236 



NA TUBE 



[July 6, 1893 



his life upon, the old idea ; but it clearly expressed what was 

 then beginning to be felt by many who turned their unbiassed 

 attention to the subject, and it is the keynote of nearly all the 

 museum reforms of recent date. During the long discussion 

 which followed, the new idea found powerful advocates in Hux- 

 ley, Hooker, Sclater, Wallace, and others ; but Owen, whose 

 official position made him the chief scientific adviser in the con- 

 struction of the new National Museum of Natural Hi-tory, 

 never became reconciled to it, and, unfortunately, threw all the 

 weight of his great authority into the opposite scale. 



The method of application of this principle depends entirely 

 upon the general nature of the museum, wheiherthat of a nation, 

 a town, a school, or a society or institution established to culti- 

 \ate some definite branch of knowledge. It is mainly of national 

 museums that I am speaking at present, and it is only in national 

 museums that the fulfilment of both functions in fairly equal 

 proportions canbe expected. In almost all other museums ihe 

 diffusion of knowledge or popular education will be the primary 

 function, and if the true principles of arrangement of such 

 museums be once grasped, this is a function which can be car- 

 ried out upon the largest or the smallest, or any intermediate 

 scale, accoi ding to the means of the institution and requirements 

 of the locality. 



The collections for the advancement of science, on the other 

 hand, are of value mainly in proportion to their size, and no 

 museum at present existing has come anywhere near what is 

 required for the exhaustive study of natural history. If any one 

 were now to endeavour to write a complete monograph of any 

 family in the animal kingdom, he would search in vain for ma- 

 terials for doing so, not only in any one museum, but in all the 

 museums in the world put together. 



Soon after the arrival in our Natural History Museum of the 

 great and carefully selected and labelled collection of Indian 

 biids, presented by Mr. A. O. Hume, containing upwards of 

 6o,coo specimens, a well known ornithologist commenced the 

 volumes devoted to birds in the excellent series of manuals on the 

 fauna of British India, edited by Mr. Blanford. I am told that 

 when he began the work he was seen sitting at his table rubbing 

 his hands with delight at the prospect ol success in his labours 

 guaranteed by such an unprecedented mass of material. But 

 after a few weeks the scene had changed. He was pacing up 

 and down the room, wringing the same hands in despair at the 

 hopelessness of solving the tangled problems of the variation 

 according to age, sex, season, and locality, the geographical 

 distribution, and the limits and relationshipof any single specie?^, 

 ow ing to the absolutely insufficient number of properly authenti- 

 cated specimens at his command. Every zoologist will recognise 

 this as a scarcely exaggerated description of what he meets with 

 at every step of his work. Except, perhaps, for sime special 

 and limited groups, which may be taken up in private collections, 

 a national museum alone can possibly attempt to bring together 

 the materials required for such exhaustive work, but it is un- 

 doubtedly the duty of all national museums to endeavour to do 

 this. There should be in every great nation one establishment 

 at least where problems may be attacked with some prospect of 

 success, and the only conditions upon which collections for this 

 purpose can be maintained are that they should be so arranged 

 as to occupy the smallest possible space compatible with their 

 proper preservation and convenience of access ; and that they 

 should be removed from all the deteriorating influences of light 

 and dust, and at the same time be perfectly available for the 

 closest examination by all those whose knowledge is sufficient 

 to enable them to extract any informtdion from them. This 

 means that they cannot be exhibited in the ordinary sense of 

 the word ; although it must not be supposed that they 

 are on that account in less need of orderly and methodical ar- 

 rangement. There is certainly a danger of collections which 

 are not generally exhibited becoming neglected, and degenerating 

 into the condition of mere accumula ions of rubbish. Anything 

 of the kind is absolutely incompatible with the true require- 

 ments of specimens kept for research. They specially need to 

 be arranged in an orderly and methodical manner, and to be 

 thoroughly well catalogued and labelled, so that each may be 

 found directly it is wanted, and to be frequently inspected to 

 see that they are free from moih or other deleterious influence. 

 The object of keeping them in this condition is, indeed, that 

 they should be preserved and not destroyed, as many exhibited 

 specimens ultimately are. Much curatorial ingenuity may be 

 exercised in the methods of stowing and arranging such speci- 

 mens to the best advantage. The conditions of access to them 



NO. 1236, VOL. 48] 



will he precisely those now accorded to books or manuscripts 

 in a library, prints and drawings in an art museum, the records 

 and public documents in the Rolls Office or Somerset House. 



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 insti- 

 tutions the number and situation of which must be determined 

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

 (especially those containing author's types or the actual speci- 

 mens upon which species have been established, and which must 

 be appealed to through all time to settle vexed questions of 

 nomenclature) which are required for the prosecution of original 

 research. 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 re- 

 quired at his hand at once, than to travel from place to place 

 and pick up piecemeal the information he requires, without op- 

 portunity of direct comparison of specimens. 



On the other hand, in local museums, such collections are not ' 

 only not required, but add greatly to the trouble andex| ense of 

 the maintenance of theanstitution, without any compensating ad- 

 vantage. Here it will be the duty of the curator to develop the side 

 of the museum which is educational and attractive to the general 

 visitor, and to all who wish to obtain that knowledge, which is 

 the ambition of many cultivated persons to acquire without 

 becoming a specialist or expert. The study of the methods by 

 which such museums may be made instructive and interesting 

 offers an endless field for experiment and discussion, and the 

 various problems connected with it are treated of not only in the 

 literature I have referred to, but in a more practical manner in 

 many museums in various parts of the world. 



Without pursuing this question further at the present time, I 

 should like to repeat from a previous address on the same 

 subject ' certain propositions which are fundamental in the 

 arrangement of collections of the class of which I am now 

 speaking. 



The number of the specimens must be strictly limited, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the subject to be illustrated, and the space 

 available. None must be placed either 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. 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, arid all available skill and care should he sj ent upon 

 its preservation, and rendering it capable of teaching the lesson 

 it is intended to convey. Every specimen should have its definite 

 purpose, and no absolute duplicate should on any account be ad- 

 mitted. Above all, the purpose for which each specimen is ex- 

 hibited, and the main lesson to be derived from it, must be dis- 

 tinctly indicated by the labels affixed, both as headings of the 

 various divisions of the series and to the individual specimens. 



( To be continued. ) 



MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 



'pHE report of the Marine Biological Association of Great 

 -'- Britain was read at the annual meeting of the Association 

 held in the rooms of the Royal Society on June 28. From it 

 we learn that the buildings, fittings, and machinery of the Ply- 

 mouth laboratory are in a satisfactory condition, and have not 

 necessitated any special outlay. 



The question of the boats has occupied the council very 

 seriously during the past year. The old steam-launch Firefly 

 is still at work, although it was decided to replace her a year 

 ago. A new steam-launch, of about the same size as the 

 Firefly, was recently purchased, but has proved to be unsuit- 

 able for rough work. The little sailing-boat, Anton Dohrn, 

 is in excellent repair,and continues to be very useful. 



The need of a deepsea-going boat has become most press- 

 ing, but there are no funds in hand sufficient for its purchase 

 and maintenance. This need has been particularly felt of lale 

 in the fishery inquiries in which the Association has been 

 engaged in the North Sea as well as at Plymouth. 



The type-collection is increasing satisfactorily under Mr. 

 Garstang's care. lu addition to the specimens at Plymouth, a 



1 British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report of New- 

 castle Meeting, 1S89. 



