II. 

 Natural Science in Japan. 



II. — Present {continued from p. iii). 



THE Imperial Museum takes to itself the various functions which with 

 us are distributed between the two sections of the British Museum 

 and the Museum of Science and Art at South Kensington. That is- 

 to say, its collections are representative of the Natural History, Anti- 

 quities, Art — both ancient and modern, pure and applied, — Resources 

 and technical Industries of the Mikado's Empire. It has, it is true, 

 no immediate connection with the education of the country, since this 

 is amply provided for in other directions and is, for the most part, sub- 

 ordinate to the Imperial University. At the same time, the officers 

 of the Museum have other duties than those of merely conserving and 

 cataloguing the collections committed to their charge. Thus, from 

 the Handbook of the Imperial Museum [Teikohn Hakn-hutsn-kwan Yo-ran) 

 we learn that the officials are instructed to look after the precious 

 objects preserved in temples throughout the country ; but perhaps 

 this only refers to those of the state church, which is Shinto, and not 

 to the other purely Buddhist temples. They are also sent out to 

 collect objects, both in Japan and in foreign countries ; so that speci- 

 mens thus obtained are not only cheaper but more authentic than 

 those which pass through the hands of a dealer, while the collector is 

 enabled to obtain that knowledge about the surroundings of a speci- 

 men without which the most important collections often lose half their 

 value. It is also considered to be part of a curator's duties to assist 

 students in their investigation of the collections under his care, per- 

 mitting them to make copies, drawings or photographs of specimens ; 

 at the same time he is himself expected to make a scientific study of 

 the specimens and to publish his results. If these instructions, as 

 given in the handbook, are adequately fulfilled, the curators have it 

 in their power to utilise the Museum and their connection with it to 

 far greater advantage than that which can be attained by more tape- 

 trammelled curators nearer home ; and we cannot doubt that this 

 will be for the benefit of Science, of the Nation, and of the Museum 

 itself. 



The Museum is situated in a prettily arranged garden in Ueno 

 Park. The building, which is two stories high, is of plain semi- 



