The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-28

To-morrow the authorities of the
Smithsonian institution will open the
new Nat n Museum to the public.
-N4tA- Hts ten aCrSs Of rrpor space,
every loot OF which IL splendidly
tkhfed. few museums in the world
Are 10 well housed. The new struc-
tuf0 makes the third of the smith
senian-Nasional Museum rroup. and
scgether they give approximately
twenty acres of floor space 10 the
cause OF science and the spread of
knowledge.
The 1,eoe. geo objects which con-
stitute the National Museum coIec-
tons will be distributed among the
three buildings, hut all of those
which are chiefly of Interest for eS-
hie'ton purposes viii be housed In
n new building. The museum,
while literally filled with exhibits of
interest to the aayruan. confines It's
principal activities teHard milking
an institution OF research. Scarcely
= week passes without several stu
dents from "a distance going over It's
collections for study purposes, Its
collections aeon VIII Re so complete
that the most s@rlogs Investigator
will md ali the material he socks.
The division of geology affords a
striking illustration Of this. Here is
gathered the worlds best collection
Of economic geology specimens. In
tie thirty years that DIR. Merrill has
been ~nnccte with this WORK he
has ransacked the Whole world for
-~y1Hrrrfurs. II rfern Hrs now more
than a half million separately cata-
legued specimens In his division.
Hundreds of cases, each with hun
dre5s OF wide. shallow drawers, con-
tain thousands Of specimens, ca III
specimen II a in the great book OF
nature, rich in lessons for the stu
dent of geological subjects. Perhaps
lezS than oIle-thirtieth OF the sneti-
mems are on exhibition.
The collection of n~eteorites Is one
OF the best IN the world. tho largest
being at Vienna. While for show
purposes the collection at the Amer
ican Museum of Natural History in
New York takes first rank, the kinds
of specimens which are most yaiu-
able for study purposes are Ia he
found at the National Museum.
Scientists TyfSr To exhibition ~coiicc-
tiafis as the "oh my" exhibits. The
main effort of the National Museum
has been to gather such f~neteorites
as will enable scientists TO determine
the secret OF their origin and travels.
The exhibit OF extinct animals Is
-ul4-~
seufns of other cities have adyan-
fages over the National Museum in
thai they IA more responsive
sources than Congress for funds with
which To acquire new material OF
This nature. One nay see the skele-
tons of giant dinosaur and other
mighty monsters OF prehistoric times
gathered from American excavations.
Had "a Roosevelt lived In America
some cons ago he would not have
had to go half way around the world
to fiud elephants and other giant
creatures for his sport. 1t is t'Dr.
MerriIi's firm conviction h q mill
Of elephants nee roafned over
fsnr soil. as did the bison at "a later
dAtn rs EXHIBIT Ao. I. by vas of
proof, he has the skeleton OF a gi-
gartic old fellow which was I'M
snrfhed in d Michigan peat-bog some
years ago. This skeleton is mount
"a and makes those of African ele-
plants look like pygmies in contrast.
The collections of the division OF
mammals are OF rare interest. From
an exhibition standpoint such ex-I
hibits az the Roosevelt trophies AXE
FIRST rank, tat from Il scientific staftd-
pelnf such collections as those made
fJr. abrorr IN me fcast fndtss are
al prime value 1t Ia said that tfiere3
are some 5000 known species OF
mammals In the world, OF which LOO
ini1tst,tt America, but new species are
being described at the rate of about
$50 a year, No other museum In the
wsrld, except the British Museum,
has such q large and representative
collection OF mammal specimens The
catalogues show the National Museum
ia be ahead Of any of the other Euro
pe.an museums. even In its collections
OF mammals from that continent.
In the past few weeks the museum
authorities have Installed n little
case If exhibits ~Rooseseltiana. In II
arr, the skulls OF "A bon. rhtnocerous.
q giraffe and several smaller animals.
Tha case liz In the hall occupied by
the exhibits OF comparative anatomy, |
which is one of the most interesting
*@r44@stss.HS ia a4isetFns-AeF one
may study the strange relationships
exist between all mammals In
one cas-. Is the skeleton of a man
lea Ting the skeleton Of a horse, show
s1E az a glance ali points OF simI-l