38 mi sfcrMs. 



Trustees " as fit to receive gifts of our duplicates. And Ave 

 give, and are ready to give, to such institutions, from time to 

 time, as duplicate specimens become available, thousands of 

 insects, shells, bones, fishes, fossils, minerals, &c. But- — and 

 I his \s important — we do not undertake to send out ready-made 

 school collections. We have not the staff for that, and it is not 

 one of the purposes of the institution. Those who ask for and 

 receive our specimens must know what they want and how to 

 use what they get; that is to say, a really qualified teacber or 

 curator who understands natural history must choose from our 

 duplicates and know how to utilise what we give him. 



As to the last enquiry (No. 4) — " aids from the staff available 

 for teachers " — I must say that there is none and ought to be 

 none. The services of the staff of educated naturalists who deal 

 with the collections are freely given to assist not only other 

 naturalists who are experts, but also in identifying specimens 

 for and helping less instructed members of the public, who 

 either write to make enquiries or visit the " studies " of the 

 museum — the so-called private rooms — making use of a 

 student's ticket which is given on application, subject to certain 

 conditions, much as a reader's ticket is given at Bloomsbury. 

 Teachers can avail themselves of such tickets. But the staff 

 would not be permitted to assist a teacher in teaching in the 

 galleries of the museum. The stall' has other and very onerous 

 duties to perform. 



My own notion (I speak for myself, and not officially) is that 

 a teacher who would require the assistance of the staff is not 

 exactly competent. The whole place is arranged and guide- 

 books are provided so as to render it easy for a moderately 

 intelligent person to understand what is before him, and a 

 teacher certainly ought to have visited the place and found out 

 what it contains before taking others there. 



It is a matter for astonishment that though the museum is 

 very largely visited (about 440,000 persons a year : 48,000 in 

 last January alone, as against 27,000 in January, 1903), yet 

 there seem to be no persons who make it their business as a 



