316 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept. 



tribes and natives living beyond the Cape of Grood Hope and 

 Cape Horn, with whom the founders of that society carried on so 

 large a trade, and also to preserve as far as possible the remem- 

 brance of that trade, and of the society itself, by models of the 

 vessels employed and by a collection of portraits of those who, 

 either as owners or navigators, were its pioneers. To these col- 

 lections the eastern side of the hall is devoted, and large additions 

 have also been made to them by the Academy, relating to the 

 Indians of North America, especially those who lived in the 

 neighbourhood. 



Third. The arrangement of the general collection npon the 

 simplest possible plan, that of bringing together the different 

 divisions according to their structural affinities. This arrange- 

 ment is intended to be limited, for the present certainly, to the 

 wants of the public and the general student, in other words to be 

 such a display of typical specimens, that every intelligent visitor 

 may find the means of investigating the more general laws 

 which govern the natural affinities of animals, plants and min- 

 erals. In the accomplishment of this purpose it was thought 

 proper to suppress all useless details. Information in regard to 

 the minor points of structure, which can only be conveyed by a 

 large number of closely allied forms, is of no value to the general 

 observer. On the contrary, it tends to confuse and distract 

 attention from general principles, and concentrate it on questions 

 of limited application, of no practical importance, except to the 

 special student. We are aware that the difficulties in the way of 

 this arrangement are by no means confined to the selection of 

 suitable specimens or their disposal in regular order. When 

 placed in their most perfect condition, classified and labelled 

 according to their different relations to each other, or to the 

 circumstances of their geographical or geological distribution, 

 they still are but dumb illustrations of the laws of nature. They 

 are indeed the best possible illustrations, and rank next to the 

 living facts in ex ictitude and truthfulness, but still they are only 

 the illustrations of the book of nature, of which the text book is 

 still unwritten. To complete the plan therefore, and make the 

 museum all that it should be, catalogties are needed, which shall 

 be to some extent abbreviated text-books. And it is believed 

 by the gentlemen in charge of the museum that they can be so 

 made, that any desirous of information in regard to any of the 

 groups of the three kingdoms, may find not only a statement of the 



