464 



NA rURE 



{Sept. 12, 1889 



princes, whose trading connections afforded opportunities for bring- 

 ing together things that were considered curious from foreign 

 lands ; or ruling monarchs in their private capacity. It every 

 case they were maintained mainly for the gratification of the 

 possessor or his personal friends, and rarely, if ever, associated 

 with any systematic teaching or public benefit. 



One of the earliest known printed catalogues of such a museum 

 is that of Samuel Quickelberg, a physician of Amsterdam, pub- 

 lished in 1565 in Munich. In the same year Conrad Gesner 

 published a catalogue of the collection of Johann Kentmann, a 

 physician of Torgau in Saxony, consisting of about 1600 objects, 

 chiefly minerals, shells, and Bnarine animals. Very soon after- 

 wards we find the Emperor Rudolph II. of Germany busily 

 accumulating treasures which constituted the foundations of the 

 present magnificent museums by which the Austrian capital is 

 distinguished. 



In England the earliest important collectors of miscellaneous 

 objects were the two John Tradescants, father and son, the latter 

 of whom published, in 1656, a little work called " Musseum 

 Tradescantianum ; or, a Collection of Rarities preserved at 

 South Lambeth neer London." The wonderful variety and in- 

 congruous juxtaposition of the objects contained in this collection 

 make the catalogue very amusing reading. Under the first 

 division, devoted to "Some Kindes of Birds, their Egges, Beaks, 

 Feathers, Clawes and Spurres," we find " Divers sorts of Egges 

 from Turkic, one given for a Dragon's Egge" ; "Easter Egges 

 of the Patriarch of Jerusalem " ; "Two Feathers of the Phoenix 

 Tayle" ; " The Claw of the bird Kock, who, as Authors report, 

 is able to trusse an Elephant." Among "whole birds" is the 

 famous " Dodar from the Island Mauritius ; it is not able to flie, 

 being so big." This is the identical specimen, the head and foot 

 of which have passed through the Ashmolean into the University 

 Museum of Oxford ; but we know not what has become of the 

 claw of the Rock, the Phoenix tayle, and the Dragon's egg. 

 Time does not allow me to mention the wonderful things which 

 occur under the head of "Garments, Vestures, Habits, and 

 Ornaments," or the "Mechanick, Artificial Workes in Carv- 

 ings, Turnings, Sowings, and Paintings," from Edward the 

 Confessor's knit gloves, and the famous "Pohatan, King of 

 Virginia's habit, all embroidered with shells or Roanoke," also 

 still at Oxford, and lately figured and described by Mr. E. B. 

 Tylor, to the "Cherry-stone, upon one side S. George and the 

 Dragon, perfectly cut, and on the other side 88 Emperours' 

 faces," or the other "cherry-stone, holding ten dozen of tortois- 

 shell combs made by Edward Gibbons." But before leaving 

 these private collections I cannot forbear mentioning, as an 

 example of the great aid they often were in advancing science, 

 the indebtedness of Linnaeus in his early studies to the valuable 

 zoological museums, which it was one of the ruling passions of 

 several Kings and Queens of Sweden to bring together. 



Upon the association of individuals together into societies to 

 promote the advancement of knowledge, these bodies in their 

 corporate capacity frequently made the formation of a museum 

 part of their function. The earliest instance of this in our 

 country was the museum of the Royal Society in Crane Court, 

 of which an illustrated catalogue was published by Dr. Grew in 

 1681. 



The idea that the maintenance of a museum was a portion of 

 the public duty of the State or of any municipal institution had, 

 however, nowhere entered into the mind of man at the beginning 

 of the last century. Even the great teaching bodies, the Uni- 

 versities, were slow in acquiring collections ; but it must be 

 recollected that the subjects considered most essential to the 

 education they then professed to give were not those which 

 needed illustration from the objects which can be brought 

 together in a museum. The Italian Universities, where anatomy 

 was taught as a science earlier and more thoroughly than any- 

 V here else in Europe, soon found the desirability of keeping 

 collections of preserved specimens, and the art of preparing 

 them attained a high degree of excellence at Padua and Bologna 

 two centuries ago. But these were generally the private property 

 of the professors, as were nearly all the collections used to illus- 

 trate the teaching of anatomy and pathology in our country 

 within the memory of many now living. 



