612 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 485. 



National Museum, who also urged the value 

 of small local museums for the encourage- 

 ment of an art connected with the life of 

 the people. Dr. Lehmann held that, so far 

 as the public was concerned, the same prin- 

 ciples were applicable to natural history 

 museums. These ideas also found expres- 

 sion in a careful essay by Dr. Kautsch 

 (Halle a. S.) on guides to, and lectures in, 

 art-museums. The aim of these should be 

 not to give a watered-down history of art, 

 but to teach people to see; not to instil 

 theories, but to evoke a conception of form ; 

 to create artists and artistic craftsmen, not 

 to stifle the artistic faculty under the 

 weight of learning that oppressed our so- 

 called cultured classes. Professor Fraas, 

 of Stuttgart, speaking of similar methods 

 in natural history museums, gave the good 

 advice that illustrations should be not pic- 

 tures of specimens in the collection, but ex- 

 planatory diagrams. His other remarks 

 were much to the point, but the gist of 

 them is familiar to our readers. In a de- 

 tailed paper on temporary exhibitions in 

 museums, Dr. Deneken, of Crefeld, in- 

 veighed against the superfluity of the usual 

 class of exhibition, especially of art exhibi- 

 tions, which had done the greatest harm to 

 the development of art and were opposed 

 to its true aims. Especially harmful were 

 the permanent exhibitions of societies, with 

 their commercial standpoint. For an ex- 

 hibition to be useful, it should have a lead- 

 ing idea rigidly carried out; thus esthetic 

 pleasure could carry with it artistic in- 

 struction. Even when the museum relied 

 on its own resources there should be a se- 

 lection of exhibited material on these lines 

 and a constant change so as to keep up the 

 jiublie interest. This change would be 

 helped by loan exhibitions, but here too the 

 most careful selection must be enforced. 



A speech from the minister of the in- 

 terior and a vote of thanks to the town of 

 _Mannheim brought the proceedings to a 



close, and it only remains for us to mention 

 an exhibition of various museum objects 

 and methods that had been arranged, along 

 with a collection of literature bearing on 

 the subject. 



In estimating the value of this congress, 

 one must not look for immediate results in 

 the rush of working folk to museums. 

 Museums, as they now exist, are not suited 

 to this new part they have to play. Fresh 

 museums must be built, old ones adapted 

 where possible, and, above all, new men to 

 direct them must be trained. Any doubt 

 as to the trend of events would have been 

 dispelled by attendance at this congress ; 

 in such controversy as there was, the 

 younger men were all on one side, and it 

 is their views that are endorsed by the able 

 critic of the Kolnische Zeitung (September 

 27). From a social point of view the out- 

 look is encouraging, and the Berlin head- 

 quarters for the betterment of the workers 

 may be congratulated. And as for mu- 

 seum men themselves, let us note that this 

 is the flrst public conference of museum 

 officials as such that has been held in Ger- 

 many, probably on the continent. But, 

 the first though it be, we find a remarkably 

 large attendance, and including men of the 

 highest official standing, while the whole is 

 patronized by the government, presided 

 over by a minister, and, last bv;t not least, 

 fully noticed in the press. Seeing how 

 overdone with congresses they are in Ger- 

 many, this bears witness to the skill with 

 which the meeting was engineered. Wheth- 

 er it will give rise to further reunions, ar- 

 ranged by the museum officials themselves, 

 remains to be seen; but this at least has 

 been a gain, that it has brought together 

 the mutually indifferent, not to say intol- 

 erant, science men and art men, and has 

 shown them that they form allied branches 

 of a great profession, working for one 

 noble cause, and aiming at the same lofty 

 mark. 



