98 GENERAL AEEANGEMENT. 



GENEEAL AEEANGEMENT OF THE CONTENTS OE 

 THE MUSEUM. 



Use of the NATURAL HISTORY is an old term, used to describe the study 



term Natural ^f ^n ^he processes or laws of the Universe, and the results 



of the action of those processes or laws upon such of the 



materials of which it is composed as are independent of the 



agency of man. 



It is thus contrasted with the history of Man and his works, 

 and the changes which have been wrought in the Universe by 

 Man's intervention. 



This distinction afforded a convenient and rational basis for 

 the division of the numerous and multifarious objects collected 

 together in the old building of the Museum at Bloomsbury. 

 When it was decided to effect a separation of the collections, 

 those that were purely the products of what are commonly called 

 "natural" forces were removed to South Kensington, while those 

 showing the effects of Man's handiwork remained at Blooms- 

 bury. Like most others of the kind, this distinction cannot 

 be applied too rigidly. Such lines of demarcation almost 

 always overlap. For instance, examples of modification of 

 animal or plant structure under Man's influence legitimately 

 find a place in a Museum of Natural History, especially as 

 they may afford illustrations of the mode of working of natural 

 laws. Prehistoric stone-implements, again, are shown in the 

 Geological Department, in order to illustrate the co-existence 

 of Man with extinct Mammals. 



Processes or laws cannot, however, be satisfactorily demon- 

 strated in a museum ; therefore such branches of knowledge as 

 deal chiefly with these, as Astronomy, Physics, Geology (in 

 the stricter sense of the word), and the experimental sciences, 

 as Chemistry and Physiology, though essentially belonging to 



