STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



and structure, their singular habits and mode of life, their 

 distribution over the surface of the earth, and their first 

 appearance in past time. To do this effectively requires a 

 mode of exhibition very different from that which has been 

 usually adopted in museums. 



Throughout the animal kingdom, at least one or more 

 species of every important family group should be 

 exhibited ; and in the larger and more interesting 

 families, one or more species of each genus. The number 

 of specimens is not, however, so important as their quality 

 and the mode of exhibiting them. A few of the more 

 important species in each order, well illustrated by fine 

 and characteristic specimens, would be far better than ten 

 times the number if imperfect, badly prepared, and badly 

 arranged. Let any one look at an artistically mounted 

 group of fine and perfect quadruped or bird skins, which 

 represent the living animals in perfect health and vigour, 

 and by their characteristic attitudes and accessories tell the 

 history of the creature's life and habits ; and compare this 

 with the immature, ragged, mangy-looking specimens one 

 often sees in museums, stuck up in stiff and unnatural 

 attitudes, and resembling only mummies or scarecrows. 

 The one is both instructive and pleasing, and we return 

 again and again to gaze upon it with delight. The other 

 is positively repellent, and we feel that we never want to 

 look upon it again. 



I consider it therefore an important principle, that in a 

 museum for the people nothing should be exhibited that 

 is not good of its kind, and mounted in the very best 

 manner. Fortunately, specimens of a large number of the 

 most beautiful and extraordinary animals are now exceed- 

 ingly common, and every well-marked group in nature 

 may be illustrated without having recourse to the rarer 

 and more costly species. Carrying out these views, we 

 should exhibit our animal in such a way as to convey the 

 largest amount of information possible. The male, female, 

 and young should be shown together, the mode of feeding 

 or of capturing its prey, and the most characteristic 

 attitudes and motions, should be indicated; and the 

 accessories should point out the country the species 



