430 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
this scheme were granted, I cannot see any objection to it on the 
part of the British Museum, which, on the contrary, would 
probably derive some benefit. But there is one, and in my 
opinion a very serious, objection, viz., that this scheme would 
open the door to the employment of curators of inferior qualifi- 
cations; it would relieve the curator of a Provincial Museum of 
an important part of his duty, viz., to study for himself the 
requirements of his Museum, the means of meeting them, and to 
become well acquainted with the objects themselves. A curator 
who has to be satisfied with the mechanical work of displaying 
and preserving objects acquired, prepared, and named for him by 
others, takes less interest in the progress of his Museum than he 
whose duty it would be to form a collection; he is not the person 
in whose charge the Museum will flourish. 
In speaking of the claims of Provincial Museums on the 
National Museum, the kindred Colonial institutions should not 
be forgotten. We owe to them much of our knowledge of the 
Natural History of the Colonies ; they are the repositories of the 
collections of the temporary and permanent surveys which have 
been instituted in connection with them, and they have concentrated 
and preserved the results of manifold individual efforts which 
otherwise most likely would have been lost to Science. The 
British Museum has derived great benefit from the friendly 
relations which we have kept up with them, and therefore they 
are deserving of all the aid which we can possibly give them, and 
which may lessen the peculiar difficulties under which they labour - 
in consequence of their distance from Europe. 
I am painfully aware that in the remarks which I have had 
the honour of making before you, I have tried the patience of 
some, and not satisfied the expectations of others. But so much 
I may claim :—that the views which I have expressed before you 
as my own are the results of many years’ experience, and therefore 
should be worthy of your consideration ; and that I am guided by 
no other desire than that of seeing the Museums in this country 
taking their proper place in regard to Biology, and as one of the 
most important aids in the instruction of the people. 
