66 SOME NE W BOOKS [ JUL y 



natural objects, rather more system in the exhibition of things artistic, would 

 often not be misplaced. Among the contributions to which we allude, special 

 attention should be paid to that by Mr. James Paton, Superintendent of 

 Museums, Glasgow, giving an authoritative account of the inception, establish- 

 ment, and maintenance of the " People's Palace " in that city. The question of 

 loan exhibits in museums is always a difficult one, and those who have had to 

 consider it will read with amusement Mr. Paton's witty classification of lenders, 

 and agree with him and Polonius that one should "neither a lender nor a 

 borrower be." Mr. John Maclaughlan, of the Albert Institute Museum, 

 Dundee, writes on " Sculpture in Art Museums," in a way that should be of 

 much use to other provincial curators. Mr. William White's paper on "The 

 Individuality of Museums " is chiefly devoted to an exposition of the Ruskin 

 Museum, of which he is the curator. It is followed by " Practical Notes and 

 Suggestions on Modes of exhibiting Museum Specimens," drawn from Mr. 

 White's experience in the same museum ; several of these are original and 

 valuable. 



Among articles that refer to all classes of museums, the place of honour is 

 of course due to the address by the genial President, Alderman W. H. Brittain, 

 who gives an account of the labours of the Museum Committee of the Sheffield 

 Corporation. In a paper on " Provincial Museums and the Museums Associa- 

 tion " Mr. H. Bolton suggests the compilation of a return of statistics as to the 

 present condition of all museums in the United Kingdom. Such a statement 

 would be of great value to curators, councillors, and educationalists, and we are 

 glad to see that the Association has appointed a committee " to obtain 

 information respecting museums on the lines of Mr. Bolton's paper," and that 

 the General Secretary has been instructed to prepare a form to be sent to 

 museums for their officials to fill up. 



Mr. W. E. Hoyle's illustrated account of "The Electric Light Installation in 

 the Manchester Museum " is thoroughly practical, and since that museum seems 

 to have solved many of the difficulties incident to artificial lighting, this paper 

 should be studied with care by all who propose to adopt the electric light for 

 similar institutions. " The cleaning of museums " may seem an obvious duty, 

 and it is just conceivable that the cleaning and dusting of the public portions of 

 most of our modern museums is adequately carried out ; but Miss Clara 

 Nordlinger, of the Manchester Museum, cannot emphasise too strongly the 

 need for "a judicious and efficient daily dusting of the workrooms used by the 

 staff" ; ventilation is usually lacking in such apartments, while the atmosphere 

 is full of particles of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, and other poisonous and 

 irritating substances. Such rooms are never properly cleaned, except, perhaps, 

 in the Manchester Museum, and the health of the staff suffers in consequence. 



Papers of more restricted range, and dealing chiefly with matters of natural 

 science, are the following : — Professor A. Denny of Sheffield, on " The Relation 

 of Museums to Elementary Teaching," which contains nothing more novel than 

 common sense. Mr. E. M. Holmes, of the Pharmaceutical Society, writing on 

 " The Arrangement of Herbaria," describes the methods adopted in various 

 public establishments, and selects from them numerous useful suggestions. He 

 favours the alphabetical arrangement for all small herbaria : undoubtedly it 

 effects a great saving of time. In pursuance of this, he gives an alphabetical 

 list of the natural orders of plants, with the numbers affixed to them in 

 Bentham and Hooker's " Genera Plantarum," and with cross-references to the 

 names used in Engler and Prantl's " Natiirlichen Pflanzen-Familien." Dr. H. C. 

 Sorby has yet another note on " Marine Animals mounted as Transparencies for 

 Museum Purposes " ; many of his beautiful preparations are to be seen in the 

 Sheffield Public Museum, where they have been exposed to the light for several 

 years without deterioration. Mr. Harlan I. Smith, of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, suggests a detailed classification for "The Ethnological 

 Arrangement of Archaeological Material " ; it is thought that it may lead the 



