360 



NATURE 



\August 30, 1877 



believes that it will be possible to transmit speech electrically, 

 because it might have been asked why I had classed among so 

 many remarkable inventions an idea that, presented by the 

 author as it is, is not more than a dream. However, to be 

 faithful to the role that I have imposed upon myself of speaking 

 of all the applications of electricity that have become known to 

 me, I wish to quote here the information which the author has 

 published on this subject, 



"After the marvellous telegraphs which are able to reproduce 

 at a distance writing of this or that individual, and designs more 



or less complicated, it seemed impossible, said M. B , to 



advance further in the regions of the marvellous. Neverthe- 

 less, essaying to do something more, I asked, for example, 

 if speech itself would not be capable of transmission by 

 electricity ; in a word, if one would not be able to speak at 

 Vienna and be heard at Paris. The thing is practicable. This 

 is how : Sounds, it is kno%vn, are formed by vibrations and 

 carried to the ear by these same vibrations, which are reproduced 

 by the intermediate media. 



" But the intensity of these vibrations diminishes very rapidly 

 with the distance, from which it follows, even in the employment 

 of speaking trumpets, tubes, and of acoustical horns, the limits 

 which cannot be surpassed are very restricted. Imagine that one 

 speaks near a ynobile plate, flexible enough not to lose any of the 

 vibrations produced by the 7'oiee, that this plate establishes and 

 interrupts successively the communication with a battery. You 

 •would be able to have at a distance another plate which would 

 execute at the same time the same vibrations. 



' ' It is true that the intensity of the sounds produced would be 

 variable at the point of departure where the plate is vibrated by the 

 voice, and constant at the poijit of arrival where it is vibrated by 

 electricity. But it is demonstrable that this would not alter the 

 sounds. 



" It is evident from the first that the sounds would reproduce 

 themselves with the same pitch in the scale. The actual con- 

 dition ol acoustical science does not permit of saying, a priori, 

 whether the same conditions would hold good for all syllables 

 articulated by the human voice. The manner in which these 

 syllables are produced is not yet sufficiently well known. 



"In any case it is impossible to demonstrate, in the present 

 state of science, that the electric transmission of sounds is 

 impossible. Every probability, on the contrary, is for the possi- 

 bility. An electric battery, two vibrating plates, and a metallic 

 wire will suffice. 



" It is certain that, at a time more or less distant, speech wil 

 be transmitted to a distance by electricity. I have commenced 

 some experiments to that effect, they are delicate and require 

 time and patience. But the^ approximations obtained point 

 towards a favourable result." Paget Higgs 



Museums 



The following suggestions may possibly prove useful to 

 directors of museums, and especially of provincial museums. 

 Most of the plans recommended have been tried with success. 



It is very desirable that in all coliections intended for public 

 instruction manuscript labels should be abolis^hed. The advan- 

 tages of perfect legibility, uniform style, and an occasional change 

 of cards far outweigh the cost of letter-press. A convenient 

 hand-press costs about 3/. ; several founts of type in quantity 

 sufficient for museum purposes, may be had for 5/. An 

 assistant can be taught printing in a few days ; I have at times 

 engaged a printer's apprentice, paying sevenpence an hour for 

 his services. 



The proper display of dissected preparations put up in spirit 

 has long been a serious trouble. Most dissections of small size can 

 be pinned out on wax. Young's Parafiin Light and Miner.al Oil 

 Company, of West Calder, have lately prepared, at my request, 

 smooth paraffin slabs, coloured deep blue, and cut to 12 m. X 

 6 in. These can be had at a shilling a pound. Cylindrical 

 glass vessels are objectionable, not only on account of distortion, 

 but because they render it difficult to demonstrate details of 

 structure. Rectangular trays with movable plate-glass lids are 

 far more convenient. These may be made of ebonite for the 

 smaller sizes, and of wood lined with gutta-percha where the 

 cost of ebonite becomes important. I hope before long to get a 

 usefiJ tray cast in glass. The edges must be accurately ground, 



and the cover secured by light brass clamps. In the bottom of 

 the tray the wax tablet can be (securely fixed. It is useless to 

 cement the lid to the tray. Hardly any cement will stand 

 prolonged exposure to dilute spirit, and it is necessary to readjust 

 or clear the dissection from time to time. 



