184 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
I have said that the late Mr Wood did not propose any 
remedy for the apathy of the public in the case of art 
museums. Would those who support his views have the 
Theseus Torso and the Milo Venus “ pictorially mounted,” in 
order that their merits might be appreciated by those who 
have no soul for art any more than for science ? 
It may, indeed, be well to brighten up a museum hall 
with a few really well-executed groups illustrative of 
important scientific facts, when space and funds allow of it; 
but to adopt the so-called pictorial method systematically, 
for the exhibited collections of a museum, seems to me to be © 
absolutely at variance with the essential scope and function 
of such an institution. 
If we now turn to Professor Herdman’s paper, we find an 
absolutely different view of the matter presented to us. 
Instead of amusing the general public, and thus coaxing 
them, if possible, to take a little interest in natural history, 
he seems to aim at all at once converting them into deeply 
philosophical comparative anatomists and _ evolutionists. 
The principal part of Professor Herdman’s museum is to 
consist of a large “Type Collection,” placed in the ground 
floor of a hall sufficiently extensive for the purpose, the 
cases being arranged after the manner of a genealogical 
tree, so as to show the (hypothetical) lines of descent of the 
various groups of animals. There are to be abundant 
dissections as well as anatomical and embryological models, 
nay, indeed, there are to be models of things which nobody 
ever saw, such as the “ Protovertebrata” and the “ Proto- 
ganoider,” but which are simply presumed to have existed, in 
accordance with prevailing views of descent. Though he 
would supplement this arrangement by local and general 
collections, and, if space and money allowed, even by 
pictorial groups illustrative of geographical distribution, the 
main feature of his museum would be the genealogical tree 
designed to instil the details of comparative anatomy and 
the Descent Theory not only into the minds of the special 
student but of people in general. Well, I am afraid that 
my enthusiastic and able friend has got into a Utopia still 
further away from realisation than even that of Mr Wood. 
