20 MUSEUM ORGANISATION i 



the names of the artists and the subject are affixed to the 

 frame, and others in which the information has in each case 

 to be sought by reference to a catalogue, must appreciate the 

 vast superiority in comfort and time-saving of the former 

 plan. 



Acting upon such principles as these, every public gallery 

 of a museum, whether the splendid saloon of a national 

 institution, or the humble room containing the local collection 

 of a village club, can be made a centre of instruction, and will 

 offer interests and attractions which will be looked for in vain 

 in the majority of such institutions at the present time. 



One of the best illustrations of the different treatment of 

 collections intended for research or advancement of knowledge, 

 and for popular instruction or diffusion of knowledge, is now 

 to be seen in Kew Gardens, where the admirably constructed 

 and arranged herbarium answers the first purpose, and the 

 public museums of economic botany the second. A similar 

 distinction is carried out in the collections of systematic botany 

 in the natural history branch of the British Museum, with the 

 additional advantage of close contiguity ; indeed, as an example 

 of a scheme of good museum arrangement (although not perfect 

 yet in details) I cannot do better than refer to the upper story 

 of the east wing of that institution. The same principles, 

 little regarded in former times in this country, and still un- 

 known in some of the largest continental museums, are 

 gradually pervading every department of the institution, 

 which, from its national character, its metropolitan position, 

 and exceptional resources, ought to illustrate in perfection the 

 ideal of a natural-history museum. In fact, it is only in a 

 national institution that an exhaustive research collection in 

 all branches of natural history, in which the specialist of every 

 group can find his own subject fully illustrated, can or ought 

 to be attempted. 



As the actual comparison of specimen with specimen is the 

 basis of zoological and botanical research, and as work done 

 with imperfect materials is necessarily imperfect in itself, it 

 is far the wisest policy to concentrate in a few great central 

 institutions, the number and situation of which must be 

 determined by the population and the resources of the country, 



