14 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



convenient for the arrangement of the collections, movable 

 upright cases might be placed transversely, leaving a 

 central space of about five feet for a continuous passage ; 

 and the compartments thus formed might be completed by 

 partitions and doors connecting opposite cases, wherever 

 it was thought advisable to isolate any well-marked group 

 of animals, or other division of the museum. By this 

 means the proportion between wall-cases and floor space 

 might be regulated exactly according to the requirements 

 of each portion of the collection; and abundant light 

 would be obtained for the perfect examination of every 

 specimen. 



Two of the great evils of museums are, crowding and 

 distraction. By the crowding of specimens, the effect of 

 each is weakened or destroyed ; the eye takes in so many 

 at once that it is continually wandering towards some- 

 thing more strange and beautiful, and there is nothing to 

 concentrate the attention on a special object. Distraction 

 is produced also by the great size of the galleries, and the 

 multiplicity of objects that strike the eye. It is almost 

 impossible for a casual visitor to avoid the desire of con- 

 tinually going on to see what comes next, or wondering what 

 is that bright mass of colour or strange form that catches 

 the eye at the other end of the long gallery. These evils 

 can best be avoided, by keeping, as far as possible, each 

 natural group of objects in a separate room, or a separate 

 compartment of that room — by limiting as much as 

 possible the number of illustrative groups of species, and 

 at the same time making each group as attractive and 

 instructive as possible. The object aimed at should be, 

 to compel attention to each group of specimens. This 

 may be done by making it so interesting or beautiful at 

 first sight as to secure a close examination ; by carefully 

 isolating it, so that no other object close by should divide 

 attention with it ; and by giving so much information and 

 interesting the mind in so many collateral matters con- 

 nected with it, as to excite the observant and reflective 

 as well as the emotional faculties. 



The general system of arrangement and exhibition here 

 pointed out does not at all depend on the building. It 



