Lt 
SOME NEW BOOKS 
Str WILLIAM FLOWER’s ESSAYS 
Essays oN MusrUMS AND OTHER SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH NATURAL HISTORY, 
By Sir William Flower, K.C.B., D.C.L., ete. 8vo, xv+394 pp. London: Macs 
millan & Co., 1898. Price, 12s. net. 
Ty this volume are collected together a number of selected essays upon 
a variety of subjects of biological interest, extending over a period of 
years between 1870-1897, and, although all or nearly all have been pub- 
lished previously elsewhere and so rendered accessible to students and 
others, everyone will welcome this new issue, under one cover, of an im- 
portant series of essays. Sir William Flower has, in these pleasantly 
written chapters, clearly aimed at interesting and instructing the 
general reader as well as the man of science, and his happy knack of 
putting his facts before his readers in a very clear and simple manner 
should ensure the volume being widely read. Few people have taken 
more pains to promote in the public at large a healthy interest in bio- 
logical science, whether in his writings or in his administration of the 
national Natural History Museum in Cromwell Road. The essays in 
this volume are not arranged chronologically but, more conveniently, 
according to subject, under four main headings. 
Under the first heading are a series of essays upon Museums. In 
some respects this may be regarded as the most valuable portion of 
the volume. When we think of the extremely important part which 
museums play, and still more might play, in the advancement and 
dissemination of scientific knowledge, suggestions as to their proper 
administration from so distinguished an authority, cannot but carry 
sreat weight, and it is to be hoped that the valuable hints which 
abound in these essays may strike home, and be the means of 
improving the museums, not only of this country but also abroad. It 
is only within recent years that museum administrators have 
awakened to a sense of their responsibilities, and the awakening has 
even now not been general. In these chapters are many eminently 
practical suggestions as to the proper aims of museums and the methods 
which should be adopted. The suggested design of a one-storied 
building for a national natural history museum is at once simple and 
practical, though it entails as a sine qué non a liberal allowance of 
ground space. The author’s remarks relating to local museums and 
school museums should be seriously considered by the authorities at 
the head of such institutions. Were his advice followed the minor 
museums would become what so few are now, highly instructive— 
little educational centres, in fact. Each county museum might, by 
special attention to the systematic collection of objects of local 
interest, become of real value to specialists as well as to the casual 
I 
