July 13, 1893] 



NATURE 



255 



other more or less distant parts of the establishment, separated 

 from it in most cases by the whole breadth of the garden. Of 

 course this can only be looked upon as a temporary condition 

 of aft'airs. Fortunately there is still room on the site of the old 

 museum behind the new building, and if this is utilised by erect- 

 ing upon it a commodious set of workrooms, laboratories, 

 rooms for reserve collections and administrative offices directly 

 in connection with each other and with the main building, 

 which might then be emptied of a considerable portion of its 

 •contents, an extremely good working museum may be evolved. 

 But if this space, as I believe was the original design, is used 

 for the further extension of the already over large public 

 galleries, the opportunity will be lost. 



The new museums at Vienna, the one for natural history, the 

 other for art, placed one on each side of a handsome public 

 garden in one of the most important quarters of the city, 

 exactly alike in size and architectural features, are elegant 

 buildings, and present many excellent features of construction. 

 The natural history museum, which was alone finished when I 

 visited Vienna three years ago, is a quadrilateral structure with 

 a central court, and consists of three stories and a basement. 

 Each story is divided into a number of moderately-sized rooms, 

 opening one into another, so that by passing along in the same 

 direction, the visitor can make an inspection in systematic order 

 of all the collection; arranged in each story, returning to the 

 point from whence he started ; or, if need be, breaking off at 

 the middle where a passage of communication runs across the 

 central court. An admirable feature in the design of this 

 ainseum, is that the public galleries of each story, lighted by 

 windows from the outside of the building, have on their inner 

 side other rooms communicating with them, and lighted from 

 ■the court within, which are devoted to the private studies of 

 the curators and to the reserve collections belonging to the 

 same series as the exhibited collections in the public 

 galleries wiih which they are in connection. Thus the public 

 •collections, the reserve collections, and the officers in charge are 

 are in each .section of the museum brought into close relation — ■ 

 a most advantageous arrangement — and one greatly facilitating 

 the new museum idea. The only drawback is that these rooms, 

 occupying the inner side of the quadrangular range of galleries, 

 are neces>arily small, and as the collections grow, will be found 

 insufhcient fur the purpose. This has, in fact, already proved 

 to be the case in several departments, and a remedy has been 

 /ound bydcvoting the whole upper story of the building to the 

 reserve collections of insects, shells, and plants, and the work- 

 ing library of the institution, an arrangement which gives excel- 

 lent accommodation for these important departments, at all 

 events for the present. Another great future difficulty will arise, 

 owing io the building being externally architecturally complete 

 and visible on all four sides from the public grounds in which it 

 stands ; it therefore admits of no extension, and the public galleries 

 already contain as many specimens as can possibly be placed in 

 them with any advaniage. These are inmost sections, especially 

 the invertebrata, displayed in an extremely tasteful and instruc- 

 tive manner, but the series is by no means over large for a 

 national museum. The limitation of space is partly due to the 

 somewhat singular division which has been made between the 

 art and the natural history collections. Instead of taking the 

 dividing line adopted at the British Museum between specimens 

 in a Slate of nature, and those fashioned by man's hand, the 

 pictures, the splendid collection of European media;val armour, 

 the classical and Egyptian antiquities are treated as works of 

 •art ; but the so-called ethnological collection, containing the 

 specimens of Mexican, Peruvian, Japanese, Chinese, Poly- 

 nesian, African, and prehistoric European art, are placed in the 

 Natural History Museum, taking up a large portion of the 

 apace, which the curators of the zoological, mineralogical, and 

 ^geological departments hoped to have had at their disposal for 

 the display of their specimen^:. Whether room could be found 

 for them in the Art Museum or not I cannot say ; but certainly 

 their actual position is incongruous, and it is difficult to under- 

 stand why a Peruvian mummy should find its place in a building 

 professedly devoted to natural history, while the preserved 

 remains of an ancient Egyptian are treated as works of art. 



Before leaving Vienna'l should like to refer to the splendid 

 ■specimens of taxidermy by the artist Hodek, the choicest 

 examples of whose work are contained in a special collection, 

 occupying a small separate room, consisting of sporting trophies 

 Of the late Crown Princ- Kudolph. Otherwise the general 

 level of the specimens in the galleries is in no wise remarkable. 



