158 The bish Naturalist. August, 



tured on the opinioti that, the specimens once having been 

 put into cases, the scientific staff of the Museum might as well 

 be superannuated, and the institution left to the care of a few- 

 able-bodied men with dusters. But the modern Museum 

 officer looks on the exhibition rooms under his care as a 

 means for interesting and educating the people who pass 

 through. Every specimen must be shown with a purpose, be 

 naturally and artistically mounted, be clearly and intelligibly 

 labelled, and be placed in proper relation as regards other 

 objects. Let it not be supposed that we imagine this ideal 

 to have been attained in the Dublin Museum, but this is what 

 we aim at. Especial pains have been taken to place our 

 specimens in proper relations to each other. The extensive 

 re-arrangement which the collections have undergone to this 

 end, have already been described in the Irish Naturalist? 

 The aim has been, in the general collection of animals, in the 

 upper room of the natural history building, for example, so to 

 arrange the specimens that the principles of animal classifica- 

 tion cannot but be seen. It is hoped that even the casual 

 museum visitor will not fail to be impressed by the zoological 

 object-lesson offered to him. But a fair proportion of the 

 visitors to our galleries are serious students, attached to the 

 Royal University or to some other institution. These, students 

 come from all parts of Ireland, and through them at least the 

 Dublin Museum can claim to do something for national edu- 

 cation in its broadest sense. And the scientific culture of 

 such students cannot but benefit the Irish Field Clubs. 



As befits a department of a metropolitan Museum, the 

 general collection will become, it is hoped, as full and as 

 instructive as possible. But merely from considerations of 

 space no attempt can be made in Dublin to rival the general 

 zoological collections of such centres as Eoudon and Berlin. 

 The department in which the Dublin zoological collections 

 should stand pre-eminent is the representation of the Fauna of 

 Ireland. This may seem a " local " subject to the visitor from 

 Great Britain or from the Eastern or the Western Continent. But 

 to us who inhabit the country and who regard the country as 

 a topographical unit, its fauna is a matter of national interest. 

 The " local" collection in the Dublin Museum therefore must 



1 Vol. vi., 1897, pp 127-131. 



