Dr. J. E. Gray on Museums and their Uses. 287 



rate stand, and marshalling them Uke soldiers on the shelves of a 

 large open case, the improvement was not so great as many suppose; 

 and this has become more and more evident since the researches of 

 travellers and collectors have so largely increased the number of 

 known species, and of species frequently separated by characters so 

 minute as not to be detected without careful and close examination. 



Having come to the conclusion that a museum for the use of the 

 general public should consist chiefly of the best-known, the most 

 marked, and the most interesting animals, arranged in such a way aa 

 to convey the greatest amount of instruction in the shortest and 

 most direct manner, and so exhibited as to be seen without con- 

 fusion, I am very much disposed to recur to something like the old 

 plan of arranging each species or series of species in a special case, 

 to be placed either on shelves or tables, or in wall-cases, as may be 

 found most appropriate, or as the special purpose for which each 

 case is prepared and exhibited may seem to require. 



But instead of each case, as of old, containing only a single speci- 

 men, it should embrace a series of specimens, selected and arranged 

 so as to present a special object for study ; and thus any visitor, 

 looking at a single case only, and taking the trouble to understand 

 it, would carry away a distinct portion of knowledge, such as in the 

 present state of our arrangements could only be obtained by the 

 examination and comparison of specimena distributed through dis- 

 tant parts of the collection. 



Every case should be distinctly labelled with an account of the 

 purpose for which it is prepared and exhibited ; and each specimen 

 contained in it should also bear a label indicating why it is there 

 placed. 



I may be asked, why should each series of specimens be contained 

 in a separate case .' but I think it must be obvious that a series of 

 objects exhibited for a definite purpose should be brought into close 

 proximity, and contained in a well-defined space ; and this will best 

 be done by keeping them in a single and separate case. There Vi 

 also the additional advantage that whenever, in the progress of db- 

 covery, it becomes desirable that the facts for the illustration of 

 which the case was prepared should be exhibited in a different man- 

 ner, this can easily be done by rearranging the individual case with- 

 out interfering with the general arrangement of the collection. I 

 believe that the more clearly the object is defined and the illustra- 

 tions kept together, the greater will be the amount of information 

 derived from it by the visitor and the interest he will feel in ex- 

 amining it. 



Such cases may be advantageously prepared to show — 



The classes of the animal kingdom, by means of one or more 



typical or characteristic examples of each class. 

 The orders of each class. 

 The families of each order. 

 The genera of each family. 

 The 'sections of each genus. 



