156 The Scottish Naturalist. 



material supplied by large collections and a complete library j 

 and to provide these for themselves, even in a very limited sub- 

 ject, is not only beyond the means of most, but is practically be- 

 yond the power of the wealthiest, since many of the specimens 

 and of the books required are to be found only in public collec- 

 tions and libraries. The British Museum is one of the best ex- 

 amples of a museum, in which local must be subordinated to 

 general collections, and where both these and the national library 

 afford every facility that can be obtained by specialists in Great 

 Britain. 



But such a museum as this must stand alone in a country, as 

 a national undertaking ; though a few large towns may follow with 

 museums on similar lines, however far behind. For provincial 

 museums in general to aim at such completeness is simply to 

 ensure utter and deserved failure. The expense involved in pro- 

 viding buildings, and in forming and keeping up the collections, 

 would be far beyond the means of any town, however wealthy ; 

 nor are more than a very few such museums required in a 

 country. 



The educational value of a provincial Natural History Museum to 

 the residents in the locality, depends upon the care with which the 

 specimens in it have been chosen to display readily the important 

 characters of structure and distribution of the great groups of 

 animals and plants, and the great facts in the sciences of geology 

 and mineralogy. These great general facts are rendered clear to 

 students, and to the non-scientific public, far more successfully by 

 well-selected series, including comparatively few types, than they 

 could be by loading the shelves with very large series of each 

 group. Now, it is only educational series of this kind that are 

 required for the representation of the natural history of the world 

 in provincial museums. Efforts to go much beyond this are 

 likely rather to diminish than to increase their usefulness, and add 

 much to the expense incurred in sustaining the museum. Valu- 

 able and extensive collections in special departments of science are 

 worth acceptance, should they be offered to the directors of local 

 museums; but isolated specimens from beyond the bounds of 

 the district should be declined, unless they help to complete the 

 type collections, or are of considerable intrinsic value. 



If contributions of all kinds are accepted, and have places 

 assigned to them in the museum, the certain result will be that it 



