STUDIES ON MUSEUMS AND KINDRED INSTITUTIONS. 



428 



ari'iiiij^vinent of a case or stand inclosed l)y glass doors and especially 

 constructed for lightino- f i-oin at)ove; it is about t> feet long, 1 foot broad, 

 and T feet high, its base being '2 feet high; the woodwork is clumsy 

 and the arrangement of the shelf supports, with four standards, is 

 obstructive. Similar stands are used throughout the museum and do 

 not generally add to its beauty; when, however, the exhi})its do not 

 need to be inspected on all sides, these stands are arranged as a four- 

 sided well-lighted pyramid that excellently answers the purpose for 

 which it is constructed. The new cases are of mahogan}' or of other 

 wood polished black. In showing the collection of skeletons, black 

 backgrounds are often employed, as in several P^uropean museums, 

 but the setting of the skele- 

 tons contrasts disagreeably 

 with this black background 

 and their mounting is some- 

 times rude. 



While some of the great 

 mammal and bird groups 

 are displayed in a strikingly 

 beautiful manner, there were 

 many of inferior character, 

 for example, in the ornitho- 

 logical department, although 

 the museum is developing 

 so rapidly that perhaps even 

 these may now have given 

 place to better ones. 



In the botanical department 

 there were found very prac- 

 tical herbarium cases which 

 showed a good utilization of 

 space (fig. 39). They are 

 nearly 7 feet high, 3 feet 4 

 inches wide, and have each 



45 compartments, 5 inches high, and 3 sliding shelves. They stand in 

 pairs, back to back, with sufficient intervening space for the doors to be 

 pushed l)ack out of the way. The doors slide on tracks, which also hold 

 each pair of cases rigidly together. The door is hinged at </</, hung to 

 the wing piece {EE)^ which slides to and fro with it on the track, and 

 during this movement the door is always supported bj' a noiseless 

 castor which is screwed into a block of hard wood, //, that serves as a 

 check to the door when pushed back and as a foot press when locking it 

 after closing. The door is opened as widely as the wing piece will 

 allow and then shoved back. In closing, one pulls the kev of the lock, 

 the door is run along the track us far as the rolling pins </</ permit, 



Fuj. St). — Field Columbirtii Museum, 

 rack.s. 



