CHAP. II AMERICAN MUSEUMS 17 



The same originality of conception, and the same desire 

 to attain the best practical results are manifested in some 

 of the great American museums, which now rival, in 

 certain special departments, the long- established national 

 museums of Europe ; although there is, of course, as yet, 

 no approach to the vast accumulation of treasures of old- 

 world natural history which is to be found at South 

 Kensington. Notwithstanding the deficiency of material, 

 however, the Harvard Museum is far in advance of ours as 

 an educational institution, whether as regards the general 

 public, the private student, or the specialist ; and as it is 

 probably equally in advance of every European museum, 

 some general account of it may be both interesting and 

 instructive, especially to those who have felt themselves 

 bewildered by the countless masses of unorganized 

 specimens exhibited in the vast and often gloomy halls 

 and galleries of our national institution. Let us first 

 consider, briefly, what are the usual defects of great 

 museums, and we shall then be better able to appreciate 

 both what has been aimed at, and what has been effected 

 at Harvard. 



Our British Museum, which may be taken as a type of 

 the more extensive institutions of the kind, originated in 

 the bequest of a private collector more than a century ago, 

 and has since aggregated to itself most of the collections 

 made by Government expeditions and explorations, while 

 it has received extensive donations of entire collections 

 made at great expense by wealthy amateurs, and has also 

 of late years made large purchases from professional 

 collectors. Such a museum began, of course, by exhibit- 

 ing to the public everything it possessed, and with some 

 exceptions this plan has been continued for the larger and 

 more popular groups of animals. Large glazed wall-cases 

 for stuffed quadrupeds and birds, with table cases for 

 shells, starfish, insects, and minerals, were early in use ; 

 and while these were gradually improved in quality, size 

 and workmanship, they have continued, till quite recently, 

 to be almost the sole mode of arranging the collection. 

 During the latter half of the present century the accession 

 of fresh specimens has been so extensive that the task of 



VOL. II. C 



