i893- THE MUSEUMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 47 



the school, who are unfortunately not assisted by a regularly trained 

 skilled assistant. It may seem ungracious to criticise what is in 

 many respects excellent, but a few possible improvements may be 

 mentioned for the warning and benefit of others who have not yet 

 " builded new barns " for Museum purposes. (1) There are no work- 

 rooms in connection with the Museum, nor any rooms situated 

 conveniently near in which the work of preparation can be carried 

 on. The inconvenience of this want to the Curators will be only too 

 obvious to all who have ever had charge of any portion of a Museum. 

 Moreover, the absence of a work-room for students greatly limits the 

 usefulness of the collections. (2) The position of the windows, though 

 giving a good light, does not give so good a light as continuous 

 skylights would have afforded. (3) The supports of the roof descend- 

 ing on to the main walls of halls curtails the available wall-space 

 to a great extent. In the present instance, had the roof been 

 supported in some other way, a rail-gallery would have been possible 

 round both halls, which would have doubled the wall-space. Under 

 the present circumstances, nearly half the wall-space is too high for 

 instructive exhibition purposes, though it can be made serviceable for 

 the reception of various gifts which have no proper place in a School 

 Museum, and can therefore without loss be "skied" into positions 

 sufficiently remote as not to disturb the visible arrangements, and 

 sufficiently prominent to gratify the well-meaning donors. 



Oswald H. Latter. 



