NATURE 



137 



THURSDAY, JUNE 31, 1877 



THE ORGANISATION OF NATURAL HIS- 

 TORY MUSEUMS 



THE two questions connected with museum reform 

 more especially demanding attention relate to their 

 resources and their organisation. 



Provincial museums are very generally either the 

 propertv of societies the funds of which are expended 

 mainly in publishing memoirs, or are cairied on in con- 

 nection with free libraries. With regard to the first, it 

 is impossible that adequate means should be forthcoming 

 for their efficient maintenance, and with regard to the 

 second the library, as a rule, swallows up an inordi- 

 nate share of the funds provided by a rate. Some 

 are connected with teaching bodies. In nearly all cases 

 they are poverty-stricken and largely dependent on 

 casual benevolence for their support and increase. It is 

 surely only just and fair that the funds necessary for 

 making them efficient should be provided out of the 

 public purse since they are for the public weal, as is the 

 case in all other countries except our own. I do not ad- 

 vocate that the whole burden of this should fall on the 

 public ; it should certainly be borne in part by private 

 individuals, who, if experience in other things be worth 

 anything, are ready to subscribe liberally when a clear 

 case has been made out that their liberality will be of 

 practical use. The relation which the museum of natural 

 history at Lyons bears to the Societe des Amis des 

 Sciences Naturelles illustrates my meaning, for while 

 supported by the Municipality, it is largely indebted to 

 the Society for the purchase of new and rare specimens. 

 Why should not similar associations for similar ends be 

 formed in connection with every important museum in 

 this country ? A well-arranged museum of any size is of 

 necessity costly, and to be well officered must offer in- 

 ducements other than those which tempt the badly-edu- 

 cated, the mere enthusiast, or the worsted in the struggle 

 for life. 



The abnormal connection between museums and li- 

 braries should be severed, as it is to be severed in the 

 case of the national collections, because they have no 

 real connection with one another. The officer who has 

 the care of both, if they be of any size, cannot in the 

 nature of things perform satisfactorily what he undertakes. 

 If he give up his mind to the library he will probably 

 neglect the natural history, or vice versa. To this cause 

 the chaotic state of many of our museums is to be 

 assigned. A curator has not merely to catalogue and 

 arrange, but he has to master thoroughly the collections 

 under his charge, and in this respect he differs essentially 

 from a librarian. A museum is one thing, and a library 

 is quite another thing. 



The Public Libraries Act of 1855 has certainly failed 

 so far as relates to the establishment of museums, if the 

 rapid development of other means of advancing know- 

 ledge during the last twenty-two years be taken into 

 account. 



On the very difficult question of museum buildings, it 

 seems to me that the maximum amount of space and of light 

 Vol. XV j. — No. 399 



obtainable at the lowest cost consistent with good work 

 should be the chief end, rather than a building with a fine 

 outside. As a rule we content ourselves with mere exter- 

 nals. Well-supported collections in a big barn or an 

 old cotton-mill are more likely to be useful than a grand 

 building on which the greater part of the funds are Ukely 

 to be spent to the starving of the museum within. This 

 fact is fully recognised in the United States. In our 

 wealthy centres of population there is no reason why we 

 should not have large collections adequately housed, as is 

 the case very generally on the Continent. 



Thebest internal organisation of a museum which occurs 

 to me is that which preserves as far as possible the con- 

 tinuity that exists both in nature and art, and in which 

 the departments are arranged in the following order : — 



1. Mineralogy and crystallography and petrology, in- 

 cluding mineral products used in the arts. This should be 

 approached from the point of view offered by chemistry. 



2. Palaeontology, illustrating the ancient history of life 

 on the earth from the Eozoon to the beginning of the 

 historical period, and consisting of fossils arranged stra- 

 tigraphically, and divided as far as possible into three 

 divisions within the limits of each group — the fauna and 

 flora of the sea, of the fresh water, and of the land. 

 Under this head prehistoric archseology is included. 



3. Botany. 



4. Zoology. — In this department it is wholly unneces- 

 sary to have every species mounted. The birds may very 

 conveniently be represented by one stuffed specimen of 

 a class, family, or genus, while the species are preserved 

 for reference, and the skins occupy a small space in 

 drawers, as in Dr. Sclatei-'s collection at the Zoological 

 Society. 



4A. — Comparative osteology and anatomy are the 

 natural offshoots of zoology, ranking under that head. I 

 cannot, however, agree with those who hold that they 

 should form part of the zoological series, since their chief 

 value consists in their comparison with the like parts of 

 other creatures. Were the collections of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons arranged in the same cases with the 

 zoology of the British Museum— dissections and bones of 

 lions say with stuffed lions — they would at once lose their 

 teaching value. 



5. Ethnology, worked out as it is now being done by 

 Mr. Franks in the British Museum, and Dr. Bastian in 

 the Imperial Museum at Berlin. 



6. Art. 



This scheme is applicable to museums large and 

 small. 



In founding provincial museums the fauna, flora, and 

 geognosy of the surrounding districts should receive the 

 first attention, and to these may be added, if possible, a 

 general collection. In all cases they should be connected 

 with teaching. The principle of co-operation should be 

 freely brought into play, and casts of the more important 

 objects in each should be made for exchange and distri- 

 bution. Each museum should be available for the general 

 pubUc, the local societies, and the teaching bodies of the 

 place, schools, colleges, and the like. Were we to expend 

 as much common sense and energy in this direction as in 

 most others we should soon see our museums important 

 instruments in spreading culture, and in a very different 

 position to that which they now hold in relation to those 