Notwithstanding the multiplication of public museums during 

 the present century, and the greater resources and advantages 

 which many of these possess, which private collectors cannot 

 command, the spirit of accumulation in individuals has happily 

 not passed away, although generally directed into rather different 

 channels than formerly. The general museums or miscellaneous 



collections of old are now left to Governments and institutions 

 which afford greater guarantee of their permanence and public 

 utility, while admirable service is done to science by those 

 private persons with leisure and means who, devoting themselves 

 to some special subject, amass the materials by which its study 

 can be pursued in detail either by themselves or by those they 

 know to be qualified to do so ; which collections, if they fulfil 

 their most appropriate destiny, ultimately become incorporated, 

 by gift or purchase, in one or other of the public museums, and 

 then serve as permanent factors in the education of the nation, 

 or rather of the world. 



It would be passing beyond the limits of time allotted to this 

 address, indeed going beyond the scope of this Association, if I 

 were to speak of many of the subjects which have pre-eminently 

 exercised the faculties of the collector and formed the materials 

 of which museums are constructed. The various methods by 

 which the mind of man has been able to reproduce the forms of 

 natural objects or to give expression to the images created by his 

 own fancy, from the rudest scratchings of a s' vage on a bone, or 

 the simplest arrangement of lines employed in ornamenting the 

 roughest piece of pottery, up to the most lovely combinations of 

 form and colour hitherto attained in sculpture or in painting, or 

 in works in metal or in clay, depend altogether on museums for 

 their preservation, for our knowledge of their condition and 

 history in the past, and for the lessons which they can convey 

 for the future. 



Apart from the delight which the contemplation of the noblest 

 expressions of art must produce in all cultivated minds, apart 

 also from the curiosity and interest that must be excited by all 

 the less successfully executed attempts to produce similar results, 

 as materials for constructing the true history of the life of man, 

 at different stages of civilization, in different circumstances of 

 living, and in divers regions of the earth, such collections are 

 absolutely invaluable. 



But I must pass them by in order to dwell a little more in 

 detail upon those which specially concern the advancement of 

 the subjects which come under the notice of this Associa- 

 tinn — museums devoted to the so-called " natural history " 

 sciences, although much which will be said of them will 

 doubtless be more or less applicable to museums in general. 



The terms " natural history" and " naturalist" have become 

 deeply rooted in our language, but without any very definite 

 conception of their meaning or the scope of their application. 

 Originally applied to the study of all the phenomena of the 

 universe which are independent of the agency of man, natural 

 history has gradually narrowed down in most people's minds, in 

 consequence of the invention of convenient and generally under- 

 stood and accepted terms for some of its various subdivisions, as 

 asti'onomy, chemistry, geology, &c. , into that portion of the 

 subject which treats of the history of creatures endowed with 

 life, for which, until lately, no special name had been invented. 

 Even from this limitation botany was gradually disassociating 

 itself in many quarters, and a "naturalist" and a "zoologist" 

 have nearly become, however irrationally, synonymous terms. 

 The happy introduction and general acceptance of the word 

 " biology," notwithstanding the objections raised to its etymo- 

 logical signification, has reunited the study of organisms dis- 

 tinguished by the posses!-ion of the living principle, and prac- 

 tically eliminated the now vague and indefinite term "natural 

 history " from scientific terminology. As, however, it is certain 

 to maintain its hold in popular language, I would venture to 

 suggest the desirability of restoring it to its original and really 

 definite signification, contrasting it with the history of man and 

 of his works, and of the changes which have been wrought in 

 the universe by his intervention. 



It was in this sense that, when the rapid growth of the 

 miscellaneous collections in the British Museum at Bloomsbury 

 (the expansion of Sir Hans Sloane's accumulation in the old 

 Manor House at Chelsea) was thought to render a division 

 necessary, the line of severance was effected at the junction of 

 what was natural and what was artificial ; the former including 

 the products of what are commonly called "natural" forces, 

 unaft'ected by man's handiwork, or the impress of his mind. 

 The departments which took cognizance of these were termed 

 the "Natural History Departments," and the new building to 

 which they were removed the "Natural History Museum." 



It may be worth while to spend a few moments upon the 

 consideration of the value of this division, as it is one which 

 concerns the arrangement and administration of the majority of 



museums. 



