152 Tue OrTtAwa NATURALIST. | November 
in dealing with unsuitable gifts offered by well meaning friends. 
The lack of appreciation of the fitness of things sometimes dis- 
played by well educated persons is most surprising. Such a per- 
son examines the collection, speaks well of what has been done 
and then announces his intention of adding to the museum a most 
valuable contribution, an object which until then the donor would 
never think of parting with, and of much greater interest than — 
anything in the collection. The donor may be a person of in- 
influence in the community and one who has given money gener- 
ously to furnish the rooms. The gift arrives; it may a fragment 
of rock from.the hill where the witchcraft victims were hanged; 
a bottle of water from the river Jordan; a bit of polished agate 
from Arizona with something like the outline of an Indian face in 
its concentric folds, which you are assured was caught there by 
the sun’s rays as an Indian chief passed by. Although it may 4 
be an interesting souvenir of travel to the collector himself, such 
an object is of no value in a museum, nor can it be classified as : 
scientific or historical and the custodian is at a loss to know 
what to do with it. He can not afford and does not wish to of- 
fend the kindly intentioned donor. What can be done? There — 
is one museum in which a special case is provided for “‘Recent 
Accessions’’ and in this case are placed all gifts as they are re-- e 
ceived. There all undesirable objects remain until they are for- 
gotten or can be disposed of, while, from time to time, as it may . 
be convenient to rearrange the collections, the desirable ones 
find their appropriate places in the museum among the groups to 
which they belong. The establishment of a case for ‘“‘Recent 
Accessions’’ should be among the first things done. There is an- 
other advantage in having such a case. A donor is quite sure to 
visit the museum within a week or two after sending a gift to 
see if it has been placed on exhibition, and while it may not have 
been possible to arrange the collection to give it a suitable place, 
the ‘‘Recent Accession’’ case can take it in immediately. 
There is one class of donors who should receive the greatest 
consideration,—the children. They come with butterflies, beetles, 
sea-urchins, shells and flowers and want to know what they are 
and something about them. About the best work which can be 
