MUSEUMS. 541 



contrive to have several on hand at one and the same time. But, 

 even granting that a great portion of his time were spent upon a single 

 animal, is not one good specimen worth twenty bad ones ? Who 

 would fill his gallery full of Holland toys, when he has it in his power 

 to place there statues of the first workmanship ? 



Indifferent specimens are admitted into museums only because 

 better cannot be procured ; and better will never be procured, until 

 a radical change be made in that mode of preparation which is now 

 in universal use. 



I often think that the directors of public museums commit an error 

 in not giving more encouragement, in a pecuniary point of view, to 

 those whom they engage to prepare the specimens. The very mode- 

 rate salary which these meritorious men receive is not a sufficient 

 requital for their services. Moreover, the quantity of work which is 

 required at their hands too often prevents them from trying experi- 

 ments, which might probably prove of vast utility to the establishments 

 under their inspection. Should this paper find its way across the 

 water, and attract the notice of our Gallic neighbours, who are full of 

 genius, and are remarkable for their perseverance, I do not despair 

 to see a great alteration for the better at their magnificent establish- 

 ment for natural history in the Jardin des Plantes on my next visit 

 to the French capital. 



