128 EEPOHT— 1887. 



indicate on the labels those specimens which have been figured. The 

 Elgin Museum indicates geographical distribution by a system of tinted 

 labels. At the Queen's College Museum, Cork, the minerals are mounted 

 on thick wooden blocks, painted white and with the front upper edge 

 bevelled to receive the label. 



The best museums are not now content with labelling the specimens, 

 but place also with each group printed tablets describing in popular lan- 

 guage the generic or family characters, so that they become museums and 

 libraries combined, and a student may get at once almost all the infor- 

 mation he needs. 



The Nottingham and Manchester Museums have introduced an effec- 

 tive style of large-type labelling, the letters being punched out of white 

 cardboard and glued upon a black ground. 



It is important to consider the amount of description or information 

 which can be got upon a label without overloading it. The more the 

 better, so that the type is clear and not too crowded, and the label not 

 too large. 



32. Libraries. — Nearly half of the rate- supported museums ai-e at- 

 tached to free libraries and use the books there provided. A good many 

 other museums are attached to colleges, schools, and institutions which 

 possess libraries. But where there is no such accommodation, a library 

 of reference on the spot is absolutely essential to every active museum. 

 About sixty museums report that they possess such libraries, varying in 

 number of volumes from 10 to 10,000 ; but only a few of them appear 

 to be adding annuallj to their contents, and many of these volumes are 

 bound Reports of various societies, which though valuable are not 

 the most available sources of information for a working curator. A good 

 museum should have at least 500 volumes of the best standard works 

 of reference on all branches of zoology, geology, botany, and archaeo- 

 logy- 



33. Visitors. — There are few museums in the country of any value 

 from which visitors are entirely excluded, but if they can only be seen by 

 special application their value to the public is greatly restricted. 



Some of the smallest museums are not visited by more than two or 

 three persons in the course of a week. About twenty-five museums 

 admit that their visitors do not exceed thirty per week. About fifty 

 record them at 500 and upwards. Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Salford 

 give their weekly average as 7,000. Where all visitors pay for 

 admission, even if it be only one penny, the numbers never exceed 500 

 weekly, and rarely reach half that number, unless there be public 

 gardens or other attractions included. Art museums with art galleries 

 are largely attended, but the pictures are the great attraction. The 

 Birmingham Art Gallery has reached an average of over 20,000 for some 

 weeks in succession. Some museums are open free on certain days in 

 the week and make a charge on the other days. The charge rarely 

 exceeds sixpence each for admission to a museum only. About a dozen 

 museums, several of them large ones, state that no record of visitors is 

 kept, and that they are unable to estimate the numbers. Various 

 methods are used for recording or estimating the weekly attendance. 

 The most efficient is the automatically recording turnstile, which costs 

 however about 50Z., and does not appear to be in use at more than twenty 

 museums throughout the country. The larger museums which are 

 without turnstiles employ some person either at irregular intervals, or 



