158 The Scottish Naturalist. 



creditable as the result of many years' work, instead of being 

 formed in two or three. 



But let us turn now to the educational value of a museum from 

 another, and not less important, point of view. It ought not 

 merely to convey to visitors a correct idea of the leading facts in 

 science, but also to facilitate the study of the productions — 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral — of the surrounding district ; so 

 that each one, studying it matters not what special group in that 

 locality, should be able to find in it a full record of what has been 

 already done in that group by his predecessors in the locality, and 

 should be induced to add to that record by extending the collec- 

 tions in the department in which he is himself proficient. By 

 such a combination of general facts, with minute accuracy in such 

 details as can be verified by each thorough worker, it is alone 

 possible to make a museum a valuable addition to the teaching 

 resources of the place in which it is. Then only can it be ex- 

 pected to lead others to become naturalists — not mere collectors, 

 solicitous only to accumulate a miscellaneous mass of what, to 

 themselves as well as to others, is little better than rubbish. Not 

 the mere amount accumulated, but the success with which the 

 lessons that may be drawn from the collections are displayed, con- 

 stitutes a museum worthy of the name. And how much can be 

 learned from a thoroughly equipped museum, can be appreciated 

 only after spending a considerable time in the study of the objects 

 in one so equipped. 



To the scientific visitor the advantage is not less than to the 

 residents in visiting a museum of the kind we have been advo- 

 cating the establishment of in provincial towns. There are many 

 questions of the utmost interest connected with the distribution of 

 the fauna and the flora of any country, and the variations that 

 species undergo in different localities. The causes of these varia- 

 tions, and peculiarities in distribution, may frequently be solved 

 by a comparison of good collections from a number of localities, 

 differing from one another in soil, in climate, in exposure, and in 

 many other particulars ; and often a single district will afford 

 localities varying widely from one another in all these conditions. 

 For example, the provinces that have been proposed as natural 

 divisions of Scotland — e.g., Tay or Dee — contain in themselves 

 districts varying in soil, in altitude, in exposure, in shelter from 

 wind, in rainfall, and in temperature. Collections from each dis- 



