88 Notes and Comments. 
cleaning, rent, rates, taxes, insurance, interest on sinking fund, 
and the supervision that would be essential in view of the 
preservation of the specimens, would leave the actual saving 
so small, that the actual loss, from the point of view of the 
public, would be greater than the amount gained by closing 
down. 
PUBLIC BENEFACTORS. 
From the National Museums down to the smallest provincial 
collection it is, of course, a fact that many of the most valuable 
specimens are gifts made by one or other of our public bene- 
factors. Now and again an entire building and its contents 
are presented to the people—a number of such instances might 
be quoted. In these cases especially the cost of the necessary 
supervision is small. If museums are closed it is not likely 
to encourage generosity of this sort, as 1f valuable collections 
are to remain under lock and key they are better in the hands 
of private individuals. 
PUNCH. 
Punch has a full-page cartoon on the subject in its issue of 
February 9th; we regret we are not permitted to reproduce it. 
Two wine-filled Philistines in ‘ boiled shirts’ have just dined 
at a fashionable hotel. They are enjoying liqueurs and big 
cigars; the empty champagne bottle is still on the ice; 
‘ fashionable ’ ladies are in the distance. It is called “ Economy 
in Luxuries.’ First Philistine: ‘ I’m all with the Government 
over this closing of museums. I never touch ’em myself.’ 
Second Philistine: ‘Same here. Waiter get me a couple of 
stalls for the Frivolity.’ In the same issue the editor has some 
verses on ‘ Intellectual Retrenchment. [The annual expenses 
that will be saved by the closing of the London Museums 
and Galleries amount to about one-fifth of the public money 
spent on the salaries of Members of Parliament].’ The closing 
lines read :— 
“And when her children whom the seas have sent her 
Come to the Motherland to fight the war, 
And claim their common heritage to enter 
The gate of Dreams, to that enchanted store, 
To other palaces we'll ask them in, 
To purer joys ot ‘* movies’ and of gin! 
But let us still keep open our collection 
Of curiosities and quaint antiques, 
Under immediate Cabinet direction— 
The finest specimens of talking freaks, 
Who constitute our most superb Museum, 
Judged by the salaries with which we fee ’em.’ 

Naturalist, 
