The Principles of Miisciini Adniiiiisfrafion. 227 



5. Mobility is even more necessary. All floor cases and pedestals 

 should have fixed rollers or roller trucks so that the^' may be moved with 

 their contents, and all fixed cases should be built with screws so as to be 

 readily moved from hall to hall. 



6. Cases which permit a fixed installation and a recombination of units 

 without a rehandling of specimens are economical and in many depart- 

 ments indispensable. Possibility of interchange of units between the 

 exhibition and storage systems of cases is indispensable. 



7. For the interior of cases the prime need is that the system of shelv- 

 ing should be as flexible as possible, and that the inside colors should Ije 

 restful to the eye and no lighter in color than the neces.sity of illumina- 

 tion may require. 



8. The mountings for individual specimens should not attract the eye 

 either bj- beauty or ugliness, but should support and set off the specimens, 

 and by their uniformity and propriety add to the appearance of system 

 and order in the exhibits. 



9. The inscription should be so attached that it can not be removed or 

 effaced, and, when possible, engraved or painted upon the object itself. 

 When a mark of this kind is not possible, a ticket or label, preferably the 

 latter, should be attached in the most prominent manner. Even when a 

 ticket is used at least the catalogue number should be inscribed upon 

 the specimen, if this can be done without injuring it. These require- 

 ments do not apply so much to large and heav}^ objects permanently 

 installed in an exhibition series as to those kept, even temporarily, in a 

 stud}" or storage series. Fragile objects, or those which can not receive 

 a permanent mark, should be kept in type receptacles of glass or other 

 material, upon which should be placed the inscription. Even when 

 preparations are thus kept in jars or boxes they should, when possible, 

 have some ticket attached to them bearing the same number as the recep- 

 tacle in which they are placed, so that if specimens are taken out they 

 shall not be put back in the wrong receptacle. 



Comment. — In the United States National Museum, each alcoholic preparation is 

 marked with a ticket of block tin, on which the catalogue number is stamped, the 

 same number being engraved with a diamond upon the glass jar in which it belongs. 



10. A specimen may consist of a single object, or of a large number of 

 similar objects from one source. For instance, a collection of engravings 

 in one portfolio ; a collection of similar kinds of stone implements from 

 one excavation ; a number of animals or plants of one species from the 

 same locality. 



For lack of a better term, the material included in a museum catalogue 

 number, whether a single specimen or many, is called a "lot." This 

 term is chiefly employed in museum statistics, 



1 1 . Explorers and collectors in the field should keep their records b}^ 

 catalogue and label, in accordance with the principles laid down for 

 museums. Their work thus gains immensely in definiteness and value, 



