120 REPORT— 1887. 



often surrounded by one or two tiers of galleries, each affording as mncli 

 wall space and about half as much floor space as the hall itself. One 

 objection to galleries is that they obstruct the light on the walls, and the 

 remedy for this is to pierce the walls with windows, and to place the cases 

 at right angles to the wall instead of flat against it. In the small-room 

 system the principal rooms vaiy in size from about 30x17 to about 

 60 X 25. In the large-hall system the principal halls run from about 

 60 X 80 to about 250 x 70. A first-class museum must have at least 5,000 

 squai'e feet of floor space. The majority of these have from 5,000 to 

 10,000, a few have between 10,000 and 50,000, and the Edinburgh Museum 

 of Science and Art provides 100,000 square feet, including the galleries. 



Second-class museums have generally from 2,500 to 5,000 feet of 

 superficial area, third-class from 1,000 to 2,000, and fourth-class from 

 250 to 750. 



For the lighting of the rooms by day a top-light is generally preferred 

 where it can be got, but in buildings of more than one storey side lights 

 are inevitable on the lower floors. In a few modern museums, built in 

 ornate Gothic style, the windows come within a few feet of the ground, and 

 have their heads filled with heavy tracery, thus supplying light under the 

 worst possible conditions. There can scarcely be too much light in a 

 museum room, especially in the upper part, but it is desirable to exclude 

 direct sunshine, as it rapidly destroys the colours of organic objects. Side 

 windows should, therefore, be placed in north walls wherever this is 

 practicable. 



For lighting by night, gas is of course the usual means. Several 

 museums have adopted the Wenham light, and several of the larger ones 

 are lighted by electricity, as at Birmingham, Leeds, and Brighton. There 

 can be no doubt that the fumes of open gaslights are injurious to many 

 objects. ' Sun-lights ' get rid of the fumes, but being near to the ceiling, 

 and thus as far as possible from the cases, the waste of light is very large. 

 The Wenham light can be suspended at any distance from the ceiling, and 

 the fumes are conducted away, but this burner is liable to be blown out 

 or much disturbed by a down draft, and moreover the light is too concen- 

 trated, and casts black shadows. Doubtless, for museum purposes, the 

 electric incandescent light is the best, but there is some hope that the new 

 incandescent gas-light may prove to be a valuable substitute. 



For warming museums a number of different systems are in use, viz., 

 open fires, coal and gas stoves of various designs, hot air, and hot water. 

 For small rooms open fires have some advantages, particularly in securing 

 ventilation. Gas stoves are now made to condense the whole products of 

 combustion ; thus they require no chimney, and are useful auxiliaries. Hot- 

 water pipes are too often hidden under cases and desks, and their heating 

 power minimised. It may be good for the cases to be kept warm and dry, 

 but extra power must be provided if the air of the room is also to be 

 efiiciently warmed. Coils of hot-water pipes standing out in the rooms 

 away from the walls are as effective as anything. 



The ventilation of rooms in which many persons congregate is often 

 very troublesome. Tobin ventilators are good, but quite useless unless a 

 rapid egress of air from the room is first secured, and many methods which 

 are supposed to secure this fail in pi'actice. In lighting a museum either 

 by day or night it is most important to arrange the incidence of the 

 light so that the source of it shall not be reflected from the glazed cases to 

 the eyes of the visitors. 



