorous germ of progress, and practically can never be finished; but that the specialty shall be paramount until filled out to the utmost possible. When this term is reached, another subdivision in turn is made the specialty. An instance already cited will serve further to
