578 



"REPORT OF NATIONAL MTTSEUM, 1903. 



individual freedom of development is greater in the Eng-lish than in 

 the German, )jut this appears to me to ])e very questional)le. 



The interior of the museum building does not altogether harmonize 

 with the beautiful and impressive exterior. There is a central, large 

 lighted court with two galleries, one above the other in the style of 

 a railway station, overdecorated, checkered,. and somewhat wanting in 

 good taste, even in the eyes of the officials themselves (it is called 

 there the "German" taste; that is, like the cheap, inferior wares that 

 were formerly imported); adjoining is a great series of rooms, of 

 which some are very dark, especiall}' the. one containing the ethno- 

 graphic collection. The poor lighting could be much improved by 

 the Luxfer prism glass, but this scheme has been adopted as yet to 

 very limited extent by the museums of the Island Kingdom. 



The zoological collection, too, has a large hall, lighted from above, 

 with two galleries superposed (fig. 110), but the lighting facilities are 

 somewhat meager, the cases and desks primitive, and the installation 



Fir.. 108.— National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. 



not very elegant. I mention especially a Shakespeare case, with birds 

 trained for hunting, falcons, and the like, together with passages from 

 the works of the poet. Very noteworthy is the representation of the 

 geographical distribution of animals in seven sections; distribution in 

 general and six geographical regions. I know only one museum in 

 the world where the same thing is attempted, namely, the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which I hope to 

 describe in a future report. In Dublin this exhibition is not developed 

 very extensivel}^ but it is highly commendable. The great museums of 

 the world (London, Paris, Berlin, New York, etc.) have nothing similar 

 to this, 3'et they onl}^ are in a position fully to carry out such a scheme. 

 The S3'^stematic exhibit must necessarily be supplemented by a geo- 

 graphic one. It is a matter of satisfaction that at least one European 

 museum, too, has undertaken this important task, even though on a 

 small scale." Very noteworthy also, and as I believe unique, is the 



o It has lately also been tried in the Dresden Museum. 



