32 MODERN MUSEUMS n 



speak from personal experience. Even in this branch, time 

 will compel me to limit myself to observations upon some of 

 the larger questions connected with our subject, leaving details 

 for discussion in our subsequent meetings. 



One great difference between the work of the curator of 

 an art museum and that of one devoted to what are called 

 natural history subjects, is that in the case of the former the 

 specimens he has to preserve and exhibit come into his hands 

 very nearly in the condition in which they will have to 

 remain. A picture, a vase, a piece of old armour, or a statue, 

 beyond a certain amount of tender care in cleaning and 

 repairing, which is more or less mechanical in its nature, is 

 ready for its place upon the museum shelves. But this is far 

 from being the case with the greater number of natural 

 objects. Not only do they require special methods of 

 preservation, but very often their value as museum specimens 

 depends entirely upon the skill, labour, patience, and know- 

 ledge expended upon them. In specimens illustrating 

 biological subjects the highest powers of the museum curator 

 are called forth. A properly -mounted animal or a carefully- 

 displayed anatomical preparation is in itself a work of art, 

 based upon a natural substratum. In few branches of 

 museum work has there been greater progress in late years 

 than in this, and few offer still further scope for develop- 

 ment. 



Partly from this cause, and partly from the fact that art 

 has for a longer period and to a greater degree engaged the 

 attention of civilised man than nature, the methods of 

 preservation, arrangement, and exhibition of works of art are 

 on the whole further advanced than are those of natural 

 objects. But no one can deny that there is still in many 

 galleries devoted to the exhibition of works of art of various 

 kinds great room for improvement. There is generally far 

 too great crowding; too many objects so placed that the 

 tallest man cannot see them properly, even when standing on 

 tiptoe ; too many others placed so low that they can only be 

 examined by lying down on the floor ; too many completely 

 spoiled by the juxtaposition of incongruous objects, or by 

 unsuitable settings. It is only in a very few public museums (I 



