XXIV THE HANCOCK MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY 



value and interest of which do not need emphasising. In the 

 upper east corridor is an ethnological collection. Perhaps 

 strictly speaking ethnology should hardly find a place in a 

 museum of natural history, but the inclusion of the section is 

 justified not only by the appeal that it makes to the public, 

 but also by the historical fact that an ethnological section has 

 formed part of the museum from its earliest days under 

 Marmaduke Tunstall. It is just this fact that lends such 

 special value to some of the objects in the section — as, for 

 instance, those from New Zealand and the South Seas ; for 

 having been obtained from the natives at such an early date, 

 they represent their arts and customs uncontaminated by 

 European influence. There are even grounds for thinking 

 that a good many of the " Allan Museum " objects were 

 obtained in the expeditions of Captain Cook. Finally, in 

 summing up the leading features of the museum of to-day, 

 we must not forget its rich store of reference collections, 

 including as they do particularly fine sets of birds' eggs, 

 butterflies and moths both British and foreign, British insects 

 of other orders, British shells and zoophytes, and of flowering 

 plants, cryptogams and seaweeds — not to mention a number 

 of others which appeal chiefly to specialists. 



The Hancock Museum, in virtue of all these special features, 

 has in a high degree what we may describe as individuality. 

 This quality is well worth preserving, since it is by no means 

 desirable that all museums of natural history should be alike. 

 The best museum experts have always recommended that 

 different museums should specialise along different lines. 

 And this valuable quality of individuality, in the case of the 

 Hancock Museum, is directly traceable to an advantage 

 which it has over the majority of similar institutions in the 

 provinces : it is a museum of old standing. The Hancock 

 Museum of to-day is the heir of a long and in many ways 

 distinguished past. 



Whilst the attempt has been made in these articles to point 

 out the characteristic merits of the museum and to show how 

 they came into being, no secret has been made of the fact 



