icpi. 157 



THE DUBLIN MUSEUM AND IRISH NATURALISTS. 



BY GEORGE H. CARPENTER, B.SC. 

 [Read before the Irish Field Club Union Conference, June 2r, 1901 J 



Naturalists who live in Dublin, in welcoming representa- 

 tives of their colleagues from other parts of Ireland, have been 

 anxious to show to the best advantage the opportunities now 

 given by the scientific institutions of the capital for the study 

 of natural and historical objects. Dublin naturalists williugly 

 and cordially yield pride of place to those of Belfast as the 

 pioneers in Irish Field Club work. In this, as in many other 

 walks of life where initiative must be taken by the people, the 

 North has led the way. But for the support of national 

 scientific institutions we must, for the present at least, depend 

 on a department of the Government, and these institutions 

 have naturally grown up in that city which the Government 

 regards as the capital of Ireland. It cannot be but that Dublin 

 naturalists should benefit by these institutions more than do 

 those who live far away from them. But though they must 

 be placed somewhere, and Dublin is fortunate enough to house 

 them, Dublin wishes them to be regarded not as local but as 

 national — the property not of a city nor of a province, but of 

 the country as a whole. And those whose daily work lies in 

 these institutions are the most wishful that they should both 

 deserve and command a widespread national interest. 



If an institution be truly national, it should at once be use- 

 ful to, and derive help from, those who throughout the land 

 ore students of its special subjects. In this paper the Natural 

 History Collections of the Science and Art Museum will alone 

 be dealt with. If the Museum is rightly regarded as the 

 National Museum of Ireland, these collections should be able 

 to claim the interest of all the naturalists in the country. 

 The subject is therefore a fitting one for a Field Club 

 Conference. 



To the casual visitor a Museum consists solely of its exhibi- 

 tion rooms and the specimens contained therein. The things 

 are there in the cases to be looked at and that is all about it. 

 So deeply ingrained is this view in the unscientific public 

 mind that a person of high standing and attainments has veu- 



