November 28, 1901] 



NA rURE 



91 



as a typical representative, are found to be almost entirely con- 

 verted by hydrolysis into two compounds : nearly 90 per cent. 

 of their nitrogen, or 84 per cent, of their actual weight, is 

 found as arginine (classes i and 2) and several per cent, of their 

 nitrogen as monamidovaleric acid (class 3), the nature of the 

 small remaining amount of product being as yet unknown. 

 Basing himself on the qualitative simplicity of these products 

 and the large preponderance of arginine, Kossel proposes, for 

 the purpose of classification, to regard arginine, or rather the 

 group from which it is derived, as the chemical nucleus of 

 the albumin molecule, from which all the albumins may be 

 derived by the addition of other groups. Increase in the com- 

 plexity of the structure of the albuminous molecule is rendered 

 evident by the appearance of a multiplicity of individual sub- 

 stances in classes 2, 3 and 4 lof the products of hydrolysis. 

 Thus sturin, a more complex protamine, yields only 58 per 

 cent, of arginine, together with 25 per cent, of two diamido- 

 acids (lysine and histidine, class 2), and a monamido-acid, the 

 relations by weight showing that in this case four molecules of 

 arginine are produced for one each of lysine and histidine. 



A means of passing gradually from the chemical structure of 

 these non-albuminous, ultimate products of hydrolysis back to 

 that of the mother-substances, the albumins themselves, is 

 afforded by the circumstance that the hydrolysis can be so 

 effected, especially by means of the various proteolytic enzymes, 

 that intermediate products, the albumoses and peptones, are 

 formed. These, although certainly simpler in structure than the 

 original albumins, still show the characteristics of the class, and 

 it is the knowledge of their composition that must form the 

 proximate object of research. For this purpose the intermediate 

 products obtained from the protamines, which are known as the 

 proloiies, afford the simplest material, and the results of these 

 researches will be eagerly awaited. 



A certain amount of progress has indeed already been made 

 in the e.xamination of the albumoses and peptones derived from 

 the more complex albumins, for it has been shown that certain 

 of the constituent groups of the original molecule are absent 

 from some of the albumoses derived from it, whilst present in 

 others, a proof that the molecule has been divided into dissimilar 

 groups. This is true, for instance, of the tyrosine- and indole- 

 forming groups of fibrin, which are present in protalbumose, 

 but absent from heteroalbumose. 



The highest degree of complexity among the albumins is 

 exhibited by the glucoproteids and the nucleoproteids, of the 

 decomposition products of which an illustration has already 

 been given. These appear to be compounds of albumins with 

 other — prosthetic — groups, such as the hexoses, hexosamines, 

 purine derivatives, ix.c., and even inorganic groups like phos- 

 phoric acid. 



In conclusion, it is pointed out that the old idea of albumin 

 as a substance of fixed and definite properties must be aban- 

 doned ; it must be recognised that the albumins form a group 

 comprising many substances which differ greatly in structure 

 and properties. In accordance with the general principle of 

 evolution, the aim of the investigator must be to find a chemical 

 system of albumins which, progressing from the simplest up to 

 the most complex member, shall reveal to us the true nature of 

 these mysterious substances. 



SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS OF MUSEUMS} 

 TT is my lot, as director of the Natural History Museum in 

 London, to have my attention very closely directed to the 

 question as to what a public museum should aim at, what should 

 be its objects, and how it should be organised for effecting them. 

 I am inclined to think that few people ever ask themselves why 

 we have museums, how ihey came to exist, and why public 

 funds are expended on them, both by municipalities and by the 

 State. 



The word " museum " is in itself a strange one, which has 

 acquired a special and restricted meaning. In Germany a club 

 for music and discussion of art and science, with the maintenance 

 of a library, and sometimes with a beer garden attached, is often 

 called a " museum," much as we call a club an .\thena;um. In 

 England and in France the word museum — by a process which 

 I cannot trace — has within the past two centuries become applied 



1 Abridgment of an address delivered at the opening of a new wing of 

 the Ipswich Museum on Novembers, by Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 

 president of the Museum. 



