[ xviii ] 



Functions of a 

 popular botanic 

 exhibition. 



they have in addition, more especially since the transference from Blooms - 

 bury to Cromwell Road, served another purpose. Like the Department of 

 Zoology the Department of Botany under the guidance of the Keeper has 

 instituted and developed an exhibition of botanic objects calculated to 

 excite popular interest and to impart popular instruction in the phenomena 

 of the vegetable world. The exhibition so formed has also been found to 

 serve as an instrument of education to students of botany and 

 as a useful adjunct to the equipment of teachers in London. The 

 botanic collections in fact consist of two distinct parts — firstly, the 

 herbarium to which the general public is not admitted, which is exclusively 

 an instrument of scientific research ; and secondly, the popular and 

 illustrative collection displayed in the gallery to which the general public is 

 freely admitted ; some objects serving a like purpose are also exhibited in 

 the Central Hall. 



We have already come to the conclusion that the first-named botanic 

 collections which serve for research should be transferred from the British 

 Museum to Kew. We have now to consider what course should be recom- 

 mended in respect to the second, the popular and illustrative botanic ex- 

 hibition. In doing so we may assume without discussion that a national 

 botanic collection, paid for by the State, ought to serve the pm-pose of 

 exciting popular interest in and of spreading among the people a knowledge 

 of the vegetable kingdom. 



In considering this question we have to bear in mind the facts that at 

 Kew the collection of living plants already serves such a purpose among 

 others, and that the Economic Museums at Kew form in part also a popular 

 exhibition. The installation at Kew of a popular illustrative botanic ex- 

 hibition similar to that existing in the public gallery at the British Museum 

 would be a legitimate continuation of the work already done at Kew. And 

 the value of such an exhibition as a means of developing botanic 

 knowledge among the people would be increased by its being placed in 

 contiguity with the living plants. Indeed, we recommend that steps should 

 be taken, as opportunity offers, in this direction. 



Reasons for But we do not think that such a popular exhibition at Kew should 



maintaming the \)q substituted for the exhibition at present existing at the British 



at ciomwell'*'^'' Museum. On the contrary, led by the following considerations, we 



Road. have come to the conclusion that this should be maintained. In 



the first place, the argument based on the distance of Kew from the 



centre of London, though not having, in our opinion, an importance 



in reference to research, does seem to us to be very strong in reference to 



an exhibition intended for the general public. We believe that it would be 



a serious evil if the opportunities for learning something about the vegetable 



kingdom, which are now placed before the visitors to the British Museum, 



were done away, and such opportunities were open only to those able to 



make the longer journey to Kew. 



Popular 

 exhibition at 

 Kew. 



Juxtaposition 

 of animal and 

 plant life illustra- 

 tions desirable. 



In the second place, we think it of great importance that in an 

 exhibition intended to awaken popular interest in science, illustrations of 

 vegetable life should accompany illustrations of animal life ; the two should 

 be found together in the same building. In this respect we recognise a 

 fundamental difference between collections intended for research and collec- 

 tions intended for popular illustration. 



-Rr^t^-n^n c:T.o,.nrr,o,.o It Is truo that SO faT as research is concerned the co-existence in the 



needed for Same building of collections of dried botanic and zoologic specimens 



biological exhi- affords no marked, or indeed appreciable, help towards the solution of 



bitions in the problems which concern both animals and plants, problems that is of general 



ktiSim ^^*°^^ biology; since these problems are as a rule not problems for the solution of 



which a herbarium and a zoologic museum constitute the chief means of 



enquiry ; they are, as a rule, problems which have to be worked out on living 



specimens. Yet so far as popular instruction and popular illustrations are 



concerned, a museum which has the title of Natural History Museum ought 



in its popular exhibitions, to illustrate not merely the phenomena and 



