ARRANGEMENT OF A CABINET. 71 



continually made, and all the information he can collect, 

 he will very speedily find this to be the best and most 

 instructive volume in his library. 



COLLECTING FOSSILS. If the student reside in a district 

 abounding in fossils, as, for example, the crag, chalk, oolite, 

 lias, coal, or Silurian formations, the task of forming a 

 collection will be rendered comparatively easy, since his 

 immediate neighbourhood will afford an abundant supply 

 of specimens ; by exchanging the productions of his own 

 locality for those of another, he will be able, with the aid 

 of a few occasional purchases, to form a collection calculated, 

 riot only to minister to his own improvement, but to con- 

 tribute to the advancement of science. The largest and most 

 important collections have been accumulated under circum- 

 stances unfavourable to the prosecution of such pursuits, 

 and under difficulties and discouragements calculated to 

 repress them. Amid other and more pressing occupations, 

 as a solace in the evening from the occupations and fatigues 

 of the day, have these treasures been gradually collected, 

 until the cabinet of the amateur has grown into the public 

 museum ; and, as in the case of Dr. Mantell, has been 

 deemed worthy of acquisition by a nation. 



ARRANGEMENT OF A CABINET. The simplest mode of 

 arranging a collection is, by placing the specimens in drawers 

 sufficiently deep to receive them. The shells should be 

 gummed on boards covered with paper. Wherever it is 

 possible, two specimens of a species should be obtained, to 

 display both back and front thereof ; and when the fossils 

 are peculiarly interesting, the number may be increased. 



Drawers fitted up with small boxes made of card-board of 

 different sizes, and closely packed together, will be found 

 very convenient for arranging specimens, especially such as 

 bear handling without injury : this plan has many advantages, 

 and permits a much larger number of shells to be packed 

 away in a cabinet than any other we are acquainted with. 



The arrangement should be in descending order, com- 

 mencing with the most recent formations, and proceeding 

 to those of more ancient date.* 



* The reader is referred to the Instructions at the end of this volume for 

 collecting Specimens of Geology, published by authority of the British Museum ; 

 which is from the pen of C. Konig, Esq., keeper of the minerals in the National 

 Establishment. 



