14 MUSEUM ORGANISATION i 



museums, both public and private, of Europe and America in 

 the endeavour to compose a monograph of a single common 

 genus, or even species, that shall include all questions of its 

 variation, changes in different seasons and under different 

 climates and conditions of existence, and the distribution in 

 space and time of all its modifications. He often has to 

 confess at the end that he has been baffled in his research for 

 want of the requisite materials for such an undertaking. Of 

 course this ought not to be, and the time will come when it 

 will not be, but that time is very far off yet. 



We all know the old saying that the craving for riches 

 grows as the wealth itself increases. Something similar is 

 true of scientific collections brought together for the purpose 

 of advancing knowledge. The larger they are the more their 

 deficiencies seem to become conspicuous ; the more desirous 

 we are to fill up the gaps which provokingly interfere with 

 our extracting from them the complete story they have to tell. 



Such collections are, however, only for the advanced 

 student, the man who has already become acquainted with 

 the elements of his science and is in a position, by his 

 knowledge, by his training, and by his observing and reasoning 

 capacity, to take advantage of such material to carry on the 

 subject to a point beyond that at which he takes it up. 



But there is another and a far larger class to whom museums 

 are or should be a powerful means of aid in acquiring know- 

 ledge. Among such those who are commencing more serious 

 studies may be included ; but I especially refer to the much 

 more numerous class, and one which it may be hoped will year 

 by year bear a greater relative proportion to the general 

 population of the country, who, without having the time, the 

 opportunities, or the abilities to make a profound study of any 

 branch of science, yet take a general interest in its progress, 

 and wish to possess some knowledge of the world around 

 them and of the principal facts ascertained with regard to it, 

 or at least some portions of it. For such persons museums 

 may be, when well organised and arranged, of benefit to a 

 degree that at present can scarcely be realised. 



To diffuse knowledge among persons of this class is the 

 second of the two purposes of museums of which I have spoken. 