NO. 1674, VOL. 65I 



to what used to be called a " cabinet of curiosities (or rarities) 

 of art and nature." You will find that all our great museums, 

 and many local museums, owe their origin to such cabinets or 

 collections of rarities. Thus the British Museum originated 

 with the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, and the Ashmolean and 

 University Museums at Oxford had as their nucleus the collec- 

 tion of miscellaneous objects of interest formed by the Cornish 

 .antiquarian and naturalist Tradescant. These collections were 

 always, in the first instance, of the most miscellaneous kind. 

 An elephant's skull, a glove worn by Queen Elizabeth, a thunder- 

 bolt and a cannibal's spear are samples of the objects placed 

 in these collections side by side. When such " cabinet " or 

 " collection " of rarities attained to celebrity, its fortunate 

 possessor (in the eighteenth century) made a habit of bequeath- 

 ing it, or possibly selling it, to some public body, so that it 

 might be maintained for ever as a .show for the delight and in- 

 struction of future generations of men. That seems to be the 

 origin of public museums, and it goes on repeating itself even 

 at the present day. A collector gives his collections to a public 

 body, to a city Corporation, or to the State, or to a local Board, 

 or a Committee ; the charge is accepted, and another "museum " 

 is instituted. 



Whilst it is certainly ungrateful to look a gift horse in the 

 mouth, or to scrutinise too closely the collection bequeathed or 

 presented by an enthusiast, yet it is a fact that this kind of spas- 

 modic and unconsidered foundation of museums is inconvenient 

 at the present day. We have now had some experience of 

 museums, and a little reflection will show us what is the good 

 and what is the bad of these miscellaneous collections, and 

 what any public body should aim at when accepting or taking 

 charge of a museum. 



As distinguished from a library or a picture gallery, a 

 museum, as we understand the term at the present day, is a 

 repository in which are partly exhibited, partly stored, objects, 

 tangible things, which are neither books nor pictures, but are 

 actual relics of antiquity or samples of animal, vegetable or 

 mineral structure of such a nature as to extend or to illustrate 

 our knowledge of the history of man or of the natural world. 



It seems to me — if I may go at once to the point without 

 further preface — that a public museum, «-hether it be that be- 

 longing to a municipality such as ours here in Ipswich, or one 

 belonging to the State, such as the British Museum, should have 

 two distinct and recognised objects, the germ of which we can 

 trace in the old collectors' cabinets of rarities of nature and of 

 art. In the first place, such a museum must aim at collecting 

 and preserving for the study and information of all men, but 

 especially of those who live near it, the records of antiquity and 

 of natural history in the locality of which it is the centre. A 

 great part, even a half of the space of a museum building, 

 should not be occupied by exhibition cases, but contain cabinets 

 and cases in which precious things are preserved ready for the 

 study of those who are willing to give time and skill to their 

 study. But the second great object of a museum (present also 

 in the old collectors' minds) is to exhibit in the most perfect and 

 attractive way, in public show galleries, to all who choose to 

 come and see, the most interesting, beautiful and instructive 

 of the things in its possession, and especially to show such things 

 as will readily excite an interest in the study of archteology and 

 natural history amongst the inhabitants of the town or city in 

 which the museum is situated. 



There is a third use of museums, and the collections in them, 

 which ought, I think, to be very carefully separated from the 

 two I have just mentioned. A student of text-books, preparing 

 for examination and carefully pursuing his educational studies, 

 requires specimens to handle and to manipulate closely. A 

 collection suited for his purposes is quite different from the 

 exhibition-collection addressed to the larger public, and ought 

 never to be confused with it or with the record-collection of a 

 local museum. These strictly collegiate and technical collec- 

 tions ought to be placed in colleges and schools, and kept apart 

 from the more striking and generally interesting collections. 

 When the public is admitted to such students' collections a 

 great mistake is made. The ordinary man is bewildered and 

 we.aried by such minute details as are fit for the academic 

 student, and becomes so bored and exhausted that the word 

 " museum " has ever after an evil sound in his ears. You 

 cannot appeal artistically and effectively to the casual well- 

 meaning visitor to a museum if you show him endless rows of 

 obscure objects, which nevertheless have value for the special 

 student. My opinion is very [strong that these two kinds of 



