surface interest. Every entry is designed to convey information, to arouse the children to thought, to awaken their powers of induction. The stimulus afforded the child's mental self-activity, the almost unlimited possibilities of coordination, the aid to the visualization of knowledge-these three factors in the instructional scheme of the St. Louis schools receive large and peculiar contributions from the school museum. In addition to the teaching material specifically designed for the inspection of school children, the St. Louis School Museum contains the following collections: (a) The Study Exhibit for Teachers, consisting of the current teaching material, arranged for personal inspection. (b) An Educational Exhibit from Foreign Countries, which includes work of pupils in other lands, from the kindergarten through high and normal schools, as well as textbooks, courses of study, reports, photographs, plans and models of school buildings, etc. (c) A Teachers' Library, of some 7,000 volumes. Each teacher is supplied with a catalogue, which is issued independently of the school museum's catalogue. PROBLEMS OF ADMINISTRATION. In the administration of school museums, the very small number of American cities which maintain them find serious difficulties. If every single school is to be supplied with an individual museum, including physical apparatus, scientific specimens, and full geographical collections, the cost would be prohibitive, even for an inadequate equipment. On the other hand, objections were found, equally serious in degree, to the maintenance of a central museum to which the children may be brought on special trips of inspection. In the first place, it has been the experience of the teachers that children can not be taken anywhere out of the schoolroom without their regarding the affair more or less as a pleasure trip, with consequent detrimental effects upon discipline and class work. Moreover, once the children are in the museum, it is found that their attention can not be concentrated upon the collection which it is the teacher's main purpose to show, but on the contrary the great variety of material about them dissipates their attention with the result that their impressions become surfeited and confused. This was demonstrated in the St. Louis schools some time ago, when the children were taken on trips of inspection to the museum, and the next day were called upon for themes upon their experiences. Some remarkable reminiscences developed. St. Louis has overcome the objections which its school authorities found in both the decentralized and the centralized systems of management. It utilizes the strength and economy of cooperation by establishing a museum in which all the schools have a common interest; and, by sending needed material direct to the teacher requesting it, the difficulties incident to personal visits by the children are obviated. Each week the teachers make requisition for the museum material which they need; that material, and no more, is delivered at their schoolroom door, and taken away again when it has been used. The teachers may learn of the contents of the museum, either from a personal visit to the display room or from the voluminous catalogue. issued by the authorities. Two wagons are kept busy delivering collections. For the expedition of this branch of the museum's work, the city is laid off into five sections, equaling the number of days in the school week, and the schools of each section have a delivery once a week. The popularity of the school museum may be judged by the fact that some 30,000 of the collections were delivered to 100 of the St. Louis schools last year, in addition to 5,000 reference books. During the first half of the present school year more than 20,000 collections and more than 5,000 reference books have been sent out. The entire expense of the St. Louis School Museum, including the salaries of 7 persons, wagon hire, buying collection material and books, building display cases-in short, every expense incurred during the 7 years of its existence has been carried by an appropriation from the school board averaging $7,600 annually. This is an average annual outlay of 9 cents per pupil enrolled in the St. Louis public schools. The appropriation this year is $10,500. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EDUCATIONAL MUSEUMS. Andrews, Benjamin R. Educational museums in the United States. In his Museums of education; their history and use. New York, Columbia university press, 1908. p. 6-32. Reprinted from Teachers college record, vol. 9, no. 4, September 1903. Copenhagen, Dansk skolemuseum. Beretning om Dansk skolemuseums virksomhed. . . . København [N. C. Roms bog- & stentrykkeri, 1908] 1v. 8°. France. Ministère de l'instruction publique et des beaux-arts. Le Musée pédagogique 1879-1904. Historique & régime actuel. Melun, Impr. administrative, 1904. 43 p. Plates (incl. plans) 8°. Hall, G. Stanley. A central pedagogical library and museum for Massachusetts. Pedagogical seminary, 12: 464-70, December 1905. Monroe, Will S. Educational museums and libraries of Europe. [New York, 1896] 374-91 p. 8°. Cover title. Reprinted from the Educational review, N. Y., April 1896. Museum extension work in Chicago. Science, n. s. 35: 261-62, February 16, 1912. New York educational museum. School journal (New York) 70: 494-95, May 6, 1905. Rathmann, C. G. A model school museum. School journal (New York) 76: 126-27, 183-84, December 1908, January 1909. Robbins, W. W. The high school museum. School science and mathematics, 9: 34-38, January 1909. St. Louis. Educational museum. Catalogue. Educational museum, St. Louis public schools. [St. Louis] 1911. 172 p. 8°. School museums, educational libraries, and permanent exhibitions of appliances for teaching. In U. S. Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner for the year 1891-92. Washington, Government printing office, 1894. v. 1. p. 239-46. Summary of a book, entitled: The Pedagogical libraries, school museums, and permanent exhibition of school appliances, with special regard to the Pedagogical Central Library (Comenius-Foundation) at Leipzig, by Julius Beeger. Leipzig, 1892. 84 p. A reliable and comprehensive report on educational collections. School museums, France. In U. S. Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner for the year 1889-90. Washington, Government printing office, 1893. v. 2. p. 1218-20. Serrurier, Gustave. Les musées scolaires. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1889. $9 p. 8°. (Exposition universelle de 1889. Monographies pédagogiques) Skiff. F. J. V. The uses of educational museums. National education association. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1905. p. 80-85. о |