Mfseums. • 39 



blatter of livelihood to conduct parties round the museum and 

 explain its contents. There would he no interference on the 

 part of the authorities with such " guides," so long as they did 

 not act in a way that could annoy other visitors to the museum. 

 On the other hand, it seems to me that teaching, in the sense of 

 detailed instruction of a class of young people or children, 

 should not be carried on in front of the cases in the public 

 galleries. Such teaching should be done in the classroom of a 

 school. The visit to the museum should be a less formal thing, 

 full of surprises, and accompanied by recognition of this and 

 (hat, but not the occasion for the teacher to go into great 

 detail, or to require "facilities" for putting himself forward. 

 We, if I may say so, are the teachers at the natural history 

 museum; we have arranged the lessons by specimens, labels, 

 and guide-books, and it can all be taken in quietly and 

 effectively by those to whom it is addressed if they will exercise 

 a little trouble and attention. 



I should like, as I have said above, to reduce this trouble and 

 exaction of attention to a minimum by having a big illustrated 

 lecture once a week, on different portions of the galleries, so as 

 to tell people what to look at in each gallery, what is the 

 significance of the arrangement, and the importance of the chief 

 specimens. This could be done better and more easily by a 

 series of recurring lectures, illustrated by lantern slides, than by 

 guide-books or by school teachers. It is done by the guide- 

 books, but it is the nature of visitors to a museum to refuse to 

 read the official guide-books or the labels attached to the cases. 



In conclusion, let me say that the views I have expressed are 

 my own views, and must not be taken as committing in any 

 way the Trustees of the museum. And, further, I must point 

 out that, whilst I hold that the great national museum of 

 natural history should not be looked upon or even used as a 

 school museum, yet I think that local museums and provincial 

 museums may very properly make the provision of special 

 educational sets of specimens — adapted to the special require- 

 ments of school-children and their teachers a prominent 

 feature in their organisation. Even when this is done, I think 



