On the Educational Uses of Museums. 349 
“Presented by Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so ;” the object of the present- 
ation having been either to cherish a glow of generous self-satis- 
faction in the bosom of the donor, or to get rid—under the sem- 
blance of doing a good action—of rubbish that had once been 
prized, but latterly had stood in the way. Curiosities from the 
South Seas, relics worthless in themselves, deriving their interest 
from association with persons or localities, a few badly stuffed 
quadrupeds, rather more birds, a stuffed snake, a skinned alligator, 
part of an Egyptian mummy, Indian gods, a case or two of shells, 
the bivalves usually single and the univalves decorticated, a sea 
urchin without its spines, a few common corals, the fruit of a 
double cocoa-nut, some mixed antiquities, partly local, partly 
Etruscan, partly Roman and Egyptian, and a case of minerals 
and miscellaneous fossils,—such is the inventory and about the 
scientific order of their contents. I have a vivid remembrance of 
going through the Cheetham collection at Manchester, and hear- 
Ing the explanation of its contents by one of the boys on the 
foundation, when I was of small size myself. The peculiar 
classification that mystified sightseers thirty years ago is in too 
many instances still maintained. 
There are, however, admirable exceptions to this censure. 
There are local collections arranged with skill and judgment in 
several of our county towns, and which at a glance tell us of the 
neighborhood and activity of a few guiding and enlightened men 
of Science. It would be invidious to cite examples, and yet the 
principles, in each case distinct, adopted in the arrangement of 
those of’ Ipswich and Belfast ought especially to be noticed. In 
the former, thanks to the advice and activity of Professor Hens- 
low, the specimens of various kinds, whether antiquarian, natural 
history, or industrial, are so arranged as to convey distict notions 
of Principles, practice, or history. In the Belfast Museum the 
eminent naturalists and antiquarians who have given celebrity to 
their town have made its contents at a glance explanatory of the 
geology, zoology, botany, and ancient history of the locality and 
heighboring province. ‘The museums of Manchester, York, Scar- 
Scientific and literary instruction in the provinces greater than 
they are. In very few instances do we find the collections freely 
pen to the public. In most cases they are unassisted by local or 
Corporate funds, and dependent entirely upon the subscriptions of 
Ptivate individuals. Indeed, any attempt to favor the establish- 
