TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 77 



useful purposes, by exposure to light, and tliat both the skins and bones of animals 

 are fouud to be much more susceptible of nieasuremiMit and compiivison in an uu- 

 stuffed or unmounted state, and it will be at once apparent why almost all scientific 

 zoologists have adopted for their own collections the simpler and more advantageous 

 plan of keeping their specimens in boxes or in drawers, devoted each to a family, 

 a genus, or a section of a genus, as each individual case may require. 



Thus preserved and thus arranged, the most perfect and the most useful collec- 

 tion that the student could desire woidd occupy comparatively a small space, and 

 by no means require large and lofty halls for its reception. As it is desirable that 

 each large group should be kept in a separate room, and as wall-space is what is 

 chiefly required for the reception of the drawers or boxes, rooms like those of an 

 ordinary dwelling-house would be best fitted for the accommodation of such a col- 

 lection and of the students by whom it would be consulted — one gTeat advantage 

 of this plan being that students would be uninterrupted by the ignorant curiosity 

 of the ruder class of general visitors, and not liable to interference from scientific 

 rivals. 



There are other considerations also which should be taken into account in esti- 

 mating the advantages of a collection thus preserved and thus arranged. A 

 particular value is attached to such specimens as have been studied and described 

 by zoologists, as affording the certain means of identifying the animals on which 

 their observations were made. Such specimens ought especially to be preserved 

 in such a way as to be least liable to injury from exposure to light, dust, or other 

 extraneous causes of deterioration ; and this is best done by keeping them in a 

 state least exposed to these destructive influences, instead of in the open cases of 

 a public and necessarily strongly lighted gallery. This is p.articularly the case with 

 animals, or parts of animals, preserved in spirits, which ought to be kept in dark 

 closets, or cases with opaque fronts, in cool rooms, as the light very soon destroys 

 their colour, and the liglit and warmth cause the spirits to rapidly evaporate. 



In imitating the French plan, tlie fact was overlooked that the French, and most 

 Continental collections, are especially made for the use of scientific students, the 

 pupils of the Professor, and not, as om- National and local collections are, for 

 the use of the public at large, including the students, who form a very small part 

 of the visitors. 



Again, the amount of saving thus effected in the cost of stuiHng and mounting 

 is well worthy of serious consideration, especially when we take into account that 

 this stuffing and moimting, however agreeable to the eye, is made at the cost of 

 rendering the specimens thus operated upon less available for scientific use. 



All these arguments go to prove that, for the purposes of scientific study, the most 

 complete collection that could possibly be formed would be best kept in cabinets 

 or boxes from which light and dust would be excluded, in rooms especially devoted 

 to the purpose, and not in galleries open to the general public, and that such an 

 arrangement woidd combine the greatest advantage to the student and the most 

 complete preservation of the specimens with great economy of expense. 



This being done, it is easy to devise the plan of a museum which shaU be the 

 most interesting and instructive to general visitors, and one from which, however 

 short may be their stay, or however casual their inspection, they can hardly fail to 

 carry away some amount of valuable information. 



The larger animals, being of course more generally interesting, and easilv seen 

 and recognized, should be exhibited in the preserved state, and in situations 'where 

 they can be completely isolated. This is necessary also on account of their size, 

 which would not admit of their being grouped in the manner which I propose with 

 reference to the smaller specimens. 



The older museums were for the most part made up of a number of the square 

 glass-fronted boxes, each containing one, or sometimes a pair of specimens. This 

 method had some advantages, but many inconveniences — among others, that of 

 occupying too large an amount of room. But I cannot help thinking that when 

 this was given up for the French plan of attaching each specimen to a separate 

 stand, and marshalling them like soldiers on the shelves of a large open case, the 

 improvement was not so great as many suppose ; and this has become more and 

 more evident since the researches of travellers and collectors have so largely 



