32 ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS. 



the Leverian museum in Leicester Square the visitor had to 

 pay at least five shillings, we ought indeed to congratulate our- 

 selves that our lot is cast in such enlightened times that we have 

 municipal museums freely scattered throughout our land, which 

 may be visited by anyone without entrance fee or other 

 hindrance. The museum has come to be recognised, in the 

 words of Mr. E. Howarth, as " an essential element of 

 municipal life." 41 It is hardly too much to say that every free 

 library should have associated with it a free museum. Indeed, 

 many who have given much thought to the matter have been led 

 to conclude that the museum is perhaps in some respects the more 

 important of the two institutions. " Museums," said Professor 

 Boyd Dawkins, " appeal to the interest of many, while books 

 and a taste for books interest a narrower circle." 42 Turning to 

 the admirable speech delivered by the Countess of Warwick, at 

 the opening of our Essex museum, we find the opinion expressed 

 that " the foundation of a local museum for purposes of study 

 and reference is as valuable — perhaps even more valuable — than 

 a public library, for the drift of modern thought in the direction 

 of scientific education is towards a knowledge of nature rather 

 than a knowledge of books." 43 It is obvious that the young 

 student learns more by direct relation with the concrete natural 

 objects — the minerals, the plants, the animals — even if he merely 

 sees them in glass-cases — than he can possibly learn about them 

 by mere reading. An Amercian writer lias remarked that " the 

 near future may well see as great an interest in the establishment 

 of museums as there is now in the founding of libraries. 44 



The day has gone by when people could afford to sneer 

 at local museums — "the little museums accumulated for the 

 service of science by the philosophers of all our country 

 towns." 45 It must be admitted that the old type of provincial 

 museum founded by the enthusiasm of a few members of a local 

 society usually left much to be desired. When the founders 

 passed away, it often became difficult, sometimes impossible, 

 to find successors who would carry on the work of the museum, 

 and the collections were consequently doomed sooner or later to 



41 Report, Museums. Association, Canterbury Meeting, 1900, p. 76. 



42 Ibid. Manchester Meeting, 1892. 



43 Essex Naturalist, Vol. xi. (1900), p. 325. 



44 "The Opportunity of the Smaller Museums of Natural History."— Popular Science 

 Monthly, May, 1903, p. 40. 



45 A Second Letter to a Dissenter on the Opposition of the University of Oxford to the 

 Charter of the London College. By the Rev. W. Sewell, M.A., 1834. 



