The Improvements effected in Modern Museums, 19 



The most useful cases, aud those best adapted for our climate 

 •which I hare seeu, consisted of iron and glass only ; they could 

 be taken to pieces and removed without much labour — an advan- 

 tage well worth consideration, where, as often happens in young 

 communities, the embryo Museum is only temporally located in 

 some vacant room, or where it is desirable to shift the cases to an 

 upper story. 



I have already experienced the advantage of making the 

 cabinets portable, and all the table cases now in use in the Aus- 

 tralian Museum, can be taken to pieces. 



Dr. Gray recommends that no specimens should be placed 

 higher than about five feet from the bottom of the case, and this 

 plan I have always endeavoured to carry out as much as possible. 

 It is distressing to see visitors on tiptoe, trying to read the names 

 of specimens raised above this level, and the objects thus become 

 quite useless, except to the Curator, who requires a ladder when 

 he wishes to inspect them. 



Dr. Gray recommends the exhibition of specimens as follows : — 



" Mammalia and their skeletons, being of a large size, require 

 to have good-sized rooms. 



" The birds and other animals, being small, are better seen in 

 moderate-sized rooms, as large rooms dwarf the size of their 

 specimens. 



" The rooms and the cases in them need not be alike, as that 

 tires the eyes of the visitors. 



"Too much and too brilliant ornamentation of the rooms and 

 cases kill the specimens ; but, at the same time, they need not be 

 like the rooms of a " dock warehouse." 



" The rooms should be lighted so that the specimens shown, can 

 be seen in dark weather ; but the lights should be easily under 

 control, by blinds or other means, as excess of light, especially of 

 direct sunlight, even through blinds, is a very great evil in a 

 Museum, and it often destroys the colour, texture and otherwise 

 injures the specimens. 



" Galleries are very well as make-shifts where ground is scarce 

 or not to be had. They are always inconvenient if they are used 

 for a part of the collection open to the public. Their use also 

 prevents the museum from having sufficient floor space for table 

 cases, which show many kinds of specimens, much more con- 

 veniently than wall cases ; indeed there are some specimens that 

 cannot be shown, except in table cases. 



" If the skeletons of whales are exhibited, they are nmch better 

 seen when placed in the middle of a room, or raised only slightly 

 above the floor, so that they can be seen by persons walking, or 

 at most, not raised higher than the skeleton of the Greenland 

 whale now shown at the College of Surgeons. When suspended 



