X ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY 287 



Biology, but I see that my time is becoming 

 short, and I have yet another question to answer. 

 Xevertheless, I must, at the risk of wearying you, 

 say a word or two upon the important subject of 

 museums. "Without doubt there are no helps to 

 the study of Biology, or rather to some branches 

 of it, which are, or may be, more important than 

 natural history museums; but, in order to take 

 this place in regard to Biology, they must be 

 museums of the future. The museums of the 

 present do not, by any means, do so much for us 

 as they might do. I do not wish to particularise, 

 but I dare say many of you, seeking knowledge, or 

 in the laudable desire to employ a holiday 

 usefully, have visited some great natural history 

 museum. You have walked through a quarter 

 of a mile of animals, more or less well stuffed, 

 with their long names written out underneath 

 them; and, unless your experience is very differ- 

 ent from that of most people, the upshot of it all 

 is that you leave that splendid pile with sore feet, 

 a bad headache, and a general idea that the 

 animal kingdom is a ^'' mighty maze without a 

 plan." I do not think that a museum which 

 brings about this result does all that may be 

 reasonably expected from such an institution. 

 What is needed in a collection of natural history 

 is that it should be made as accessible and as use- 

 ful as possible, on the one hand to the general 

 public, and on the other to scientific workers. 



