Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/51

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MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY
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hundred and forty-nine from Massachusetts and Connecticut beyond the limits of the valley. Professor Albertus T. Dakin, of the Peabody Museum, at Cambridge, has made this report on a part of the collection: "It constitutes a very interesting and valuable addition to any museum, but is of more than ordinary value to this community because of the fact, that with few exceptions, the entire collection of stone implements was gathered in the near vicinity of Springfield and all the specimens of stone art have been found within the confines of the Connecticut Valley. It is, moreover, one of the largest, if not the largest collection of distinctly local material that has been brought together and exhibited under one roof." Two important gifts, the Booth loan collection, and fifteen hundred carefully selected specimens given by

Catharine L. Howard Memorial Library of Science. Fireplace, Tablet and Bookcases.

Dr. Philip Kilroy make up the largest part of the Indian relic collection. In the arrangement of the material a scheme has been followed that shows the geographical distribution, while at the same time the various implements have been grouped to illustrate the development of primitive art and industry and the uses of the different articles. Photographs, maps and descriptive labels furnish additional information in regard to the life of the Indian. Every facility is offered in the use of the collection for study and research. Under the auspices of the museum, a beginning has been made in the examination of old camp sites, quarries and fireholes in the vicinity, and some interesting results have been obtained already, with the promise of richer discoveries in the near future. A few cases devoted to historical relics and curios complete the material on exhibition in the museum.