16 MUSE UM ORGAN IS A TION i 



cases in the public galleries, would be equivalent to asking 

 that every book in a library, instead of being shut up and 

 arranged on shelves for consultation when required, should 

 have every single page framed and glazed and hung on the 

 walls, so that the humblest visitor as he passes along the 

 galleries has only to open his eyes and revel in the wealth of 

 literature of all ages and all countries, without so much as 

 applying to a custodian to open a case. Such an arrange- 

 ment is perfectly conceivable. The idea from some points of 

 view is magnificent, almost sublime. But imagine the space 

 required for such an arrangement of the national library of 

 books, or, indeed, of any of the smallest local libraries ; 

 imagine the inconvenience to the real student, the disadvantages 

 which he would be under in reading the pages of any work 

 fixed in an immovable position beneath a glass case ; think of 

 the enormous distances he would often have to traverse to 

 compare a reference or verify a quotation, and the idea of 

 sublimity soon gives place to its usual antithesis. The 

 attempt to display every bird, every insect, shell, or plant, 

 which is or ought to be in any of our great museums of 

 reference would produce an exactly similar result. 



In the arrangement of collections designed for research, 

 which, of course, will contain all those precious specimens 

 called " types," which must be appealed to through all time to 

 determine the species to which a name was originally given, 

 the principal points to be aimed at are the preservation of 

 the objects from all influences deleterious to them, especially 

 dust, light, and damp ; their absolutely correct identification, 

 and record of every circumstance that need be known of their 

 history ; their classification and storage in such a manner that 

 each one can be found without difficulty or loss of time ; and, 

 both on account of expense as well as convenience of access, 

 they should be made to occupy as small a space as is com- 

 patible with these requirements. They should be kept in 

 rooms provided with suitable tables and good light for their 

 examination, and within reach of the necessary books of 

 reference on the particular subjects which the specimens 

 illustrate. Furthermore, the rooms should be so situated 

 that the officers of the museum, without too great hindrance 



