X ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY 289 



convenient drawers into each of which a great 

 quantity of skins will go. They occupy no great 

 space and do not require any expenditure beyond 

 their original cost. But for the edification of the 

 public, who want to learn indeed, but do not 

 seek for minute and technical knowledge, the case 

 is different. What one of the general public walk- 

 ing into a collection of birds desires to see is not 

 all the birds that can be got together. He 

 does not want to compare a hundred species of 

 the sparrow tribe side by side; but he wishes to 

 know what a bird is, and what are the great 

 modifications of bird structure, and to be able to 

 get at that knowledge easily. What will best 

 serve his purpose is a comparatively small num- 

 ber of birds carefully selected, and artistically, 

 as well as accurately, set up; with their different 

 ages, their nests, their young, their eggs, and 

 their skeletons side by side; and in accordance 

 with the admirable plan which is pursued in this 

 museum, a tablet, telling the spectator in legible 

 characters what they are and what they mean. 

 For the instruction and recreation of the public 

 such a typical collection would be of far greater 

 value than any many-acred imitation of Noah's 

 ark. 



Lastly comes the question as to when biological 

 study may best be pursued. I do not see any 

 valid reason why it should not be made, to a 

 certain extent, a part of ordinary school training. 



