270 



NATURE 



[October 28, 1920 



to the State ; the public has protested in surprising 

 fashion its affection for museums. Recent legisla- 

 tion has recognised this in removing the rate-limit 

 for municipal museums, and in facilitating the 

 promotion of museums by the education authorities 

 of the counties and boroughs. The committee, 

 though it welcomes this change of attitude, does 

 not do so without warning and criticism. It 

 recognises that municipal and national museums 

 are not the only kinds deserving of State- or rate- 

 aid ; there are semi-private museums which need 

 it even more. It is a little afraid of control by an 

 "authority" that may know all about education, 

 but certainly knows little about the governance, 

 organisation, and financial needs of museums; 

 and it would like to see "some national or central 

 authority fully conversant " with such matters, to 

 whom local museum committees might turn for 

 advice — or perhaps something still more satisfy- 

 ing. Such welcome as the committee does give to 

 the education authority seems due to its hope that 

 the education grant will pay for the extra material 

 and the special staff required for such desirable 

 works as loan collections for schools or school 

 classes in the museum. It also suggests that 

 recent legislation may find its best fruits in estab- 

 lishing museums in towns as yet unprovided with 

 them. 



It is rather striking that, of the five general con- 

 clusions emphasised by the committee, the first 

 four have reference to research. In research the 

 universities should co-operate. To aid research, 

 lists of contents should be published. Grants in 

 aid should be proportioned to the research con- 

 ducted by a museum, no less than to its other 

 activities. Curators must have had a university 

 training, fitting them for research as well as for 

 administration. All this may not seem to have 

 much to do with education. But the committee 

 is right. Granted that the collection and preserva- 

 tion of material objects constitute the differentia 

 of a museum, it is clear that the first necessity is 

 the study of those objects. "This research must be 

 prosecuted if museums are to fulfil their highest 

 function, which is the advancement of Science, 

 .•\rt, and Industry." Research is a necessary 

 preliminary to any and every other function of a 

 museum, and not least to the function of educa- 

 tion. We cannot deal here with the many prac- 

 tical recommendations scattered through the body 

 of the report, and perhaps not sufficiently distin- 

 guished by type or spacing from their context. 

 They should prove acceptable and useful to both 

 educationists and museum officials. We would, 

 NO. 2661, VOL. 106] 



however, reiterate our high appreciation of the 

 committee's labours and of the firm stand that it 

 takes on the really fundamental principles. 



The chief conclusion we would ourselves draw 

 from this report is that there is a vast body of 

 experience relating to the proper management of 

 museums and their use in education, and not in 

 that alone. Much of it forms the basis of this 

 report ; much is to be found in the publications of 

 the Museums Association and in a few books that 

 have been publishefl. But the local authority 

 faced with the task of founding a museum, or of 

 taking over and utilising one already in existence, 

 knows nothing of all this. On this ground, then, 

 but not on this alone, we warmly approve the 

 suggestion that there should be a central council 

 or board, composed of persons with knowledge 

 and sympathy, and endowed with the requisite 

 powers, to watch over and aid the inception of 

 museums, to co-ordinate their work when estab- 

 lished, and to bring them into touch with the 

 national museums. Such a council as we have in 

 view would certainly not wish all museums to con- 

 form to one pattern or to rigid rules, but it might 

 save much duplication of work and expenditure 

 and much ill-directed effort. 



Scientific Methods of Design and Control 

 in Chemical Industry. 



Ministry of Munitions. Department of Explosives 

 Supply: Preliminary Studies for H.M. Factory, 

 Gretna, and Study for an Installation of Phos- 

 gene Manufacture. Pp. xvi -1-145. (London: 

 H.M.S.O., n.d.) Price 155. net. 



DURING the war an enormous amount of work 

 was done by the Department of Explosives 

 Supply in the design of chemical plant, pro- 

 cesses, and works, and in the construction, 

 organisation, and control of the numerous national 

 and other factories dealing with the manufacture 

 of explosives and closely related substances". Lord 

 Moulton, who was Director-General of Explosives 

 Supply, and whose magnificent work in the cause 

 of Great Britain and the Allies cannot be over- 

 estimated, was fortunate in having associated with 

 him a devoted band of men of exceptional ability 

 and knowledge. Pre-eminent amongst these on 

 the technical and scientific side was Mr. 

 Kenneth B. Quinan, who was responsible for 

 the design, construction, and organisation of 

 the works controlled by the Factories Branch. 

 Where all worked so splendidly, it might seem 

 invidious to single out one name. But the writer 

 well knows that amongst the hundreds, or indeed 