NO. 1237, VOL. 48] 



The birds have the advantage of being mounted, not upon turned 

 wooden stands of uniform pattern as in Paris, but upon pieces of 

 natural tree branches, fixed in square or oblong oak elands. 

 The exhibited specimens of vertebrate zoology include skeletons, 

 but no other anatomical preparations, of which there is adislinct 

 collection in the University Museum. The exhibited fishes and 

 reptiles are exceedingly well preserved and mounted in spirit. 

 In the Mollusca, Articulata, Echinoderms and Corals great care 

 has been taken in setting the specimens off to advantage by 

 selecting appropriate colours for backgrounds. Specimens in 

 spirit are interspersed in their proper places. All have printed 

 labels. The cases in which they are displayed are of oak, and 

 of very handsome and even ornamental construction. 



The arrangement of all these collections displays a most 

 intelligent appreciation of the needs of the ordinary visitor. 

 Thus in the room appropriated for the exhibition of insects 

 there are three distinct series, a general systematic seiies, a 

 morphological series, and a very fine special collection of the 

 insecis of the neighbourhood of Vienna. The other rooms are 

 arranged more or less on similar principles The main collec- 

 tion of insects, is, as I have mentioned bef:ire, entirely ap.art in 

 rooms very well adapted to the purpose in the upper floor of the 

 building, and kept as usual in drawers in cabinets. 



The zoological portion of the new museum for " Naturkunde," 

 in Berlin, situated in the Invaliden Strasse, is a remarkable il- 

 lustration of the complete revolution of ideas on museum 

 arrangement, which took place between its commencement and 

 its completion. The building, entirely designed upon the old 

 system, came empty into the hands of the present director, who 

 has arranged the contents absolutely upon the new method. It 

 con.sistsofafine glass covered hall, and three stories of galleries, 

 all originally intended for a uniform exhibition of all the 

 various groups of specimens which had accumulated in the 

 crowded rooms of the old museum in ihe University. When 

 Dr. Mobius succeeded to the directorate he conceived the bold 

 plan of limiting the public exhibition to the ground lioor, and 

 devoting the two upper stories entirely to the reserve or working 

 collections. This was a step which required some courage to 

 take, especially as the two great staircases, which are the 

 principal ornamental architectural features of the building, have 

 by it become practically useless. Except, of course, for certain 

 inconveniences always resulting from adaptation of a building to 

 purposes not originally contemplated, especially local disjunc- 

 tion of different series of the same groups, the result has been 

 eminently satisfactory, and if the arrangement is completed upon 

 the lines laid down by the Director, as explained to me on my 

 last visit, this will be the most practical and convenienily ar- 

 ranged museum of natural history at present existing. As much 

 attention appears to be bestowed upon making the ex- 

 hibited portion attractive and instructive, as on making 

 the reserve collections complete and accessible to workers. 

 In the former, the characteristics of the native fauna were 

 being specially developed. For instance, the fish collection 

 (of which the individual specimens are beautifully dis- 

 played, fastened on to glass plates in flat -sided bottles) consists 

 of a general representative systematic series, and three special 

 faunistic collections, one of the German fresh-water fishes, one 

 of the north and east sea fishes, and one of the Mediterranean 

 fishes. One room is devoted to German mammals and 

 birds, and the recently added specimens show indications of an 

 impi-ovement in taxidermy which would have been impossible 

 in the old days of wholesale bird-stuffing. Excellently pre- 

 pared anatomical specimens, diagrams, explanatory labels, and 

 maps showing geographical distribution, are abundantly intro- 

 duced among the dried specimens of which such collections are 

 usually composed, and a commencement has been made of illus- 

 trations of habits and natural surroundings. On the other 

 hand, in marked contrast to Vienna, everything in the way of 

 architecture .ind furniture and fittings is severely plain and 

 practical, and a uniform drab colour is the pervading back- 

 ground of all kinds of specimens. All danger front fire seems 

 to have been most carefully guarded against. The floors are of 

 artificial stone, the cases, and even the shelving, are constructed 

 of glass and iron. Wood is almost entirely excluded, both in the 

 structure and fittings. The ground floor, a'S I have said, is 

 entirely devoted to the public exhibition, the first story to the 

 reserve collection of vertebrates, and the upper story to the 

 invertebrates ; and the basement contains commodious rooms 

 for unpacking, mounting, preparing skeletons, &c. The con- 

 struction of the building allocs of considerable extension back- 



