’ 
NATURE 
457 
Oct. 6, 1870] 
In a circular building, the centre of the hollow square, I 
should propose to place the library above and lecture- 
theatre below. The library might be connected by light 
iron galleries with the different working-reoms, so that 
the students of every department would have equally ready 
access to it. 
Such is a slight outline of the kind of building I would 
propese for a National Museum of Natural History. It is, 
of course, a mere sketch, and there would be, no doubt, 
many difficulties in the details to be surmounted, but none, 
I think, such as an experienced architect would not be abie 
to overcome. The advantages of this plan would be :— 
1. The museum might be opened to the public every 
day without interfering with the scientific work of the 
establishment or of the students. Under the present 
arrangement, the collections are only open two or three 
days in the week, during which scientific work is sus- 
pended, as regards all objects in the public galleries. 
2. The exhibited specimens would be much better 
protected from dirt and dust than they are in cases open- 
ing in front. 
3. The exhibition of the whole series of organic beings 
in one continuous range of galleries would be much more 
instructive to the public than any system in which (as in 
the British Museum) they are dispersed about in different 
rooms. 
4. The library being in the centre, would be equally 
accessible from any one of the working-rooms surreunding 
the interior of the hollow square.* 
Ill. Of the Arrangement of the Collections tn the 
National Museum of Natural History. 
The remarks which I have already made under the 
previous head will have served to show the section that I 
am an advocate of what has been called the “ typical,” but 
what it would be better, perhaps, to call the “representative” 
system of arrangement of the Natural History collections. 
Nor am I able to understand how any reasonable person 
‘can seriously maintain that every object in a National 
Museum of Natural History ought to be exhibited to the 
indiscriminating public. In accordance with the views of 
the memorialists of 1858, who may be considered as 
having inaugurated the reform in our Natural History 
collections which I hope to see shortly carried out, the 
collections should be primarily separated inte three series : 
(a), objects for public exhibition ; (4), objects for private 
study. The class a, which is to be arranged in the public 
galleries behind the hermetically sealed glass cases, should 
embrace a very full and well-selected series of repre- 
sentatives of the principal forms of every class. Insome 
cases it may be necessary to place in this category exam- 
ples of every species of a group, in others only a selection 
of each genus or of each family. Every specimen exhi- 
biting the external form in this series should be carefully 
prepared and mounted in a natural attitude. The 
representative species of the group having been selected, 
specimens of both sexes and of all ages should be placed 
in the series, as likewise examples of variation, if any such 
are known. The skeleton and other preparations of the 
internal structure should be added, as also the eggs and 
nests in the case of birds, and examples of corresponding 
structures in other classes. In short,the utmost endeavours 
should be made to illustrate, by preparations, models, 
and drawings, the life-history of the selected ‘“‘represen- 
tative,” in as complete a manner as possible. To every 
* A great deal has been said by those who have advocated the retention 
of the Natural History collections in their present site, about the importance of 
keeping up their conjunction with the National Library. It is, of course, 
obviousthat their removal will necessitate the acquisition of a special Library 
of Natural History for the new museum. I believe, however, that a library 
of the kind, sufficiently comprehensive for all practical purposes, can be got 
together without much difficulty and at a comparatively small cost, and t! at 
when formed, it will be of much greater use for those working at the colle.- 
tions than the present overgrown establishment at the British Museum. It 
must be also recollected that the library of the British Museum is only 
available for the use of the officers. The books cannot be brouzht to the 
specimens nor the specimens to the books by ordinary students. 
+ See this memorial, as reprinted in NaTuRE for June 9, 1£70. 
| exhibited specimen should be attached a printed label, 
giving its scientific and popular name, locality, and origin, 
and some short explanation regarding its chief pecu- 
liarities and most noticeable points of interest. There 
can, I think, be no doubt whatever that a small but well- 
selected series of any branch of the kingdom of nature, 
arranged after this method, would be of much greater 
interest and much more instructive to the public at large, 
than ten times the number of objects arranged according 
to the present fashion of the British Museum. 
On the other hand, the great mass of the collections () 
intended only for the private examination of experts 
should be treated after a very different fashion. In this 
division of the cellections, the object is to arrange speci- 
mens inas smalla space as possible, and, at the same time, 
in the most convenient manner for easy examination. The 
work-rooms immediately adjoining the part of the public 
galleries appropriated to division a of any class, will, of 
- course, be devoted to the reception of division 4 of the 
same class, so that the whole a and 4, being separated 
only by the partition-wall at the back of the glazed cases, 
which will be pierced by frequent doors, will practically 
form but one collection. In these work-rooms, moreover, 
should be assembled together the whole of the specimens 
relating to the particular class to which they are devoted. 
In the British Museum, according to the present system, 
the mounted specimens are in one room, the skins in a 
second, the skeletons in a third, and the spirit-prepa- 
rations in a fourth. Sothat, in order to make a complete 
examination of a small mammal, for instance, it may be 
necessary to go to four or five different parts of the build- 
ing, ranging from the galleries to the cellars, and from 
the extreme north-east corner of the former to the furthest 
south-west corner of the latter. In the new National 
Museum of Natural History, it is to be hoped, this incon- 
venience will be remedied by the entire amalgamation of 
the various collections of skins, mounted specimens, 
spirit-specimens, and skeletons, into one uniform series. 
Besides the greater convenience of this mode of arrange- 
ment, another obvious advantage will be that the future 
student will be induced to devote his attention rather to 
the whole structure of the organism than to confine it to 
one particular part. If bird-cabinets were accompanied 
by skeletons and corresponding specimens in spirits, 
there can be no doubt that a much more perfect system of 
ornithology than any that we have yet attained to would be 
quickly arrived at. Our new national museum must take 
the lead in this great reform, and set an example to other 
collections. In the same way, as every naturalist will allow, 
our conchological brethren will lose nothing by having 
the soft bodies of the mollusca close at hand to aid them in 
their investigations on the form of the external sheli. 
There may be, of course, some exceptional cases in which 
it will be practically impossible to adopt this course, but, 
as a general rule, the principle should be insisted upon 
that every specimen, of whatever nature it may be, should 
be located in the rooms devoted to the reception of the 
class to which it belongs, and should be placed as nearly 
as possible in immediate apposition to its nearest natural 
allies. 
To carry out these principles to their legitimate issue, 
I do not hesitate to support the view put forward by Prof. 
Flower * and other naturalists, that the palaeontological 
department of the British Museum, as at present consti- 
tuted, ought to be totally abolished, and its contents 
distributed amongst the zoological and botanical collec- 
tions, so that extinct forms may be studied in association 
with their nearest living representatives. The arguments 
in favour of this plan are, I think, unassailable, and 
although some little difficulties may be met within carry- 
ing it out, there are none, in my opinion, that may not be 
overcome by judicious treatraent. There is no doubt, I 
believe, that the progress of palaontology and palaeophy- 
* See Nature for May 28, 18-0. 
