studip:s on museums and kindred institutions. 595 



in the second story, and has a gallery. It takes in the entire length 

 and l)readth of the buildiiio-, i.s 100 meters long, 21 wide, 14 high, 

 with iron groinings and pillars, and is decorated with objects of art. 

 It is very homelike. It is open from 10 a. m. to 8 p. m., and from 6 

 to 10 p. m.; lighted in the evenings by gas, electricity being not used 

 on account of greater danger (?). The damaging influence of gas 

 upon the books is overlooked. The total expenses are $23,250, of 

 which $3,000 are for the purchase of books, $16,000 for salaries, and 

 11,250 for administration. An abbreviated catalogue and a catalogue 

 of the manuscripts (3,500) and first impressions have been published. 



I visited also the Pantheon, whose artistic decorations arc not effect- 

 ive on account of poor lighting, and the Sorbonne, which in its new 

 portions, decorated entirely in white, is very impressive. 



There are certainly still manj^ other things in Paris from which I 

 might have learned something for my special purpose. This would, 

 however, have required a much longer stay than the few daj^s which 

 1 had at my disposal for investigating some of the man}^ features in 

 that cit}' of cities. 



When one has spent live weeks in large cities of England and is then 

 immediately transported to Paris, he feels as if he had come upon the 

 center of a higher civilization. I had that same impression years ago. 

 This remark relates naturally only to the external appearances of life, not 

 to the intrinsic worth of culture, which are the same in England as else- 

 where. But the lower classes in the large cities of the insular Kingdom 

 appear poorer and more degraded, their outer bearing more repulsive, 

 further removed from enlightment and humanity. At all events the}' 

 enjoy life less. Compare the enjoyment of life of the French in the 

 streets of Paris with that of the English in London, Manchester, 

 Liverpool, Glasgow, etc., and you have a contrast as marked as that 

 between day and night. If modern civilization under the influence of 

 trade and manufactures tends to the result which has obtained in Eng- 

 land, it is surel}' a regrettable departure, which is practically carrying 

 us back to barbarism." 



«Dr. T. C. Horsfall, whom I have already' mentioned, says on page 3 of a very 

 readable recent paper, The Use of Pictures in Education, Manchester, 1902: "What 

 will become of England if towns like smoky, unhealthy Manchester continue to grow 

 as they are now growing? * * * Our big towns already contain a very large and 

 constantly increasing proportion of the English people, and a great majority of their 

 inhabitants are living under conditions which make physical, moral, and mental 

 health impossible. No one who knows what south and east London, Manchester, 

 and indeed all our large towns are, can resist the conviction that, unless the majority 

 of our people can soon be got out of such places, or unless the stati' of the towns is 

 soon very greatly improved, England, now preeminently the land of cities; can not 

 long retain her place among great nations. It would be as possible for a great cathe- 

 dral to escape destruction should walls and columns be rotten, as for a great empire 



