April 1 8, 1873J 



NATURE 



485 



question which sooner or later mnst occupy the attention it de- 

 serves, viz., the best means of collecting and arranging mnseums 

 for the purposes of instruction. 



How few of those who visit the British Museum or South 

 Kensington, amongst the less instructed portion of the public at 

 least, carry away any distinct reminiscence of what they have 

 seen. The mind is bewildered by the immense number of objects 

 presented to it and the absence of any sequence in the arrange- 

 ment by which to assist the memory. The principles which are 

 recognised as applicable to education in general apply equally to 

 the arrangement of museums in so far as their educational 

 functions are concerned, and consist, not in overwhelming the 

 student with an immense accumulation of facts, but in presenting 

 to his mind only such facts as are important or typical, and in 

 the order in which it is intended they should be remembered. 

 The order in which the knowledge of things is best received and 

 retained by the memory is precisely that in which the things 

 themselves were evolved ; consequently, the arrangement which 

 in a museum is best adapted to impart instruction is at the same 

 time that which best records the history of the things exhibited. 

 This consideration appears to determine conclusively the arrange- 

 ment which ought to be adopted wherever the education of the 

 public is the object to be attained, but museums, whether local 

 or national, have other objects besides the instniction of the 

 public. They are intended for the preservation of antiquities and 

 natural history objects, many of which are not yet classified and 

 have no place assigned to them, and which consequently cannot 

 be arranged in any historic sequence such as I have alluded to. 

 They should afford materials, not for the use of the public only, 

 but for savants, in promoting original research, which is one of 

 their most important functions, and which ouglit not to be 

 sacrificed for the benefit of the common herd of visitors, and 

 the question is, whether these distinct objects can be properly 

 comljined in one museum and by the same arrangement. If 

 my own experience as a collector may be relied upon, this can- 

 not be the case, unless an educational museum is collected from 

 the first with a view to sequence, and unless this object is kept 

 steadily in view whenever any addition is made to the collection, 

 it will miss its aim. Take, for example, the case of the British 

 Museum, which has accumulated from time to time by the 

 accession of more or less homogeneous collections which have 

 been purchased or presented, and which it is important to keep 

 together. Out of. any such collection it is probable that only a 

 very few objects could be regarded as typical of any particular 

 phase of development, say in pottery, sculpture, or glyptic art, 

 and the remainder, although of the utmost value to the anti- 

 quary and necessary to be retained, would only serve to confuse 

 any arrangement that might be made either for historic or edu- 

 cational purposes. Or take the case of a local museum in any 

 large country town. Two distinct functions present themselves : 

 on the one hand it is of use in preserving the antiquities or 

 natural history specimens of the locality ; on the other hand it 

 should consist of general collections scientifically arranged and 

 classified for the instruction of the people of the neighbourhood. 

 We are brought by this to consider the advisability of having 

 two distinct kinds of museums, which would bear pretty much 

 the same relation to one another that a glossary of scientific 

 terms would bear to a series of elementary treatises on different 

 sciences— the one might be termed a museum of reference, the 

 other an educational museum; the first arranged geographi- 

 cally, and the second having an evolutionary arrangement ; 

 the one special and the other general ; the one arranged 

 by finds and the other by subjects ; the one comprising 

 all the various objects that can be brought together from any 

 particular district or country, and the other consisting only of 

 such objects as may be selected as typical or as forming con- 

 necting links of development, the one composed exclusively of 

 originals, aud the other consisting in great part of casts, repro- 

 duction", r.nd mcdels. ITiis provision, although I have placed 

 it last in the list of distinctive functions, is by no means the 

 least important in a practical point of view, because we see that 

 by this means the two institutions ought never to be allowed to 

 clash. Not only are reproductions and casts as useful as 

 originals ifor the purjxjses of instruction, but models, in some 

 cases, are infinitely preferable, because taking less room. 

