138 
International Statistical Congress, held at Berlin, decided 
“That the care of preparing and putting into execution the 
regulations to be followed in the construction of the stan- 
dards, and of the system itself, should be entrusted to an 
International Commission, which will also see to the cor- 
rection of the small scientific defects of the system.” The 
International Geodesical Conference held at Berlin in 
1867 decided: “In order to define the common unit of 
measures for all the countries of Europe, and forall times, 
with as much exactness as possible, the Conference re- 
commends the construction of a new prototype European 
Metre. The length of this European Metre should differ 
as little as possible from that of the Metre of the Archives 
in Paris, and should in all cases be compared with the 
greatest exactness. In the construction of the new proto- 
type standard, care should be taken to secure the facility 
and exactness of the necessary comparisons.” And “the 
construction of the new prototype metre, as well as the 
preparation of the copies destined for different countries, 
should be confided to an International Commission, in 
which the States interested should be represented.” Since 
then, the Imperial Academy of Science of St. Petersburg 
has taken the matter in hand, and a committee of the 
Physico-Mathematical class, consisting of MM. Struve, 
Wild, and Jacobi, has made a report on the subject, ob- 
serving that the standard metric weights and measures of 
the various countries of Europe and of the United States 
differ by sensible though small quantities from one 
another. ‘They expressed their opinion that the continua- 
tion of these errors would be highly prejudicial to science. 
They believed that the injurious effects could not be 
guarded against by private labour, however meritorious, 
and they recommended that an International Commission 
should be appointed by the countries interested to deal 
with the matter. This suggestion was approved by the 
French Government, and consequently the Conference will 
take place in Paris in August next, when the Astrono- 
mer Royal, Professor William H. Miller, and the War- 
den of the Standards, will represent this country. 
Everything seems thus tending towards the early realisa- 
tion of the great scheme of uniformity of weights and 
measures throughout the world. 
MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY 
OP is no doubt of the popularity of museums of 
natural history with the lower classes. That it is 
otherwise with more educated people is perhaps attri- 
butable, not so much to indifference to scientific know- 
ledge, as to the fact that hardly any scientific knowledge 
is to be gained by a cursory inspection of crowded collec- 
tions, arranged with reference to economy of space rather 
than to the existing conditions of zoological science. It 
must not be forgotten that the sentiment of mere wonder, 
which the stranger forms of animal life are so calculated 
to excite, was satisfied, or at least blunted, in early child- 
hood, in the case of those of us who have had access to 
well-illustrated books, and to the zoological gardens of 
great cities. 
Twenty years hence it will hardly be credited that in 
the year 1869 a competent naturalist, after visiting fifty 
of the principal museums of Europe, reported on them 
in the following terms :—“ So far as his observations ex- 
NATURE 
| Fune 23, 1870 
tended, he found no museum where any other purpose 
than a desire to produce a pleasing and convenient dispo- 
sition of the specimens was manifested in the general plan 
of arrangement. In the few cases where there was an 
evident intention of showing some of the more important 
general features connected with the distribution of life 
over the face of the globe, or in the successive geological 
formations, the imperfection of the means has-been too 
great to afford any great result. Among the fifty museums 
visited, not one was found in a building especially designed 
for the purpose of exhibiting collections arranged to show 
the history of life.”* We may fairly hope that the con- 
dition of things above described will not endure much 
longer. The ever-widening interest in the higher problems 
of zoology awakened by the writings of Darwin and his 
followers, will no doubt, in time, move even the conser- 
vative professors and curators of the great European 
museums to urge upon their Governments the necessity 
of providing them with the means of making the collec- 
tions under their charge visible embodiments of what is 
now known of the history, distribution, and affinities of 
animal life, instead of simple gatherings of curiosities, or 
at best mere storehouses of materials for the professed 
naturalist. The rearrangement of the great national 
collections in properly constructed buildings would, even 
under the “most favourable circumstances, be a work of 
years, and one entailing great and irksome labour upon 
the distinguished officers of these museums. Meanwhile, 
there is every prospect that the hopes we have expressed 
in reference to the European collections will be almost 
immediately realised in the case of the great museum 
of Harvard College, under the charge of one of the 
most eminent of living zoologists, Professor Louis 
Agassiz. Thanks to the liberality of the State Legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts, a sum of 75,000 dollars, payable 
in three annual instalments, is available for this great 
work, conditionally upon the raising by subscription of 
like Sums. We are glad to learn from the trustees 
that the first 25,000 dollars have been subscribed, and the 
corresponding 25,000 dollars received from the State. 
The spirit which is animating Prof. Agassiz in this matter 
will be best gathered from his own words in the official 
report now before us. After paying due tribute to those 
who, by bringing together the great collections of the old 
world, laid the foundations of our present knowledge, he 
says: “We have no longer the right to build museums 
after this fashion. . . . If I mistake not, the great object 
of our museums should be to exhibit the whole animal 
kingdom as a manifestation of the Supreme Intellect. 
Scientific investigation in our day should be inspired by 
a purpose as animating to the general sympathy as was 
the religious zeal which built the cathedral of Cologne or the 
basilica of St. Peter’s. The time is past when men expressed 
their deepest convictions by these wonderful and beautiful 
religious edifices ; but it is my hope to see, with the pro- 
gress of intellectual culture, a structure arise among us 
which may be a temple of the revelations written on the 
material universe” (p. 6). Prof. Agassiz is able to write 
in the following encouraging terms of the immediate pros- 
pects of his great undertaking :—“ With the prospect for 
* These words are to be found at p. 41 of a paper entitled, ‘* Annual Report 
of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 
Cambridge, together with the Report of the Director, 1868." Boston: 1865. 