Fossils are usually kept loose ; in the larger'collections they 

 are mounted on tablets of wood or glass covered with paper. 

 The 'first method is untidy and often causes loss of labels ; 

 wooden tablets are costly, difficult to cut of quite uniform size, 

 and liable to warp ; glass is also difficult to cut true, and wastes 

 much time in covering with paper. Ten years ago I procured 

 a supply of pasteboard tablets one-tenth of an inch thick from a 

 pattern-card maker and have used them exclusively since. They 

 are cheap (ninepence to a shilling a pound), can be cut perfectly 

 true by machinery, do not warp, and may be had of any colour. 

 Fossils glued to pasteboard with coaguline are perfectly fast ; we 

 range them in wall-cases upon shelves sloped to forty-five degrees, 

 and never meet with accidents. 



In our geological wall-cases I have introduced above the level 

 of the eye a range of boards, nearly upright, but sloping slightly 

 forwards at the top, upon which maps, sections, photographs, 

 and descriptive notices can be pinned. In a pala^ontological 

 collection this space is useful for drawings of restored animals 



It is much to be desired that the dealers would procure a better 

 choice of zoological models in glass and porcelain. Reuss' 

 foraminifcra are still useful, though antiquated ; Blaschka, of 

 Dresden, keeps no stock, though he has supplied many of our 

 museums with useful models in g'ass made from drawings. We 

 want artistic and accur,ite coloured models of moUusca, hydrozoa, 

 &c. , far beyond the present supply. 



Stuffed animals, especially stuffed mammalia, are the plague 

 of a curator. I do not refer especially to their liability to moths 

 (insects of all kinds can be kept down by placing saucers of 

 carbolic acid in the cases) but to their grotesque deformity, their 

 unnatural attitudes, and their proneness to contract in unexpected 

 places. A model in plaster or clay, strengthened internally by 

 wires would last for ever, and the skin would stretch over it 

 readily enough when moist. Real skill in modelling is required 

 here, and we have not yet been able to command it. The 

 Schools of Art may in time help us over the difficulty. A well- 

 modelled animal can never be very cheap, but if increased cost- 

 liness should render set-up quadrupeds comparatively scarce, 

 zoology need not suffer on that account. 



Public museums should contain far more than they now do the 

 elementary explanations necessary for the right understanding of 

 the objects exhibited. A text-book illustrated by specimens 

 instead of wood-cuts should be our aim, at least wliere the wants 

 of the public are more concerned than the wants of special 

 students. I should propose to relegate nine-tenths of our 

 existing collections to cabinets were it not that things out of 

 sight in cabinets are so liable to suffer from neglect. At present 

 we aim at too much, introduce too many departments into a 

 small museum, show too many obscure and uninstructive objects, 

 and spoil everything by over-crowding. 



Personally, I do not hold that local collections should be 

 everything in a provincial museum. We have to consider the 

 wants of residents as well as of passing strangers, and what the 

 residents interested in natural history require is a general collec- 

 tion of typical specimens which will teach them something of the 

 elements of their science. It is very easy to make imposing 

 collections of land and fresh-water shells, butterflies, and so 

 forth, which a naturalist passing that way praises because they 

 contain here and there a choice thing, but which either teaches 

 nothing to the uneducated visitor, or else teaches him the very 

 undesirable lesson that the best thing he can do is to make a 

 similar collection for himself. We have had more than enough 

 of unintelligent collecting and unintelligent records of occur- 

 rence. Our provincial museums should tell the public that to 

 know something of the structure of animals and plants is better 

 than to know many species. L. C. MlALL 



Leeds, August 17 



The great difficulty, as it seems to me, in promoting and 

 maintaining the efficiency of our local museums lies in providing 

 them with suitable curators ; and in this connection an idea 

 which occurred to me last year may prove not unserviceable. 

 I have seen a large number of our provincial museums, and in 

 many of them have found really extensive and valuable collec- 

 tions of natural objects which only require to be rightly named 



