( 



THE NATURALIST 



FOR 1910. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM. 



I'^rom the Report of the Manchester Museum recently- 

 issued, it would seem that serious changes have taken place 

 there : changes of such a nature that it is feared must 

 result in this institution losing its reputation as one of the 

 best organised and best equipped of our provincial museums. 

 Under the excellent administration of Dr. Hoyle the museum 

 flourished, and was generally considered to be a model natural 

 history museum, arranged most conveniently for the student, 

 and most attractively for the ordinary visitor. A year ago. 

 however. Dr. Hoyle was selected as the Director of the new 

 National Museum of Wales, and he severed his connection with 

 an institution that for twenty years had received the benefit 

 of his knowledge and experience in museum matters. After 

 waiting nearly a year, during which the museum was nominally 

 under the charge of University Professors already overburdened 

 with work, but was, to all intents and purposes, without a 

 head, an advertisement appeared. 



AND A ' KEEPER.' 



In this, applications are invited for the post of — not Director, 

 as Dr. Hoyle was ; not even Curator, but ' Keeper ' — the sort 

 of individual one is familiar with in menageries ! It also seems 

 that ' preference will be given to candidates of not more than 

 thirty years of age, who are University Graduates in Natural 

 Histor}' subjects.' The successful candidate will also work 

 under the supervision of three professors at the University. 

 In view of the paltry salary that is offered, however, the age 

 limit might have been omitted from the conditions, as surely no 

 one above the age of thirty, who has had any scientific training 

 whatever, would take the post for the sake of the stipend. 

 The people of Wales gave their Director, as a start, nearly 

 four times the salary that his successor at Manchester will 

 ' enjoy." No experience whatever in museum work is apparently 

 required from the new ' keeper ' ; the age limit and other 

 ' qualilications ' necessarily preclude anyone with even a fair 



1910 Jan. 1. ■"■ 



