The museum of natural history covers a wide field and includes many branches, any one of which is capable of separate treatment. Thus there are museums of zoiilogy, botany, geology, paleontology and mineralogy, or paleontology may he included as a part of a zoiilogical, geo logical, or anatomical mnseum. The natural his tory collections of the British Museum constitute the largest and most celebrated museum of nat ural history in the world, while other famous collections are those of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and those of Vienna. Leyden. and Berlin. The most important museums of natural hi.sto•y in the United States, all of which have been extended beyond the province indicated by the name, are the collections of the Smithsonian In stitution at Washington, the American Museum of Natural history in New York, and the Muse um of Comparative Zo(ilogy at Cambridge, Mass.
Historical museums are for the preservation of objects illustrating the history of any country, place, or period, or the development of seine spe cial subject, and here it may trespass on the province of the museum of art or of technology. historical collections form a branch of the States National Museum, hut there are many local collections. The National Museum, Munich, is an example of a general historical museum; the Cluny Museum. Paris, is devoted to a single period; the Naples Museum tells the story of Pompeii ; while the Guimet Museum, Paris, illustrates the history of religious cere monial, and the Museum of Artillery, Paris, traces the development of weapons from the rude axe of the Stone Age to the modern rapid-fire gun. Anthropological museums, in the widest sense, treat of the history of man and his relations to the universe about him. This calls for illustra tions of his various activities, so that an anthro pological museum may comprise art and histor ical collections, although these are usually treated separately. The physical characteristics of man, his clothing, weapons, ceremonial objects, household furniture, methods of transportation and of shelter are the subjects most commonly illustrated. Ethnology is that branch of anthro pology which deals with the characteristics, occu pations, arts, and industries of the races of men as distinguished from one another. Are}eology treats of the history of ancient man, and sections of a large museum o• an entire museum may be devoted to the illustration of either of these sub jects. The Department of Anthropology of the United States National Museum is very exten sive, and so is that of the American Museum of Natural Bistory, New York. The Peabody Mu
seum of .Arclneology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass., is particularly rich in American antiqui ties, and so is the Archaeological Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Abroad there are important anthropological museums in Berlin, Dresden, and Munich ; the Trocadero, Paris; and the Pitt Rivers collection at Oxford, the latter being specially arranged to illustrate the develop ment of the arts.
Technological museums deal with various phases of the industrial arts. They display speci mens of the raw materials that enter into the composition of a given product, trace the various processes to which these are subjected, show the tools o• machinery by which they are manipu lated, and finally the finished object o• substance. The subjects for technological museums are al most endless; ship-building, spinning and weav ing, dyestuffs, drugs, foods, and electric appa ratus naturally suggest themselves. The South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert), London, contains the largest techno logical collections of any institution. This is now under the charge of the National Board of Educa tion, and its influence is not confined to London, for a part of its work consists in lending care fully selected collections to local museums and technical schools in other portions of Great Britain. In America, the United States National Museum and the Field Columbian :\ lusemn, Chicago, have important technological sections, the former having much material illustrating the development of electrical apparatus, while the latter is rich in objects showing the growth of inethods of transportation by rail. The Army :Medical Museum, S\ ashington. %dine devoted to the subject of the structure of num, the effects of injuries and diseases, and their treatment, is a technological museum in so far as it traces the 4Ipvel0pment of surgical appliances. Commercial museums are devoted to advancing the interests of trade. They exhibit raw materials and finished products, illustrations of methods of packing and modes of distribution. and gather and fur nish information as to prices and character of goods needed in and furnished by different moll ifies. Laboratories for the analysis of various substances and the testing of materials form part of the equipment of such an institution. The 3Iusee de Mille, Ghent, is one of the oldest Euro pean commercial museums. The Commercial :Museum, Philadelphia. is the sole institution of its kind in the Culled States.