224 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[OCTOBEB 1, 1898. 



gallery. But no attempt was made to exhibit man's 

 external bodily form in its numerous racial modifications ; 

 and the specimens of his bony skeleton, like most of those 

 of his fellow mammals, were widely separated from the 

 mounted skins of the apes and monkeys. 



In the new arrangement, now drawing to approximate 

 completion, of the mammalian galleries such skulls and 

 skeletons as are exhibited to the public are placed in proper 

 position among the mounted skins of ordinary mammals, 

 and man accordingly heads the series of exhibits. Although 

 the amount of case room devoted to illustrate the bodily 

 structure of the numerous varieties of mankind is com- 

 paratively small when contrasted with that in the new 

 ethnological gallery in the Paris Museum, it will probably 

 prove sufficient to exhibit examples of all the leading types 

 which are likely to prove of general public interest, and is 

 not disproportionate to the space given to other groups of 

 mammals. In Paris it appears to be the practice to 

 exhibit every skull and skeleton in the collection to the 

 public, whereas in the British Museum the rule is to show 

 only a limited number of examples, most of which ought 

 to illustrate some particular point or feature. And, 

 although to the specialist the former plan may be, and 

 probably is far more preferable, yet to the general public 

 there can be little doubt that the latter arrangement is the 

 more advantageous, since the exhibition of a large series 

 of duplicates is much more likely to confuse than to 

 instruct. 



Bushman. Fr 



tlie ilriti.-li iVusuuiii. 



1. Ill-like Model in 



That such an ethnographical series as is contemplated 

 in the Natural History Museum will do much to educate 

 the public on matters anthropological cannot for one 

 inoment be doubted, seeing that there is no other institu- 

 tion in London where a similar exhibition is displayed ; 

 and that, as a general rule, EngUsh people display a 

 remarkable lack of information concerning the relation- 

 ships and peculiarities of their fellow human races. With 

 our vast colonial empire, we, of all people, ought to make 

 mankind our especial study ; and we ought to be in a 

 position to make the national gallery of ethnology almost 

 unique in its completeness, so far as the allotted limits of 

 space permits. 



In considering man from a purely zoological standpoint, 

 as it is necessary to do in an exhibition of this nature, it 

 is obviously imperative to take into consideration only his 

 bodily form and structure, putting entirely on one side 

 arts and manufactures of every description. To study the 



weapons and dress of modern aboriginal tribes, and the 

 various implements of our prehistoric ancestors, the student 

 may visit the British Museum at Bloomsbury, while he 

 will find no inconsiderable series of specimens of pre- 

 historic implements in the palseontological gallery of the 

 branch establishment in the Cromwell Road. But, as has 

 been well remarked, to form a complete anthropological 

 series it is illogical in the extreme to stop at the implements, 

 manufactures, and arts of savage and prehistoric tribes. 

 Such a series ought to commence with the rudest drawings 

 on mammoth ivory, and the most primitive stone weapons, 

 and to conclude with a selection from the last Academy 

 exhibition, and examples of Krnpp and Maxim guns. 

 But whether such a splendid collection will ever be realised 

 or no, it does not really concern us here, and we may 

 accordingly revert to the gallery in the museum. 



For such a gallery the selection and proper arrangement 

 of suitable objects is a matter of much greater difficulty, 

 than might at first be thought to be the case ; while even 

 when the nature of such exhibits has been decided, there 

 is often immense difficulty in procuring the requisite 

 specimens. In a gallery open to the general public of 

 both sexes and all ages there are obvious objections to 

 exhibiting models of the entire human form, and it has 

 accordingly been decided that busts are the kind of model 

 best adapted for display. At present the series of these is 

 very small, but we believe that steps are being taken to 

 augment it as rapidly as possible. Already several of these 

 busts attract general public interest. Among these atten- 

 tion may specially be directed to those of a male and 

 female Bushman and a Tasmanian man and woman, as 

 exhibiting two very characteristic types of the inferior 

 races of mankind. By kind permission of Sir W. H. 

 Flower we are enabled to present our readers with photo- 

 graphic representations of two of these life-hke models. 

 To those of the Tasmanians an especial and mournful 

 interest attaches, since they are taken from two of the last 

 survivors of a very remarkable pure-bred race whose ex- 

 termination was brought about by means reflecting but 

 little credit on our own character as a nation. Unfortu- 

 nately, the extermination of the Tasmanians took place 

 before sufficient care had been taken to secure abundant 

 examples of their skulls and skeletons, which are now of 

 excessive rarity in collections ; and the Museum is there- 

 fore to be congratulated on having lately secured a perfect 

 male skeleton. It may be added that the extermination 

 of the Tasmanian serves as a warning that no efl'orts 

 should be spared to obtain specimens illustrating the 

 bodily structure of other primitive aboriginal tribes while 

 there is yet time, since it is but too apparent that many 

 of these, even in spite of strenuous efforts for their pre- 

 servation, are doomed ere long to pass away for ever. 

 Possibly, too, in the years to come, when education has 

 advanced its sway over a still wider circle, the survival of 

 such races in their primitive form may even be regarded as 

 a blot upon the world's civilization, so that efforts may be 

 made to " improve " the survivors out of existence. 



After models, the next best method of showing the 

 racial variations of man's external form is by photographs. 

 For the most part those exhibited in the Museum comprise 

 only the head and neck, and, where practicable, these 

 are enlarged to the natural size. These large-sized photo- 

 graphs have been executed in platinotype under the 

 immediate superintendence of Mr. H. 0. Forbes, the 

 Director of the Museum at Liverpool. At present the 

 series is richest in North American Indians and African 

 Negroes, but there are also numerous examples of 

 Melanesians and Papuans. As an example, a reduced 

 reproduction of the photograph of a Papuan girl, exhibiting 



