Conclusions Drawn from What Has Been Seen. 



I maj^ repeat what I have had occasion to mention before, that 

 in very iew cases have I found difficulty in entering the various 

 museums I wished to see ; the directors have always readily opened 

 their treasures to me, sometimes at no little inconvenience to them- 

 selves ; in a few cases I have unfortunately arrived at an unsuitable 

 season during the absence of the director on summer vacation, and 

 there has not always been a substitute empowered to open closed 

 doors. This was especially the case in France and Italy which I 

 visited in July and August. 



Where I had seen the museums in 1S96 I found generally most 

 agreeable changes, not merely in accumulation of new material 

 (this process has, as I have remarked, overwhelmed the Berlin 

 Museum fiir Volkerkunde) but in the better building, casing, in- 

 stallation and labeling' of specimens. Museum authorities are 

 learning that architects must be controlled by scientific require- 

 ments, and that it is no longer true that "any old palace" will do 

 for a museum. It is refreshing to have the opinion of so. good 

 authority as Dr. A. B. Meyer in confirmation of my criticism of the 

 Kensington Natural History Museum building. He says' in speak- 

 ing of the grand entrance hall. "The interior is impractical and 

 disagreeable. Even the officials have positively expressed them- 

 selves concerning both of these defects, and are certainly the best 

 judges of the first one. The very high entrance hall appears to 

 me to be too churchlike and empty. That it looks very dingy is, 

 of course, due first of all to the I^ondon atmosphere, but perhaps 

 also it is due to the character of the building materials and the 



'Even labeling can be overdone, witness the following: — "The chief 

 features of the museum are the initiation of large sectional labels and a few 

 general labels to species, in addition to the individual labels — all interpreting 

 the truths of science in simple words for the tourists who visit the park. The 

 cases and labels have been painted to harmonize with the natural finish of the 

 building, and the letters on the labels have been made in the color of the 

 knots and grain of the wood." Sdefice, Oct. 17, 1913, p. 543. 



^I quote from the good translation of Dr. Meyer's "Ubereinige Europaische 

 Museen und verwandte Institute," published by the Smithsonian Institution. 

 254 [402] 



