412 On Juvenile Museums, 



Art. II. Oft Juvenile Museums, 'with an Account of a Boy's 

 Herbarium. By J. Rennie, A.M. 



All children appear to be more or less fond of natural 

 history, from their earliest years; and, were this natural pro- 

 pensity duly encouraged, an extensive acquaintance with natural 

 productions might be obtained by young people, at little or no 

 trouble or expense to their parents, and with great pleasure 

 and interest to themselves. The three most obvious depart- 

 ments best adapted for this purpose are, botany, conchology, 

 and mineralogy, and particAilarly the first. I do not speak 

 upon conjecture or speculation ; I can adduce more than one 

 case in which I have seen such plans carried into effect, with 

 a success far surpassing the most sanguine expectations that 

 could have been previously formed ; and, as particular ex- 

 amples are more apt to attract attention than vague or general 

 remarks, I shall, as an illustration of my views, give a brief 

 history of what has been, and may be, done in this way. 



Account of a Juvenile Herbarium, 

 A boy, who is now eight years old, began, at the age of five, 

 to collect plants, for the purpose of drying them, to form a 

 little herbarium j but it may be necessary to state that he pre- 

 viously knew, by memory, the scientific names of many of our 

 more common wild and garden plants, some of which names, 

 indeed, w^ere amongst the first words he had been taught to 

 speak. It was in winter when he first commenced his herba- 

 rium ; and this was so far an advantage, that the evergreens, 

 such as i^lex, jF/edera, Buxus, &c., as well as mosses, parti- 

 cularly the larger i!/ypna and Dicrana, are more easily dried 

 than the succulent plants of summer ; besides, they require less 

 nicety in spreading and arranging the foliage and branchlets, 

 which is the most difficult thing for a child so young as this 

 to manage dexterously, so as to display the characters of a 

 plant in the specimen. 



The method pursued was, to lay the specimens evenly 

 between sheets of thick blotting-paper, of the folio size, over 

 which were placed a number of large books. The specimens 

 were shifted every day, either into fresh paper, or into a dry 

 part of the same sheet, to prevent moulding and rotting ; and 

 this daily operation of shifting the specimens, was always 

 looked forward to with as much delight as to a holiday, or any 

 other treat of juvenile interest. At the same time, it renewed 

 acquaintance with the specimens, and served to fix their names 

 in the memory by reiteration. There was another source of 

 interest, however, which I must not overlook ; the boy was not 

 alone in his study, if I may be permitted to call it so. 



