Sept. 



12, I 



889] 



NATURE 



'467 



On the other hand, in a collection arranged for the instruction 

 of the general visitor, the conditions under which the specimens 

 are kept should be totally different. In the first place, their 

 numbers must be strictly limited, according to the nature of the 

 subject to be illustrated and the space available. None must be 

 placed too high or too low for ready examination. There must 

 be no crowding of specimens one behind the other, every one 

 being perfectly and distinctly seen, and with a clear space around 

 it. Imagine a picture gallery with half the pictures on the walls 

 partially or entirely concealed by others hung in front of them : 

 the idea seems preposterous, and yet this is the approved arrange- 

 ment of specimens in most public museums. If an object is worth 

 putting into a gallery at all it is worth such a position as will 

 enable it to be seen. Every specimen exhibited should be good 

 of its kind, and all available skill and care should be spent upon 

 its preservation and rendering it capable of teaching the lesson it 

 is intended to convey. And here I cannot refrain from saying a 

 word upon the sadly neglected art of taxidermy, which continues 

 to fill the cases of most of our museums with wretched and 

 repulsive caricatures of mammals and birds, out of all natural 

 proportions, shrunken here and bloated there, and in attitudes 

 absolutely impossible for the creature to have assumed while 

 alive. Happily there may be seen occasionally, especially where 

 amateurs of artistic taste and good knowledge of natural history 

 have devoted themselves to the subject, examples enough — and 

 you are fortunate in possessing them in Newcastle — to show that 

 an animal can be converted after death, by a proper application 

 of taxidermy, into a real life-like representation of the original, 

 perfect in form, proportions, and attitude, and almost, if not 

 quite, as valuable for conveying information on these points as 

 the living creature itself. The fact is that taxidermy is an art 

 resembling that of the painter, or rather the sculptor ; it requires 

 natural genius as well as great cultivation, and it can never be 

 permanently improved until we have abandoned the present 

 conventional low standard and low payment for "bird-stuffing," 

 which is utterly inadequate to induce any man of capacity 

 to devote himself to it as a profession. 



To return from this digression, every specimen exhibited 

 should have its definite purpose, and no absolute duplicate should 

 on any account be permitted. Above all, the purpose for which 

 each specimen is exhibited, and the main lesson to be derived 

 from it, must, be distinctly indicated by the labels affixed, both as 

 headings of the various divisions of the series, and to the indi- 

 vidual specimens. A well-arranged educational museum has been 

 defined as a collection of instructive labels illustrated by well- 

 selected specimens. 



What is, or should be, the order of events in arranging a por- 

 tion of a public museum ? Not certainly, as too often happens 

 now, bringing a number of specimens together almost by hap- 

 hazard, and cramming them as closely as possible in a case far 

 too small to hold them, and with little reference to their order or 

 to the possibility of their being distinctly seen. First, as I said 

 before, you must have your curator. He must carefully consider 

 the object of the museum, the class and capacities of the persons 

 for whose instruction it is founded, and the space available to 

 carry out this object. He will then divide the subject to be 

 illustrated into groups, and consider their relative proportions, 

 according to which he will plan out the space. Large labels will 

 next be prepared for the principal headings, as the chapters of a 

 book, and smaller ones for the various subdivisions. Certain 

 propositions to be illustrated, either in the structure, classification, 

 geographical distribution, geological position, habits, or evolution 

 of the subjects dealt with, will be laid down and reduced to 

 definite and concise language. Lastly will come the illustrative 

 specimens, each of which as procured and prepared will fall into 

 its appropriate place. As it is not always easy to obtain these at 

 the time that they are wanted, gaps will often have to be left, 

 but these, if properly utilized by drawings or labels, maybe made 

 nearly as useful as if occupied by the actual specimens. 



A public exhibition which is intended to be instructive and 

 interesting must never be crowded. There is, indeed, no reason 

 why it ever should be. Every such exhibition, whether on a 

 large or small scale, can only contain a representative series of 

 specimens, selected with a view to the needs of the particular 

 class of persons who are likely to visit the gallery, and the number 

 of specimens exhibited should be adapted to the space available. 

