124 itEPOET— 1887. 



have some distinct local collections ; in the remainder no distinction is 

 made. Only sixteen museums are reported to be entirely or chiefly de- 

 voted to local collections. At Hereford and at Dumfries no foreign 

 specimen is admitted, but in most of these sixteen there are foreign types 

 or small foreign collections. 



That provincial museums should chiefly devote themselves to the 

 thorough and complete working out of the productions of their own dis- 

 tricts is now the opinion of the great majority of competent authorities, 

 and the same view is urged by the curators of many of the leading 

 museums, as Liverpool, Cambridge, Bristol, Brighton, Exeter, &c. In 

 no single instance has this yet been accomplished. To do it in a satis- 

 factory manner would task to the utmost the resources of any average 

 first-class museum ; but the interest, the novelty, and the immense 

 scientific and social value of such work would much better repay the 

 cost and labour than the fragmentary and often aimless collections which 

 are now gathered from all quarters of the globe. 



The leading character of such local collections as now exist depends 

 partly on the locality and partly on the favourite pursuits of the curator 

 or of the amateurs of the district. In some places the local geology is 

 well worked up while the zoology is neglected, or the archiBology and 

 the shells may be looked after while there is no one to take much interest 

 in the geology, the botany, or the birds and insects. This is the conse- 

 quence of trusting to amateur collecting and of the want of a definite 

 ideal to work up to. 



To exhibit the local productions as completely as possible, showing 

 very distinctly what groups are not represented in the district, and to 

 supplement these collections by well-selected types of foreign species for 

 comparison and for carrying the observer's mind beyond the narrow 

 limits of his own country, carefully arranging these types so that com- 

 parison shall be easy — this seems to be the best which museums can do 

 in this direction. 



20. Educational Collections. — A number of museums report that their 

 collections are arranged throughout with an educational purpose. The 

 museums attached to some of the large provincial colleges are, however, 

 designed for the special illustration of certain text-books or certain 

 courses of lectures, and are therefore more definitely educational. Some 

 of the larger museums have prepared sets of specimens illustrating 

 diff'erent branches of science for lending to the surrounding schools, and 

 at Liverpool a system of small circulating museums has been established 

 with excellent results. At Leicester there is a useful osteological col- 

 lection, showing by colour on a series of skulls, &c., the various forms 

 assumed by the same bone in different animals. Truro is one of the few 

 of the smaller museums which possess a laboratoiy and theatre with 

 chemical and physical apparatus. 



21. Industrial and Technical Collections. — Only about thirty museums 

 appear to have given any attention to this department. Some of these 

 have provided collections illustrating the manufactures of the districts, 

 showing materials, processes, and results. Others have collected foreign 

 examples of the local manufactures, or choice designs of art-work for the 

 assistance of local workmen. At the Edinburgh Science and Art Museum 

 Industrial Art is made a leading feature. At Dublin a new building is 

 being erected especially for such collections. At the Queen's Park 

 Museum, Manchester, there is a general collection of substances used as 



