TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 127 



ception of di\-ision b of the same class, so that the whole a and b, being separated 

 only by the partition -wall at the back of the glazed cases, -which will be pierced by 

 frequent doors, will practically form but one collection. In these work-rooms, 

 moreover, should be assembled together the whole of the specimens relating to the 

 particular class to which they are devoted. In the British Museum, according to 

 the present system, the mounted specimens are in one room, the skins in a second, 

 the skeletons in a third, and the spirit-preparations in a fourth. So that, in order 

 to make a complete examination of a small mammal, for instance, it may be neces- 

 sary to go to four or five different parts of the building, ranging from the galleries 

 to the cellars, and from the extreme north-east corner of the former to the furthest 

 south-west corner of the latter. In the new National Museum of Natural History, 

 it is to be hoped, this inconvenience will be remedied by the entire amalgamation 

 of the various collections of skins, mounted specimens, spirit-specimens, and skele- 

 tons into one uniform series. Besides the gi-eater convenience of this mode of 

 arrangement, another obvious advantage will be that the future student will be 

 induced to devote his attention rather to the whole structm-e of the organism than 

 to confine it to one particular part. If bird-cabinets were accompanied by skele- 

 tons and corresponding specimens in spirits, there can be no doubt that a much 

 more perfect system of ornithology than any that we have yet attained to would be 

 quickly arrived at. Our new National Museum must take the lead in this great 

 reform, and set an example to other collections. In the same waj^, as every natu- 

 ralist -nail allow, our conchological brethren will lose nothing by having the soft 

 bodies of the mollusca close at hand to aid them in their investigations on the form 

 of the external shell. There may be, of com'se, some exceptional cases in which 

 it will be practically impossible to adopt this course ; but, as a general rule, the 



Erinciple should be insisted upon that every specimen, of whatever nature it may 

 e, should be located in the rooms devoted to the reception of the class to which it 

 belongs, and should be placed as nearly as possible in immediate apposition to its 

 nearest natural allies. 



To carry out these principles to their legitimate issue, I do not hesitate to sup- 

 port the view put forward by Prof Flower and other naturalists, that the palseon- 

 tological department of the British Museum, as at present constituted, ought to be 

 totally abolished, and its contents distributed amongst the zoological and botanical 

 collections, so that extinct forms may be studied in association with their nearest 

 living representatives. The arguments in favour of this plan are, I think, unas- 

 sailable ; and although some little difliculties may be met with in carrying it out, 

 there are none, in my opinion, that may not be overcome by judicious treatment. 

 There is no doubt, I believe, that the progress of palreontology and palseophytology 

 has been much retarded by the neglect of the students of the extinct forms of animal 

 and vegetable life to make themselves sufiiciently acquainted with the structure of 

 the corresponding foinns now in existence. So long as fossils were looked upon 

 as the products of numerous successive and independent creations, there might 

 have been some excuse for this mode of dealing with them ; but now that we 

 regard animated nature, past, present, and future, as one and indivisible, now that 

 we acknowledge the stream of life, since its first appearance on this planet, to have 

 been unbroken and contimious, let us exhibit its products, whether existing or ex- 

 tinct, in one continuous and imbroken series. The structure of an extinct organism 

 can only be coiTectly understood after study of the nearest allies at present in ex- 

 istence. The best palaeontologist must be he that has deduced his knowledge of 

 extinct beings from comparison of their remains with the corresponding parts of 

 those now alive. Those who appreciate these truths will not fail to allow that 

 the proposed amalgamation of the paljeontological collection with the general series 

 in the new Museum of Natural History will be a decided step in advance, and one 

 imperatively called for in the present state of natm-al science. 



I have now, I think, touched upon some of the principal points on which changes 

 are required in our present system of treatment of the collections of natural history 

 belonging to the nation. It would be easy to go into further particrdars in which 

 reforms are needed. Especially I might call attention to the inadequacy in point 

 of numljers of the present staff' of oificers in some of the natural-history depart- 

 ments of the British Museum, the insufficiency of the yearly sum allowed for ac- 



