94-2 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 415. 



naturally results in poor illumination beneath 

 portions of these, and the only way to do 

 away with such dark corners is by side win- 

 dows. The defects of overhead light are 

 shown in the Edinburgh Museum of Science 

 and Art, and in the Museum of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons, London, although the 

 same system is retained in a recent addition 

 in order to preserve uniformity of architec- 

 ture. 



The problems of ventilation and heating 

 are considered in various places and the palm 

 awarded to the Glasgow Museum and the Free 

 Public Museum of Liverpool, which. Dr. Meyer 

 emphatically declares, ' excel all other mu- 

 seums in the world in respect to the method of 

 heating and ventilating.' Curiously enough, 

 while these two institutions were under con- 

 struction practically at the same time, neither 

 was aware that the same system of ventilation 

 had been adopted by the other. In these two 

 museums the air is drawn in through a large 

 air shaft, six by nine feet, filtered, warmed 

 and forced into the buildings by large blow- 

 ers. The windows are permanently closed 

 -and the pressure of air within kept at a higher 

 point than that of the outside air, so that 

 dust is not sucked in through doors or other 

 unavoidable openings. In some other mu- 

 seums the windows are kept closed and the 

 air more or less cleansed as it is drawn into 

 the buildings, but none of the devices adopted 

 is so efScient as that employed at Glasgow and 

 Liverpool, known as ' Keys improved Plenum 

 method.' 



Dr. Meyer frequently calls attention to the 

 fact that too often the exterior of a museum 

 is designed without reference to the interior, 

 ■when the proper method to be followed is 

 quite the reverse of this, and that the arrange- 

 ment of the exhibition halls and offices should 

 be decided first and the exterior adapted to 

 them. In regard to these same exteriors the 

 illustrations show a great diversity of style 

 and various attempts to combine architec- 

 tural efFect with room and light. One of the 

 least successful of these architecturally seems 

 to be the new museum at Brussels, although 

 this may perhaps be compensated for by the 

 abundance of light in the exhibition halls. 



while the most successful, judging by the 

 illustrations, is the Liverpool Free Museum. 

 This, however, is probably because there is 

 no view of the new Galleries of Comparative 

 Anatomy and Anthropology at Paris, whose 

 architectural features and harmonious methods 

 of installation elicit the warmest praise, with 

 the exception of the fern leaf decoration of 

 the balcony rails. These are said to be over- 

 ornamented to such an extent as to be ob- 

 trusive, a feature that will perhaps be toned 

 down by age. 



The pure Gothic style so often adopted re- 

 sults in gloomy interiors, but the author calls 

 attention to the fact that the modified gothic,. 

 such as is used in the University of Chicago, 

 may be successfully employed. In connec- 

 tion with the subject of architecture some- 

 thing might well have been said of museum 

 cases, for architects are responsible for many 

 failures in this direction, and few of them 

 are competent to plan even a moderately good 

 case. 



Dr. Meyer is evidently of the opinion that 

 most museums are too freely open to visitors, 

 objects on exhibition being ruined by long 

 exposure to light, although the Paris mus- 

 seums of natural history go the other extreme 

 and are open for so short a time that it is 

 difiicult to properly examine the collections. 

 Here he touches upon a difficult problem in 

 administration and one which is particularly 

 so in the United States, where the tendency 

 is to extend, rather than curtail the hours 

 of exhibition. In many ways it seems best 

 to submit to the inevitable, and, after taking 

 every possible precaution to so admit the 

 light that it may be diffused, admit the public 

 as freely as possible. The rarer objects might 

 be withheld from exhibition or displayed only 

 on certain days or hours, while the more com- 

 mon objects could be replaced. Few, if any, 

 museums now place their types of birds or 

 mammals on exhibition, and the question of 

 showing large mammals and rare birds is be- 

 coming serious in view of the destruction 

 now going on. 



Another point incidentally touched on in 

 this paper is what may be termed the over- 

 exhibition of specimens, the display of so 



