NATURE 381 

THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1871 


NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS 
HE notes upon Natural History Societies which have 
already appeared in these columns * would be very 
incomplete unless some reference were made in connection 
with them to the subject of local Museums. We would 
by no means have it inferred that a Museum should be 
looked upon as an essential adjunct to every local society ; 
nor would we urge upon any such body the formation of 
a Museum, unless the society was in a position to warrant 
the supposition that, if once started, there would be every 
probability that it would be kept up; but, at the same 
time it must be admitted that a well-arranged collection 
of objects in connection with the more important of our 
Field-clubs, especially such as are far from London or 
some other centre, would be extremely useful. 
But, to be of any service at all to working naturalists, a 
local Museum must be a very different sort of thing from the 
Museums with which those who have visited country towns 
are familiar. Of course, no reference is intended to such 
collections as those at Liverpool or Manchester ; but to 
those smaller ones which might be made very useful, but 
are at present practically useless, of which that at Canter- 
bury may be taken as a fair type. Here the jumble of 
curiosities and objects of natural history is (or was, when 
we visited it in 1867) sufficiently remarkable; and the 
want of arrangement yet more striking. Ancient pottery 
and various implements of savage warfare, pieces of the 
Royal George, and samples of the meaningless curiosities 
which are brought home by travellers to their friends and 
relations, and are often got rid of by the said friends and 
relations on the first opportunity—these are present in full 
force. There are also drawers of foreign insects, un- 
named, and more or less damaged ; some stuffed birds; 
a good many fossils, the labels of many of which are mis- 
placed ; a small collection of dried plants, rapidly suc- 
cumbing to the ravages of insects; and various other 
objects. This is, as far as we can judge from experience, 
a fair example of a country Museum, certainly by no 
means the worst which we might have selected. 
Such a state of things as this may be contrasted with 
the following description of what provincial Museums 
ought to be, which we extract from Dr. Hooker’s Address 
to the British Association in 1868 :—“ Each should con- 
tain a connected series of specimens, illustrating the 
principal and some of the lesser divisions of the animal 
and vegetable kingdom, so disposed in well-lighted cases, 
that an inquiring observer might learn therefrom the 
principles upon which animals and plants are classified, 
the relations of their organs to one another, and to those of 
their allies, the functions of those organs, and other matters 
relating to their habits, uses, and place in the economy of 
Nature. Such an arrangement has not been carried out 
in any Museum known to me, though partially attained in 
that at Ipswich ; it requires some space, many pictorial 
illustrations, magnified views of the smaller organs and 
their structure, and copious legible descriptive labels, and 
it should not contain a single specimen more than is 
wanted. The other requiiements of a provincial museum 
* See Naturg, vol. ii p 49, vol. iii. p. 161. 
VOL, III. 

are, complete collections of the plants and animals of the 
province, which should be kept entirely apart from the 
instructional series, and from everything else.” 
One of the most hopeful experiments in connection 
with the establishment of a local Museum, is that which 
has just been set on foot at Folkestone by the Natural 
History Society of that place. There has for several 
years been a Museum at Folkestone, although visitors 
to the town may not have been aware of it ; the manage- 
ment, or mismanagement, of it was vested in a com- 
mittee annually elected from the town council for that 
purpose ; and until lately admission could only be ob- 
tained by an order from one of these functionaries. The 
Museum, when we visited it in 1867, contained a very 
valuable collection of fossils, chiefly local, including a 
fine set from the unique Junction Bed of Folkestone ; a 
few birds and fishes, and one or two other objects, the 
whole thickly covered with dust, and in a disgraceful 
state of neglect. In 1868 the Committee of the Natural 
History Society offered to take charge of it, on condition 
that they might have the use of the room for meetings, 
&c., and this offer was accepted by the Town Council, 
subject to the agreement of the Committee to provide 
glass cases for the objects at their own expense. This 
they very properly refused to do, and matters remained 
thus until the election of a fresh Council, when the Society 
again applied. The Museum was ultimately placed in 
the charge of the Society, the Town Council providing 
fittings to the amount of fifty pounds, and an annual pay- 
ment of ten pounds towards expenses. The objects were 
at once arranged and named, and the Museum was 
formally reopened on the 4th of last October. It is now 
opened to the public twice a week, the secretary, Mr. 
Ullyett, to whose exertions the improved state of affairs 
is mainly owing, being in attendance to give information 
if required. The meetings of the Society are held in the 
Museum. The aim of the Society is to make a complete 
local collection, as well as a type collection, on the plan 
suggested by Dr. Hooker as above quoted ; and to this 
contributions are solicited. A library for reference is 
also in course of formation. 
We have entered thus into detail because the history of 
the Folkestone Museum is by no means uninstructive, 
showing as it does how readily such local collections are 
allowed to become utterly useless ; and how, in restoring 
such Museums to the use of the public, a local society is 
doing a good work which only such a body could perform 
the remonstrances of mere individuals being powerless in 
such matters. We should be glad if other Field-clubs 
having a Museum within the radius of their operations, 
would exert themselves in the same way ; the East Kent 
Natural History Society, for example, might well reorganise 
the Canterbury Museum ; and examples might easily be 
multiplied. 
A Museum may be looked upon as especially useful in 
a school society ; and we have already referred* to that 
existing at Marlborough as presenting very satisfactory 
features. Mr. Preston, who has worked so hard on be- 
half of this society, is anxious to establish a typical collec- 
tion in addition to the British one, which has already 
attained considerable proportions. The series of botanical 
diagrams lately prepared for the Science and Art Depart- 
* NaTuRE, vol. ii. p. 249. 
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