18 EEPOKT — 1889. 



abode there, -while his research is being carried out, -with all the material 

 required at his hand at once, than to travel from place to place and pick 

 up piecemeal the information he requires, without opportunity of direct 

 comparison of specimens. 



I do not say that collections for special study, and even original 

 research, should not, under particular circumstances and limitations, be 

 formed at museums other than central national institutions, or that 

 nothing should be retained in provincial museums but what is of a directly 

 educational or elementary nature. A local collection, illustrating the 

 fauna and flora of the district, should be part of every such museum ; 

 and this may be carried to almost any amount of detail, and therefore in 

 many cases it would be very nnadvisable to exhibit the whole of it. A 

 selection of the most important objects may be shown under the con- 

 ditions described above, and the remainder carefully preserved in cabinets 

 for the study of specialists. 



It is also very desirable in all museums, in order that the exhibited 

 series should be as little disturbed as possible in arrangement, and be 

 always available for the purpose for which it is intended, that there should 

 be, for the use of teachers and students, a supplementary set of com- 

 mon objects, which, if injured, could be easily replaced. It must not be 

 foi'ffotten that the zealous investisjator and the conscientious curator 

 are often the direst antagonists : the one endeavours to get all the know- 

 ledge he can out of a specimen, regardless of its ultimate fate, and even 

 if his own eyes alone have the advantage of it ; the other is content if a 

 limited portion only is seen, provided that can be seen by everyone both 

 now and hereafter. 



Such, then, is the primary principle which ought to underlie the 

 arrangement of all museums — the distinct separation of the two objects 

 for which collections ai'e made ; the publicly exhibited collection being 

 never a store-room or magazine, but only such as the ordinary visitor can 

 understand and profit by, and the collection for students being so arranged 

 as to afibrd every facility for examination and research. The improvements 

 that can be made in detail in both departments are endless, and to enter 

 further into their consideration would lead me far beyond the limits of 

 this address. Happily, as I said before, the subject is receiving much 

 attention. 



I would willingly dwell longer upon it — indeed I feel that I have only 

 been able to touch slightly and superficially upon many questions of 

 practical interest, well worthy of more detailed consideration — but 

 time warns me that I must be bringing this discourse to a close, and I 

 have still said nothing in reference to subjects upon which you may expect 

 some words on this occasion. I mean those great problems concerning 

 the laws which regulate the evolution of organic beings, problems which 

 agitate the minds of all biologists of the present day, and the solution of 

 which is watched with keen interest by a far wider circle — a circle, in 



