ment of Museums intended for public exhibition, so as tliat they 

 may yield the greatest possible amount of useful information, as 

 well as entertainment, to the spectators. 



And here I shall for the most part confine myself to remarks 

 on Museums in country towns, which must be always more or 

 less limited as to funds and space, — being dependent on a 

 comparatively small number of persons for support and encourage- 

 ment. I distinguish them from such large national institutions 

 as the British Museum, in which more extensive collections can 

 be got together, though in some measure the ends and objects of 

 both are the same. These ends are — first, to assist those who 

 are already more or less students of nature ; secondly, to invite 

 to the study of Natural History those who have any inclination 

 to take it up, or who only need such an occasion as the sight of 

 a well-ordered Museum affords to have their attention dra^^■n to 

 it ; thirdly, to diffuse useful information on that branch of science 

 to the public generally. Now in National Museums we expect 

 to find, and we ought to find, everything known to exist in the 

 several classes of the Animal,Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms, so 

 far, ^s , they can be acquired. There ought to be one such estab- 

 lishment at least in the country to which scientific naturalists can 

 resort for examination and comparison of specimens illustrating 

 any particular researches in which they are engaged. It may be 

 a question, in the case of such large Museums, how far it is 

 desirable to have everything in full view properly arranged on 

 suitable shelves, or whether it may not be preferable, — as well 

 for the saving of room, as in respect of such plan serving equally 

 ■well for scientific purposes,- — simply to display the more striking 

 and remarkable sijecimens, such as maj' be considered typical of 

 all the larger groups of species, down to the genera or sub-genera, 

 reserving for drawers and close cabinets all those closely-allied 

 species, sub-species and varieties, which are separated from each 

 other by such nice shades of difference as onlj'- the most practised 

 eye can estimate, and which to the public generally' must appear 



