n. G. FORDHAM ON LOCAL MUSEUMS. 217 



general description. The South Kensington Museum is also, to a 

 considerable extent, a technical museum, containing as it docs large 

 special collections illustrative of particular arts and industries ; but 

 this does not alt'ect its place in my classification. 



Having estahlislied, as I hope clearly, a line of demarcation 

 •which should be preserved between these two classes of museums, 

 the "accumulative" and the "educational," I will now attempt 

 to show how much the value of a museum is increased by attention 

 to these details, and how necessary it is for its utility that in its 

 whole course of existence one or other of the main principles I 

 have explained should be kept in view. 



It is to be observed, and it follows from what I have already 

 stated, that two natural classes of men are attracted by the two 

 classes of museums. The accumulative museum is to the man of 

 science, with his highlj'-trained mind and store of technical in- 

 formation, the source from which he extracts, with these tools, 

 additions to his knowledge, and through him to the knowledge of 

 the world at large ; to such a man an educational museum is a 

 superfluity. On the other hand an educational museum is to the 

 mass of the people a place of easy instruction, a valuable illustrated 

 book of knowledge ; but the popular mind justly regards the 

 accumulative museum as a closed book, only to be opened after 

 considerable preparatory study. 



It is apparent, therefore, that any mingling of these two separate 

 and clearly-defined ends — the storing of matter for scientific labour, 

 and the direct diffusion of knowledge — will mar the whole, and 

 produce a museum of so mixed a character that it will fail, to a 

 great extent, in subserving any useful purpose. The investigator 

 will not visit it, because he knows that what it may contain 

 interesting to him will probably be mixed up with, and perhaps 

 hidden by, specimens with which he has no concern. The people 

 do not get instruction from it, for in attempting to do so they 

 encounter so much that they do not understand that they would 

 have great difficulty in extracting from the mass what might add 

 to their knowledge. A heterogeneous collection of objects and 

 specimens is therefore to be condemned as likely to be unsuccessful 

 in the production of results of sufficient value to be a recompense 

 for the expenditure of valuable time, energy, and money, and this 

 is as true of local as of central museums. 



A local museum should be either accumulative or educational, 

 or it may consist of two perfectly distinct departments having 

 these characteristics. The raison (Vetre for a local museum of 

 the accumulative class is furnished only by the existence in a 

 particular neighbourhood of something which it may be desirable 

 in the interests of science to preserve. It may be that there are 

 quarries producing a peculiar assemblage of fossils, or the country 

 may be rich in rare minerals ; botanical rarities may be abundant, 

 or traces of pre-historic man often obtained. Under these or similar 

 circumstances a local accumulative museum fulfils an important 

 function. It naturally obtains specimens which would never find 



