UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS 323 



equally carefully placed in case or on wall, with artistic 

 judgment as to space-bordering and colour of background, 

 and with scientific perfection of illumination, so as to 

 produce the "just " impression on the leisurely visitor. 

 The public " exhibit " should be arranged so as to draw 

 attention to a series of important facts of structure or 

 quality clearly shown by the specimens, whether they are 

 natural products or works of art, and these facts should be 

 described in printed labels fully, and the reason for attaching 

 importance to them explained at sufficient length. The 

 man who arranges the public galleries (as distinct from 

 the closed study-rooms) of a public museum, should have 

 a special gift of exposition in plain language, and be able 

 to separate (both in regard to his words and to the speci- 

 mens he selects) the essential from the non-essential, the 

 significant from the redundant. 



It is important to make a complete distinction between 

 an exhibition intended for the general public and that 

 intended for advanced students in schools, colleges and 

 universities. The confusion of these two kinds of exhi- 

 bition is the cause of the failure of many museums and ot 

 the dislike with which most people regard a visit to them. 

 The public museum — metropolitan or local — should not 

 include in its purpose the " academic " instruction of 

 schoolboys and university students. That requires a 

 different kind of museum, which is (or should be) provided 

 by the school or university, though, of course, the students 

 should also visit the more popular museums. The funds and 

 staff and space required for the one are not sufficient for 

 both. If both are attempted, the unpopular academic, or 

 scholars', exhibition will get the upper hand and suppress 

 the other, since it is a far easier thing to carry out success- 

 fully (for the class aimed at) than is th carefully planned 

 exhibition intended for the " edification " of the greater 

 public. The university museum aims at imparting a much 