 Might it not serve to clear our ideas if we could arrive at the 

 principle of utilising our existing institutions so as to serve the 

 two distinct purposes above discussed, retaining the British 

 Museum as a museum of reference, devoting South Kensington 

 exclusively to the purposes of education and evolutionary 



arrangement, and separating the loan collections as a branch 

 distinct from both. By this means we should be enabled to 

 carry out the objects contemplated by I>ordi Wharncliffe's 

 motion, not confining ourselves to statuary alone, but orga- 

 nising collections to illustrate the history of various other 

 branches of art and industry, each connnencing witli the rude 

 production of savage and prehistoric man, and ending with 

 the complex contrivances of our own time. Kach year the sums 

 hitherto devoted to annual exhibitions would be applied to 

 perfecting and re-arranging the collection, casting out some and 

 replacing them by others more strictly representative in their 

 character. The final result would be a museum of suiier-organic 

 evolution worthy of the nation and of any labour that might be 

 bestowed upon it. It might be thought, perhaps, that to carry 

 out such a system representing any considerable number of arts 

 and sciences, unbounded space would be lequisite, but when it 

 is remembered that the specimens would be rigidly confined to 

 such as represented a distinct step of development, excluding all 

 abnormal excrescences, it is evident tliat the number of objects 

 required for any particular series would be limited. 



My own collection of savage and prehistoric objects now exhibited 

 at Bethnal Green has been collected upon this system during the 

 last twenty years, and although the effectual carrying out of the 

 plan has been limited by the means at my disposal, enough has 

 been done to show that a considerable number of subjects may 

 be represented without any extravagant demand on space. 

 Weapons, pottery, early ship-building, personal ornament, 

 carving and sculpture, musical instruments, early or savage 

 drawings, clothing, early writing, objects illustrating the origin 

 and use of fire, religio\is emblems, &c., are exhibited separately 

 in cases occupying the basement on one side of the building, and 

 several cases are devoted to the distribution and development of 

 particular forms of ornament. The long rooms in the Exhibition 

 buildings at South Kensington are admirably adapted for the 

 extension of this system. Probably the best arrangement would 

 be to devote the whole range of the side walls to objects laid out 

 in historic sequence and to place in cares opposite each successive 

 stage of art, objects belonging to existing peoples which corre- 

 spond most nearly to the historic or prehistoric sequence on the 

 opposite side ; by this means both ancient and modern jihases 

 would be represented, and survivals where they occur could be 

 traced to their sources. A. Lane Fox 



The Phonograph 



In reference to Prof. [Mayer's account and Prof. Fleeming 

 Jenkins's letters, I may say that I had an opportunity of an 

 hour's observation of a phonograph constructed by Mr. Stroh, 

 42A, Hampstead Road, on April 3, at the invitation of Prof. 

 Graham Bell. The difference between words produced from 

 the phonograph and those spoken into it gave me the same 

 feeling as the difference between a worn print and an early proof 

 of an engraving. When the words were uttered loudly and 

 slowly and repeated rather faster, it was easy to catch the sense 

 and meaning, but I doubt whether unknown Englisli words 

 would be recognised, and certainly unknown foreign words would 

 present insuperable difficulties. I should myself find the phono- 

 graph as at present constructed quite sufficient for my own pur- 

 jjoses of registering pronunciation, especially delicate shades of 

 dialectal utterance. Some words, as see, almost disappear. Bolh 

 ee and 00 are difficult vowel'--, so that Prof. Bell at first thought 

 that the first sounded like the second, while in reality both are 

 altered to indistinct sounds that I do not remember to have heard 

 in speech. The resemblance is so great, however, that bite, hotit 

 could not be distinguished, though one ends nearly with ee and 

 the other nearly with 00, and there is no other difference in the 

 words. The vowels at, oa, as in bait, boat, are also poor ; aa, 

 au, as in baa, haul, are really the only good ones. Hence I feel 

 totally unable to speak positively as to the change of vowel 

 quality by altering the rapidity of rotation and therefore pitch. 

 As far as I could observe the quality did change, as it does in 

 speech. We tried pronouncing words backwards, sometimes with 

 good success, but as might be expected, even when the 

 effects were recognisable, they were not always true. Thus, 

 aabaa, aadaa, passed muster, but aajaa failed. The instnmient 

 is, however, not delicate enough to bring out these differences. 

 The mechanical obstacle of the tin-foil, which has to be in- 

 dented, and offers too much resistance, seems to be the cause of 

 this. Such a word as Scots, when sung rapidly, at the beginning 

 of Scots wlia hae, degenerated almost into the simple vowel, the 



