1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 367 



an advertisement has to be given, it need not be in the form of an 

 untruth. The student wishes, we presume, to be directed to the 

 original source of the figure and not to be sent on a wild-goose- 

 chase from text-book to text-book. On the latter principle the 

 whole of " Hamlet " might be attributed to writers in the daily 

 press. 



We can put the point quite clearly to the gentlemen referred to 

 above. How would they like to see the results of their own original 

 researches placed to the credit of any author that chanced to quote 

 them ? Or how would they like to have the obsolete ideas of older 

 authors fathered on them ? At the least they would denounce such 

 action as a gross injustice, and they might say that it contravened 

 the most elementary notions of morality. 



Photography in National Museums 



We have so often urged the advantage of having a permanent photo- 

 graphic establishment connected with our museums, that we welcome 

 the address recently delivered to the Royal Photographic Society by 

 its President. All the more do we welcome it, seeing that the 

 President is the Earl of Crawford, who, as one of the Trustees of 

 the British Museum, speaks with knowledge of the need and of the 

 practicability of supplying it without any additional cost to the 

 nation. Berlin and Munich, he pointed out, have shown that a 

 photographic department can issue the finest work, can be of in- 

 calculable value to institutions in all parts of the world, and yet can 

 be self-supporting. He pleaded forcibly that some such establish- 

 ment should be attached to the British Museum. 



In this connection it is satisfactory to learn that at least one 

 small step in the desired direction is being taken at the Natural 

 History Museum. A studio for the use of photographers is being- 

 built, and when this is completed it will be possible for investigators 

 to photograph the specimens in the collection under better conditions 

 of lighting and of quiet than are now attainable. We do not, how- 

 ever, learn that it is contemplated to attach a photographer to the 

 establishment, or even to train an attendant as operator. The chief 

 use to which the studio will be put will be the photography of speci- 

 mens for the illustration of the Museum catalogues. Those who 

 wish to utilise the accommodation for other scientific purposes will, 

 whether they be connected with the Museum or no, still have to 

 import their own apparatus and their own photographer at an ex- 

 pense which weighs heavily upon most students of natural history, 

 and seriously hinders the proper illustration of scientific papers. 

 However, the wedge is being slowly driven in ; we must be grateful, 

 and we live in hope. 



