AEEANGEMENT OF MUSEUMS. 195 



most instances been omitted, or so treated as to be altogether 

 useless. 



" Unfortunately not a few country museums are little better than 

 rarec-slio\Ys. They contain an incongruous accumulation of things 

 curious or supposed to be curious, heaped together in disorderly piles, 

 or neatly spread out with ingenious disregard of their relations. 

 The only label attached to nine specimens out of ten is, ' Presented 

 by Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so ; ' the object of the presentation having 

 been either to clierish a glow of generous self-satisfaction in the 

 bosom of the donor, or to get rid — under the semblance of doing a 

 good action — of rubbish that had once been prized, but latterly had 

 stood in the Avay. Curiosities from the South Seas, relics 

 worthless in themselves, deriving their interest fi'om association 

 with persons or localities, a few badly-stuifed quadrupeds, rather 

 more birds, a stuffed snake, a skinned alligator, part of an Egyptian 

 mummy, Indian gods, a case or two of shells, the bivalves usually 

 single and the univalves decorticated, a sea-urchin without its 

 spines, a few common corals, the fruit of a double cocoa-nut, some 

 mixed antiquities, partly local, partly Etruscan, partly Roman and 

 Egyptian, and a case of minerals and miscellaneous fossils, — such is 

 the inventory and about the scientific order of their contents. ..." 



"There are, however," he continues, " admirable exceptions to 

 this censure. There are local collections arranged with skill and 

 judgment in several of our county towns, and which at a glance 

 tell us 'of the neighbourhood and activity of a few guiding and 

 enlightened men of science. It would be invidious to cite examples, 

 and yet the principles, in each case distinct, adopted in the 

 arrangement of those of Ipswich and Belfast ought specially to 

 be noticed. In the former, thanks to the advice and activity of 

 Professor Henslow, the specimens of various kinds, whether anti- 

 quarian, natural-history, or industrial, are so arranged as to convey 

 distinct notions of principles, practice, or history. In the Belfast 

 Museum the eminent naturalists and antiquaries who have given 

 celebrity to their town, have made its contents at a glance explana- 

 tory of the geolojjy, zoology, botany, and ancient history of the 

 locality and neighbouring province. The museums of Manchester, 

 York, Scarborough, and ^STewcastle might be cited as highly com- 

 mendable likewise, thanks to the science and ability of the eminent 

 men connected with them, or who have taken an interest in their 

 formation." 



That the views here expressed, with which I entirely agree, 

 are held by other distinguished scientific men besides Edward 

 Forbes, I will now endeavour to show by giving extracts from the 

 writings of Professors Phillips, Bell, and Owen. 



In concluding an addi-ess delivered at a meeting of the Malvern, 

 Cottcswold, and other jSTatural History Societies, Professor Phillips 

 (then Deputy Header in Geology in the University of Oxford) said : 

 " I would, if it were necessary, iirge all persons belonging to field- 

 clubs, not selfishly to retain the specimens they gather, but to 

 deposit them where they may be of use to their fellow-explorers. 



