NATURE 
401 

THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1871 


BOTANICAL MUSEUMS 
ee keeping up at the public expense of two great 
rival National Botanical Establishments, the one 
in London the other at Kew, in a state of continual com- 
petition with, instead of aid to, each other, whilst a third 
independent one, also national, may occasionally come 
into collision with one of them, seems to be a waste of 
public money, without any advantage to science or to the 
public, and attended with many inconveniences. 
At the same time two great Botanical Museums and 
Herbaria, the one in connection with the Natural History 
Museum in London, the other with the Botanical Gardens 
at Kew, working in harmony with each other, but for 
different purposes, and separated by a clear line of 
demarcation from the Economic Museums of South 
Kensington, would always be productive of great benefit 
to science and gratification to the public. 
The main purposes of a Botanical Museum and 
Herbarium may be said to be threefold—the Study of 
plants, their Comparison, and their Exhibition ; the first 
purely scientific; the second sometimes scientific, some- 
times popular, the third chiefly popular. For the first, 
Kew affords incomparable advantages, the second and 
third would probably be best promoted in town, pro- 
vided always that the two establishments work in perfect 
harmony, with unity of plan, both in general arrangements 
and in matters of detail. 
1. For the close Study of plants,—the only sound 
foundation upon which the science of Botany can be use- 
fully established,—for their accurate determination and 
practical classification, the requisites are: that the 
herbarium should be as rich as possible not only as to 
genera and species, but as to variations of all sorts and 
repetitions of the same form from different localities and 
stations ; that the herbarium should bea single one, the 
geographical arrangement being kept in subservience to 
the scientific classification, and without any detached 
smaller herbaria, except such definite historical ones as 
only require occasional reference like the books of a 
library ; that there should be good accommodation for the 
sorting of unnamed collections and fresh arrivals, ample 
means for the dissection and examination of specimens 
not cnly by the staff of the establishment, but also 
by scientific botanists in general, who, under special regu- 
lations, are allowed to work in the herbarium, and store- 
rooms for duplicates required for exchanges, &c.; that 
there should be in the same suite of rooms as the her- 
barium a botanical library, as complete as possible, and 
aseries of drawings of plants, also as complete as possible ; 
that the herbarium should be in close connection with the 
national collection of living plants ; and that it should be 
under the keepership of a resident scientific botanist, with 
the requisite staff of scientific assistants. All these essen- 
tials are at present afforded by the Herbarium at Kew, in 
a degree far beyond what can be met with in any other 
establishment at home or abroad. 
2. The Comparison of plants—their practical and 
rapid determination without dissection, or the obtaining a 
general idea of natural groups from the Order down to 
VOL, III. 
the Species, as required by the general naturalist, by the 
follower of sciences in immediate connection with botany, 
especially the paleeontologist, or by the mere amateur— 
demands avery different herbarium and museum from that 
of the working establishment. It should consist of ac- 
curately named select specimens, representative of as 
many species or well-marked varieties as possible, without 
duplicates in the same collection. It might be advanta- 
geously divided into two separate collections, one a general 
typical one, the other geographical. Separate collections 
also of leaves and of fruits, all accurately named, and so 
arranged as to enable them to be rapidly glanced over, 
would be most useful to the palzontologist. Such a 
museum would require no space for the sorting and 
determining of unnamed collections, nor for the storing of 
duplicates, and no provision for the dissection of specimens 
except for the personal use of the keeper and his assis- 
tants, being supplied only with such tables or other 
appliances for consultation as are usually required in 
a library. Its library should be extensive, but select 
rather than complete, and should include various palzeon- 
tological and other works on kindred sciences, not required 
in the working herbarium. It should be in near connec- 
tion with the National Museums for kindred sciences, 
especially with other palzontological collections. The 
keeper should be a scientific geologist, as well as botanist, 
and would require probably but one scientific assistant. 
3. The Exhibition of plants, or rather of botanical speci- 
mens, is for the purpose of exciting the interest and 
gratifying the curiosity of the general public, and for this 
a herbarium, strictly so-called, is of no use—the public 
would never look beyond the outside of the cases. It re- 
quires the display in glass cases of such selected specimens 
of plants or their parts, accompanied by explanatory notes 
and diagrams, as may give at a cursory glance some idea 
of the characteristic features of the principal groups of 
plants ; and to these might be usefully added a few speci- 
mens remarkable only for their beauty or singularity, for 
the purpose of attracting the eye, and riveting the atten- 
tion of the observers. As these specimens, when once 
placed, require no further handling, and no care beyond 
the inspection of an ordinary assistant, and as the objects 
of visitors to such a Museum would be much promoted 
by a ready connection with the public Museums in other 
branches of natural history, it would seem highly advan- 
tageous that it should be attached to the herbarium for 
comparison, and form part of the London Botanical 
Museum, in close proximity to the National Museums of 
Zoology and Geology. 
We have now no Museum in any degree adequate to 
these two purposes of Comparison and Exhibition, but 
were the two national collections of the British Museum 
and Kew combined, all unnamed plants, duplicates, and 
specimens of interest only to the scientific botanist, re- 
moved to Kew, and in return, from the immense mass of 
materials there accumulated, the London herbaria com- 
pleted by accurately-named representative specimens, 
there would result collections richer in species and far 
more useful than any actual Continental ones ; and as 
science advances and materials increase, these collections 
would be constantly kept up to the mark by named speci- 
mens from Kew, whilst their scientific arrangement and 
application to use could not be under a direction better 
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