%;• MORPHOLOGY AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 259 



the " General Guide to the British Museum, Natural History," in 

 which it is stated that the whole of the specimens contained in the 

 museum are arranged in three sections, — a reserve series, not exhibited, 

 but accessible to specialists and investigators, a systematic series 

 exhibited in the various galleries of the museum, where the visitor 

 can identify and name his own specimens without recourse to 

 assistance from the officials, and, thirdly, an introductory or index 

 series, in which the leading features of structure and development are 

 demonstrated, and the terms used in systematic works are explained 

 by means of illustrative examples. The five bays or recesses on the 

 west side of the hall are devoted to vertebrate morphology, while, on 

 the east side, three bays are set apart for botanical collections, and 

 the remaining two for invertebrate animals. 



Although the work of forming this Index Collection has been 

 progressing continuously for the past eleven years, there is still a 

 large amount of space unoccupied in the cases, which not only points 

 to the great care that is exercised in the selection and preparation of 

 the specimens, but also shows what an extraordinary length of time 

 pioneer ventures of this kind require for their completion. It is only 

 natural to suppose that during this long time improvements have 

 constantly suggested themselves, and have been adopted, and this 

 accounts, to a large extent, for the slight want of uniformity which 

 may be observed between the earlier and the later series of prepara- 

 tions. Not only is it necessary to admit that the present Index Collec- 

 tion is adapted to the requirements of the student rather than to the 

 edification of the wage-classes as Owen had intended, but also that 

 the more recent additions to the collection appeal to a more advanced 

 type of student than the earlier preparations. 



This is especially apparent in the wording of the labels. Thus, 

 as examples of some of the earlier labels, we read " The heart is the 

 central organ of the circulation, and acts as a suction pump in 

 collecting blood from all parts of the body, etc.," and "The skeleton 

 is a system of hard parts forming a framework which supports and 

 protects the softer and more delicate organs and tissues of the body, 

 etc.," whereas in descriptions of the later series, e.g., that of the 

 tendons of the bird's foot, the language is far more technical. 



This studying of the interests of the student rather than of the 

 general public has been adversely criticised by more than one 

 educational authority, on the ground that the student can find all the 

 facts here illustrated mentioned in his text-books, and that the Index 

 Museum, instead of constituting an introduction to the systematic 

 collections in the galleries, is developing into a " college museum." 



That the latter statement is not without foundation is evident 

 from the fact that educational museums are now being modelled on 

 the same plan in different parts of the country, at the Tonbridge 

 School Museum, for instance, and even abroad, as at the Columbia 

 College, New York ; and on somewhat similar lines Professor Ray 



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