'r^i»*\*iinfii^ 



JUN24 1920 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



MUSEUMS AND LEARNING^ 



In The Ahiseimis Journal for May, Dr. F. A. Bather has a 

 timely essay on ' Museums and the Advancement of Learning.' 

 In the February number of that journal he had already re- 

 counted numerous forms of help given to the nation at war by 

 its national museum. His object in the present article is to 

 show that all such forms of economic aid are rendered possible 

 only by the accumulation and arrangement of reference 

 collections. Indeed he claims that the systematic study and 

 classification, which is peculiarly the task of the museum man, 

 is the ultimate basis of all the natural sciences and of many 

 other branches of learning. From the admirable paper we 

 extract the following :— ' The first business of the museum is 

 to afford a safe and permanent home for collections of material 

 objects. These may be acquired through others, or the museum 

 may with advantage send out its own collectors. That is a 

 question of administration : the essential duty of the museum 

 official is the preservation of the specimens entrusted to him.' 



LABELLING. 



The next business is to see that every specimen is furnished 

 with an indication of its original locality, mode of occurrence, 

 and any historical facts concerning it. Many ways of doing 

 this are familiar to curators. Then the specimens must be 

 arranged in such a manner as to be readily accessible for 

 reference by accredited students. To accomplish this is 

 required, first, a logical scheme of classification. This scheme 

 must be practicable for the curator, who is inevitably governed 

 by the mode of preservation of his specimens {e.g., in spirit, or 

 skins, or fossils). On the other hand it must be in relation 

 with the scheme adopted by the majority of students- -what 

 they would admit as a ' scientific ' classification. 



CLASSIFICATION, 



The curator therefore must be familiar with scientific studies, 

 and he must have such knowledge as will enable him to perform 

 the necessary preliminaries of identifying and sorting. Since 

 no museum in the world has a staff large enough to permit of 

 its officials having the detailed knowledge required, every 

 museum in greater or less degree is obliged to call in the aid 

 of specialists. The modes of obtaining this outside help are 

 various, but there is no need here to reveal the secrets of 

 diplomacy. However they be persuaded, such namers and 

 sorters are for the nonce museum workers. The official 

 curator has to gather up and apply the results of their labours. 



CATALOGUES. 



Next, for the museum to be of its full value to the scientific 

 public, especially to workers in other countries, it is necessary 



1918 June 1. 



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