278 REMARKS ON MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



rying in her hand a roll, consisting of half a sheet of letter-paper, 

 on which we had been making some notes before the gallery was 

 opened to the public, but which we should have put out of sight 

 previous to the visitors being admitted. They led us, with a guard of 

 three soldiers, along the galleries, to the guardian of the collection, 

 who immediately set us at liberty. 



In other parts of the Continent, as in Switzerland, where the in- 

 habitants are not under the surveillance of the police, the walls are 

 as much disfigured by writing as in England ; and I need only in- 

 stance the chapel of William Tell. This remnant of barbarism, 

 therefore, which has been called by some " English taste/' is not 

 peculiar to our country, and I am inclined to believe that a great 

 improvement in this respect is taking place amongst the English ; 

 indeed I have no doubt, as the education of the people advances, it 

 will rapidly disappear. I feel assured that the best and most 

 speedy way to eradicate the evil will be to adopt, in the various 

 local institutions, the liberal example of the Natural History 

 Society of Newcastle, as the means best calculated to impart a taste 

 for the beauties of the creation among the people ; and if the pic- 

 ture galleries, churches, cathedrals, and other buildings containing 

 works of art in the country, were freely opened to their inspection, 

 it would have the effect of giving them a taste for the fine arts. I. 

 think the exemplary behaviour of the visitors in the British Museum, 

 and in the museum of the Newcastle Society, fully justifies a simi- 

 lar trial in other places. 



I am inclined to believe it is in consequence of the general 

 good conduct of the public that the governors of the British 

 Museum have been able to give such facilities to the visitors in 

 general — facilities that are only to be compared to those granted to 

 individuals recommended to the directors of the Paris Museum ; for 

 it is only with this institution that the British Museum can be com- 

 pared, as most of, if not all, the other continental museums are 

 either attached to universities for the use of the professors and their 

 students, or are the property of private societies, as that of Frank- 

 fort. Indeed, the Paris Museum was instituted for the purpose of 

 teaching medical botany, and was subsequently extended to the 

 other branches of Natural History ; and it is for this reason that 

 the professors regard the collections as formed for their own use, 

 and do not allow any person to take notes without their permission, 

 which is, in general, liberally granted, though exceptions have been 

 made if it interfered with any work which the professor or his aid 

 might be engaged upon. On the contrary, at the British Museum, 



