NOTES. 309 



being that the same interest in the pursuit of collecting seldom 

 manifests itself in succeeding generations of the same family. 



Isolated specimens of historical and ethnographical interest in the 

 possession of people are not of much value by themselves, but brought 

 together in a collection in the Museum they become of great value. 

 When got together and properly arranged, such collections are of 

 the greatest interest, but taken individually they often appear 

 commonplace. The Colombo Museum, thanks to the exertions of 

 the present Director, will shortly issue Brdletins and Memoirs, in 

 which historical and ethnographical specimens and articles of vertu 

 will be figured and described. This will afford a splendid opportu- 

 nity to those possessing treasures to donate or loan them, that they 

 may be dealt with by specialists and made known. People in Ceylon 

 do not yet understand that the public Museum is after all the logical 

 custodian .of all things of historical, scientific, and artistic value. 



GERARD A. JOSEPH. 

 Colombo Museum, August, 1912. 



