Peb. 1 1 , I 



NATURE 



545 



tion here offered, and ladies accordingly should al- 

 ways form part of the committee ; yoang people also 

 who have lately left school and can attract their 

 companions to continue whatever study they have 

 liked or felt the value of; pupil teachers— often, 

 hereafter we hope, as at Hull now, the School Board 

 paying the fee — attending as a matter of business ; and 

 artisans who feel their deficiencies. The trades unions 

 of the latter already, some of them, spend looo/. a year 

 in education, and if men can also be attracted here to 

 increased knowledge, lay in a solid foundation of some 

 science at a course of lectures, and get their intelligence 

 awakened to what is going on in the world around them, 

 public-houses will to them be no great temptation, and 

 much of their work will be carried on more intelligently. 



Where, as is generally the case, from three to five 

 towns at no great distance apart can agree upon a course 

 of lectures to be given, and audiences can be drawn to 

 both afternoon and evening deliveries, it is found that the 

 charge made to one of the courses need not exceed three 

 shillings for the set of twelve lectures. Nevertheless the 

 financial difficulty is described as the greatest both to 

 lecturers with the rich University at their back, and to 

 hearers, who certainly may lose working-hours and per- 

 haps feel the attendant small expenses of books, &c. It 

 is one of the most curious characteristics of this move- 

 ment that the lectures are assiduously attended by all 

 classes of society alike, and yet the seekers after know- 

 ledge themselves do not value it at its cost price, even 

 when offered on so liberal and economical terms. How- 

 ever, higher education always did require the help of the 

 patron of letters and of the founder of the college, and 

 he who assists these classes may rest satisfied that he is 

 carrying on their work in a modest way. 



Prof. Stuart in his Introduction hopes, and cannot 

 doubt, that the University or some other competent body 

 may realise the vast influence and noble position here to 

 be attained. The compressed population of England 

 possesses great economical advantages over the scattered 

 townships of America. It cannot be believed that financial 

 difficulties will be suffered to stand in the way of this move- 

 ment, and we may look forward to seeing our Universities 

 literally worthy of their name through offering all know- 

 ledge to all sorts and conditions of men. 



W. Odell 



THE NEW NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN 

 VIENNA 



'T'HE two magnificent palaces in the Ringstrasse, 

 ■*■ opposite the old Kaiserburg, designed, the one 

 for the conservation and exhibition of the art history, 

 the other of the natural history, collections of the Imperial 

 Court, are rapidly approaching completion. Completely 

 alike as they are in their decorations and their style of 

 architecture generally, their interior arrangement does of 

 course in each case conform with the special require- 

 ments of the collections each is intended to receive. 

 The lateral front, 6g'3S metres long, faces the Ringstrasse ; 

 the main fronts, at right angles to the Ringstrasse, run, 

 with a length of 169 metres, parallel to each other, sepa- 

 rated by a square which is laid out in garden plots, and 

 is to be crowned in the centre by the monument of 

 Maria Theresia. The design and execution of the two 

 buildings emanate from one of the most eminent architects 

 of Vienna, Karl Baron Hasenauer, who is at present 

 directing likewise the erection of the Court Theatre, and 

 the reconstruction of the Hofburg. 



The building occupying the more western site, and 

 destined to receive the Natural History Museum, is some- 

 what further advanced as a whole than its eastern compeer. 

 A few particulars regarding this Institute will be accept- 

 able to the readers of N.^ture. 



The collections hitherto kept apart, and now about to 

 be united into one grand and indivisible whole in the 

 new building, are under the supreme direction of the 

 Royal and Imperial Chief Staff of Stewards of the 

 Court {Obersthofineistcramt), the present head of which. 

 Prince Constantino Hohenlohe, takes a most lively 

 interest in this branch of his administration. They 

 embrace : — 



(i) The Mineralogical Court Collection, hitherto distri- 

 buted in four rooms of the Hofburg and some smaller 

 underground compartments there. These comprise the 

 mineralogical, geological, and palsEontoIogical treasures. 



(2) The Zoological Court Museum, popularly known as 

 the " Naturalien Cabinet," hitherto exhibited in a quarter 

 of the Hofburg, in Josephsplatz, adjoining the Court 

 library. 



(3) The Botanical Court Museum, which, along with 

 the herbarium of the University, found its accommoda- 

 tion in a structure situated in the Botanical Gardens, 

 and belonging to the University. 



(4; The Prehistoric, Anthropological, and Ethno- 

 graphical collections, hitherto not exhibited, but kept 

 packed in various depots. 



The new building destined for the accommodation of 

 these collections possesses four stories. The lowest, 

 elevated but a few feet above the level of the street, 

 and distinguished as the " Tiefpartcrrc" is arranged 

 as a storehouse, with assorting rooms for the different 

 divisions of the Museum, and here, too, the chemical 

 laboratory for the mineralogical department is to be 

 fitted up. The next two stories, distinguished as the 

 " Hocliparlerrc" and " First Floor," are designed for the 

 exhibition of the various objects that will be arranged 

 for general view. Each of them consists of a suite of 

 nineteen halls, ranging from 200 to 260 square metres in 

 area, disposed all round the exterior face of the building, 

 which stands on free and open ground, in such order that, 

 entering from the staircase, visitors will be enabled to 

 pass through them in a continuous series, re-issuing into 

 the staircase at a place opposite to that by which they 

 entered. Inside this exterior suite of rooms, and looking 

 down into the two large courts, are ranged a series of 

 smaller compartments in a line parallel to that of the 

 large halls, destined in part likewise for purposes of ex- 

 hibition, but mainly for the libraries of the different 

 departments and the laboratories of the various divisions. 

 The plan for the distribution of the different collections 

 in the halls, and for the general arrangement of the whole, 

 was drawn up by my predecessor, Intendant Hofrath von 

 Hochstetter, who, unhappily, was called away in the 

 midst of his ardent activities in the summer of 1S84 ; and, 

 except in the case of a {^\s quite subordinate alterations, 

 this plan has been completely maintained. 



The former Mineralogical Court Collection is divided 

 into two assortments : a mineralogical-petrographical 

 and a geological- palaeontological. The first, which is 

 under the care of the custodian, Di". A. Brezina, assistant 

 to Dr. t'riedrich Berwerth, has the Halls I. to V. inclusive 

 in the Hochpai-tcrre (see figure) assigned to it. In the 

 central repositories of the Halls I. to III. will be shown 

 the finest specimens of our long-celebrated collection of 

 minerals, arranged in the main accordmg to the system 

 of Groth. The wall-cases, having higher frames, will 

 exhibit in part the larger specimens, and in part local 

 series of minerals. In the window recesses in Hall III. 

 will be disposed a collection of polished precious stones. 



Hall IV. will display in its wall-repositories a col- 

 lection representing the paragenetic relations of minerals, 

 as also smelting processes. 



The central cases of Hall V. are intended to accom- 

 modate the meteorites. These will constitute the most 

 brilliant point in the whole division. According to the last 

 inventory of Dr. Brezina (" Year-Book of the Royal and 

 Imperial Geological Institute," 1885, p. 151), this coliec- 



