THE FUNCTIONS OF MUSEUMS. 217 



sake of students, too, technical terms and labels are introduced; these 

 are above the ordinary visitor and disgust him. For the sake of the 

 public, on the other hand, much space, time and money are devoted 

 to elaborate mounting of the objects. This, in itself to be commended, 

 and practicable when restricted to a selected series, sets a standard 

 that is far too high for application to all the thousands of exhibited 

 specimens, since this extension of it absorbs energy that were better 

 emplo5^ed in other directions, and renders the specimens less accessible 

 to both investigator and student. Again, much of the material amassed 

 for the specialist is not readily stored, and, finding its way into the 

 show-cases, detracts from their effect and overweights both layman and 

 student. 



For such a museum then, I suggest a tripartite arrangement of 

 the collections, corresponding with the three functions. 



First, there would be a stored series, in drawers, or special cases, 

 or private rooms, so arranged as to be easily transferred to the work- 

 rooms, and reserved for the use of specialists or researchers. 



The series for students may assume two forms. One, a collection of 

 objects to be handled, best stored in a private room and immediately 

 accessible to accredited students. The other, a large exhibited series, 

 under glass when advisable, arranged systematically and properly 

 labeled, but without superfluous niceties of mounting. This should 

 be kept in galleries to which access could be had on application to an 

 attendant. The general public should not be permitted to wander 

 freely through them, and especially should loving couples and infants 

 in arms be warned off. It would probably be a sufficient barrier if 

 each visitor were required to write his or her name and address in a 

 book kept at the entrance. 



Finally, there would be other rooms for a smaller series of care- 

 fully selected objects, so arranged as to make the utmost appeal to 

 the great public. 



The fundamental distinction between the series for research and 

 that for public exhibition has long been realized by directors of natural 

 history museums, and has been strenuously urged by Flower and 

 Brown Goode. The directors of art-museums are just beginning to 

 apprehend it ; but even the best museums of natural history are still far 

 from the ideal upheld, not for the first time, in Flower's address to the 

 British Association fourteen years ago. If I may judge from my own 

 limited experience, the chief reason for this failure is the existence of 

 those two distinct types of visitor, the layman and the student. We 

 are obliged in self-defence to exhibit far more specimens than we know 

 to be good for the public, because if we did not we should be doing 

 little else than answering the enquiries of amateurs, and unlocking 

 drawers for all manner of students. Moreover, in the absence of 



