ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS. II 



witli Museums was that of a writer who, otherwise uttering 

 much common sense, held that " the drowsy appearance 

 of a Museum peculiarly adapts it to the requirements of 

 students. " (1 °' 



If I might be bold enough to throw out a hint as to what 

 I should like to see in the Forest Museum of the future, I would 

 venture to say that in my opinion the present building, with 

 its interesting associations, should be used as a small antiquarian 

 Museum and that the Natural History collections should be 

 removed to a neighbouring building to be specially erected tor 

 their reception — a building which may be severely simple in 

 architecture, but which shall be spacious and light. 



The exhibits at present at Chingford may be regarded, for 

 convenience, as falling into two groups — one scientific, the other 

 archaeological; though I do not for a moment intend to suggest 

 by this conventional arrangement that archaeology is not to be 

 treated on scientific principles. The display of scientific objects 

 in an ancient building always strikes me as rather incongruous, 

 whereas objects of archaeological interest readily harmonize with 

 their antique surroundings. If I may dare to introduce just one 

 word of criticism respecting another museum in Essex, I would 

 refer to that at Colchester. There the archaeological treasures, 

 which everyone knows are of surpassing interest and inestimable 

 value, including the famous Joslin and Jarmin collections, may 

 not be considered altogether out of keeping with the venerable 

 castle in which they are housed, but the small Natural History 

 collection in the same building seems to me quite out of place in 

 such an edifice. 



Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, the present home of the 

 Epping Forest Museum, is an example of early Tudor archi- 

 tecture, which itself forms a fine specimen for an " Open Air 

 Museum." By the restoration of this building, the Corporation 

 of the City of London has earned the gratitude of every lover of 

 antiquity. It seems to me that the ideal way of utilising the old 

 building would be to furnish it with appropriate objects of 

 corresponding age, so that the whole might form a grand historical 

 object-lesson. But as such an ideal is never likely to be 

 reached, the next best thing is to use the building for the 



(10) Principles which should govern the classification and arrangement of Public 

 Museums. By Henrie O'Hara. Dublin : 1S62, p. 3. 