 There is, therefore, rarely any excuse for filling it up in such a 

 manner as to interfere with the full view of every specimen 

 shown, A crowded gallery, except in some very exceptional 

 circumstances, at once condemns the curator, as the remedy is 



generally in his own hands. In order to avoid it he has nothing 

 to do but sternly to eliminate all the less important specimens. 

 If any of these possess features of historical or scientific interest 

 demanding their permanent preservation, they should be kept in 

 the reserve collections ; if otherwise, they should not be kept 

 at all. 



The ideal public museums of the future will, however, require 

 far more exhibition space than has hitherto been allowed ; for 

 though the number of specimens shown may be fewer than is 

 often thought necessary now, each will require more room if the 

 conditions above described are carried out, and especially if it is 

 thought desirable to show it in such a manner as to enable the 

 visitor to realize something of the wonderful complexity of the 

 adaptations which bring each species into harmonious relation 

 with its surrounding conditions. Artistic reproductions of natural 

 environments, illustrations of protective resemblances, or of 

 special modes of life, all require much room for their display. 

 This method of exhibition, wherever faithfully carried out, is, 

 however, proving both instructive and attractive, and will doubt- 

 less be greatly extended. 



Guide-books and catalogues are useful adjuncts, as being 

 adapted to convey fuller information than labels, and as they can 

 be taken away for study during the intervals of visits to the 

 museum, but they can never supersede the use of labels. Any- 

 one who is in the habit of visiting picture galleries where the 

 names of the artists and the subject are affixed to the frame, and 

 others in which the information has in each case to be sought by 

 reference to a catalogue, must appreciate the vast superiority in 

 comfort and time-saving of the former plan. 



Acting upon such principles as these, every public gallery of a 

 museum, whether the splendid saloon of a national institution or 

 the humble room containing the local collection of a village 

 club, can be made a centre of instruction, and will offer interests 

 and attractions which will be looked for in vain in the majority 

 of such institutions at the present time. 



One of the best illustrations of the different treatment of 

 collections intended for research or advancement of knowledge, 

 and for popular instruction or diffusion of knowledge, is now to 

 be seen in Kew Gardens, where the admirably constructed and 

 arranged herbarium answers the first purpose, and the public 

 museums of economic botany the second. A similar distinction 

 is carried out in the collections of systematic botany in the 

 natural history branch of the British Museum, with the additional 

 advantage of close contiguity ; indeed, as an example of a 

 scheme of good museum arrangement (although not perfect yet 

 in details), I cannot do better than refer to the upper story in 

 the east wing of that institution. The same principles, little 

 regarded in former times in this country, and still unknown in 

 some of the largest Continental museums, are gradually per- 

 vading every department of the institution, which, from its 

 national character, its metropolitan position, and exceptional 

 resources, ought to illustrate in perfection the ideal of a natural 

 history museum. In fact, it is only in a national institution that 

 an exhaustive research collection in all branches of natural 

 history, in which the specialist of every group can find his own 

 subject fully illustrated, can or ought to be attempted. 



As the actual comparison of specimen with specimen is the 

 basis of zoological and botanical research, and as work done 

 with imperfect materials is necessarily imperfect in itself, it is far 

 the wisest policy to concentrate in a few great central institutions, 

 the number and situation of which must be determined by the 

 population and the resources of the country, all the collections, 

 especially those containing specimens already alluded to as so 

 dear to the systematic naturalist, known as authors' "types," 

 required for original investigations. It is far more advantageous 

 to the investigator to go to such a collection and take up his 

 temporary abode there, while his research is being carried out, 

 with all the material required at his hand at once, than to travel 

 from place to place and pick up piecemeal the information he 

 requires, without opportunity of direct comparison of specimens. 



I do not say that collections for special study, and even 

 original research, should not, under particular circumstances and 

 limitations, be formed at museums other than central national 

 institutions, or that nothing should be retained in provincial 

 museums but what is of a directly educational or elementary 

 nature. A local collection, illustrating the fauna and flora of 

 the district, should be part of every such museum ; and this may 

 be carried to almost any amount of detail, and therefore in 

 many cases it would be very unadvisable to exhibit the whole ^jf 

 it, A selection of the most important objects may be shown 



