STUDIKS ON MUSEUMS AND KINDRED INSTITUTIONS. 527 



made little prog-ress in the latter half (»t" the last ceiitiiiy. The former 

 director, Sir AugHistus Franks, a man of European reputation, and 

 durinji;- the time of his administration (1860 to l.SSO), the best authority 

 on ethnographical matters — one might say the teacher of the older gen- 

 eration of ethnographers — gave in the latter part of his life less atten- 

 tion to the broader pro])l(Mns of ethnography. However, on account 

 of the world-wide rule of the English Government, it is naturally and 

 nuist continue to be the task of the British Museum to lead in eth- 

 nography, since that nuiseum has greater opportunities than any 

 other. This collection nevertheless has not made much progress, 

 and the contents of the ethnographical department of the British 

 Museum make no better showing than many of the continental 

 nuiseums, not to mention the Berlin collection. In this stepmotherly 

 treatment of ethnography the British Museum does not set a good 

 example to the other museums throughout that country, while the 

 Berlin Museum, for example, has had and continues to have a fruitful 

 influence throughout the whole of Germany. In London the antiqui- 

 ties resulting from the English explorations in the Pacific Ocean (the 

 British Museum was established in 1753) are, however, still unex- 

 celled. The arrangement, classification, and labeling leave something 

 to be desired. The exhibits in halls lighted from above are crowded 

 and not pleasing. 



In this respect England has allowed herself to be surpassed, but this 

 fault may be found with all of her ethnographic collections, excepting 

 that at Oxford (see p. 533). 



While much has been generallv done in the British Museum in the 

 wa}^ of explanatory labeling, this can not be said of the ceramic col- 

 lection, which, however, still excels in that respect some of the conti- 

 nental collections. 



The famous librar}' of the British Museum, although it possesses 

 such magnificent features, can not as a building or in man}^ of its 

 installations and contrivances compare with the new American libraries. 

 It recjuires, for example, from a half to three-quarters of an hour to 

 obtain a book, and, besides, the facilities for reading- are not entirely 

 convenient. Books are not allowed to be taken home. The printed 

 catalogues, on the other hand, are unequaled, ])eing — considering the 

 riches of the collections, for the most part bibliographies, while they 

 contain also a large number of cross references — admirable works. 

 G. A. Criiwell " calls them "a milestone in the history of catalogue 

 making.'' In 1875, the manuscript catalogue having increased to 2,000 

 volumes and being too unhandy and cumbrous for use, its printing- 

 was undertaken, and was completed in twenty years, from 1881 to 

 1!>00, about 400 quarto parts at a ])rice of ^150. The increase, how- 

 ever, is so extraordinary that tlM> printing has been continued, and 



« Mittheilungen des Oesterreichischen Vereins fiir Bibliothekwesen, V, 1901, p. 32. 



