NATURE 
44t 


THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1871 


THE UTILISATION OF NATURAL HISTORY 
MUSEUMS FOR SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION 
IN GERMANY 
N the following notes we propose to consider the 
Natural History Museums in Germany, and to see 
to what extent and in what manner, indirect or direct, 
they are utilised for the scientific instruction or education 
of the people. These institutions are very numerous, 
there being one in nearly every larger German town, and 
even two or three in places like Vienna and Hamburg. 
Some comprise collections of zoological, anatomical, 
paleontological, botanical, and mineralogical objects, 
while others are limited to one or more of these branches; 
but whatever their contents may be, we do not recollect 
visiting one of these Museums in which the objects 
were left unnamed or unarranged. The majority are 
State establishments, under the direction of a single head, 
who is responsible to the Minister of Public Instruction. 
If the establishment is very extensive, the collections of 
the various branches are placed under more than one 
director, the administration and responsibilities being 
divided. Their development is [in some measure depen- 
dent on the direct assistance of the Government, but still 
more on the energy and capability of the director, inas- 
much as, of two Museums originally supported by the 
same grant of money, one has remained stationary for 
years, whilst the director of the other, making the best 
use of his independent position, has known how to raise 
the value of his Museum as a purely scientific or instruc- 
tive institution, thus establishing claims for additional assis- 
tance, which could not be neglected by the Government. 
We may divide the German Museums into—(1) Those 
founded with the intention of exhibiting objects of Natural 
History to the general public ; and (2) those established 
for educational purposes. 
There are not many of the former class. To it belong 
the Museums of the formerly independent “ Reichsstadte,” 
Hamburg, Bremen, and Frankfort-on-the-Main, one of the 
Vienna Museums, and the collections in Stuttgart and 
Darmstadt. There are others, like that in Mayence, but 
they have more the character of well-arranged local country 
museums. Although originally founded for the purpose 
of exhibiting curiosities, they soon took another position 
by receiving objects in which the general public takes a 
very limited interest (as, for instance, botanical, geological, 
or mineralogical specimens), and by systematically col- 
lecting materials for the purposes of purely scientific re- 
search. In several instances the scientific results were 
sufficiently important and extensive to form not only a 
nucleus but the sole subject-matter of distinct periodical 
works, such as the “ Annalen des Wiener Museums,” the 
“Museum Senckenbergianum,” the “ Abhandlungen des 
Hamburger Museums.” The Frankfort Museum became 
the head-quarters for the Zoology of North-eastern Africa ; 
Bremen possesses a unique collection of African birds, 
celebrated not only for the great number of standard 
specimens, but also for their beautiful state of preser- 
vation. In the Vienna Museum particular attention was 
paid to European fresh-water fishes ; and travellers like 
Natterer, Russeger, Kotschy, enriched it with collections 
VOL, III, 
so numerous that the Austrian Naturalists have been en- 
gaged in their examination till within a very recent period. 
The Stuttgart and Darmstadt Museums are now cele- 
brated for their valuable collections of South-German 
fossils, worked out by G. von Jager, Kaup, and others. 
In the Museums of this class great attention is paid to 
the local Flora and Fauna, recent and extinct. Thus the 
Stuttgart collection may be mentioned as a model of 
what a Museum ought to be; besides a most complete 
series of the plants and fossils, it contains a collection of 
the animals of Suabia in all stages of growth and deve- 
lopment and of variation, in a perfect state of preser- 
vation, and particularly attractive from the life-like manner 
in which the specimens are mounted. 
It was the natural consequence of the growth of a 
Museum, especially in the smaller of the towns mentioned, 
that it became a conspicuous object ; that, although opened 
to the general public on certain hours of Sunday only, 
the crowds of visitors increased; that the interest in 
it spread into wider circles; and that, more or less 
in connection with it, societies were formed whose aim was 
the distribution of knowledge, and which were accessible 
to all. Although no great benefit is individually derived 
by the majority of the members of such societies from 
their rather superficial connection with Science, yet we 
ought to remember that even the fragments of knowledge 
picked up by them have the effect of expanding their 
ideas. A community of feeling grows up between the 
professed naturalist and the uninitiated, by which the 
former is encouraged in his further pursuits, and induced 
to consult in his labours and communications the require- 
ments dnd understanding of the latter. Some of the 
German Governments, especially the Austrian, have also 
acknowledged the value of such societies by granting them 
an annual subsidy. 
One out of several instances may be brought forward 
jn evidence of the correctness of the above remarks, viz. 
the example of the town of Frankfort, to which many 
years ago a small miscellaneous collection and library was 
bequeathed, under the name of “ Museum Senckenber- 
gianum.” By the able management and disinterestedness 
of Dr. Eduard Riippell, it grew into a considerable zoolo- 
gical collection, of which the inhabitants were justly proud. 
An interest in Natural History being awakened, a body of 
men, chiefly wealthy merchants, formed themselves into a 
society, founding a Zoological Garden, and in connection 
with it a monthly periodical (noticed in one of our previous 
numbers), in which, at first, only objects of local interest 
were discussed, but which now has among its contributors 
eminent naturalists as well as amateurs, and does more 
for the distribution of sound natural history knowledge 
among the general German public than all the other scien- 
tific periodicals put together. 
While thus we fully acknowledge the value of the 
Museums of this class as offering materials for really 
scientific original research, and as creating and maintain- 
ing an interest in Science among the general public, we 
understand that they are not utilised in a direct manner 
for methodical scientific instruction. Although Natural 
History is taught in nearly all the so-called Gymnasiums 
and Polytechnic Schools, the time devoted to it is limited, 
and those Museums are only visited at intervals by the 
classes under the guidance of teachers. 
Z 
