. 
' 
138 The Origin and Development of Museums. [ March, 
description of the collection, and on the top of the cover are 
groups of objects arranged in the most extraordinary way ; the 
young of the obstetrical toad dancing on the nose of their mother 
in extravagant attitudes, butterflies and other insects flying about 
bouquets of dried flowers, shells grotesquely arranged in clusters 
and supported by pyramids of corals, and curious dried sea-fishes 
or sea-urchins are fastened on the top. 
The whole arrangement was such as to please the eye of the 
visitor, often curious, even tasteless, but according with the fash- 
ion of the time, though scarcely ever scientific except that gen- 
erally animals belonging to the same classes were brought to- 
gether, if the size of the animals or glass jars in which they were 
placed allowed of it; but this was not often the case. 
Printed descriptions with the most costly engravings of the 
contents of the collections were published, the repeated editions 
of which show the interest of the public. Some of them, for 
instance, the plates of the cabinet of Seba, in Amsterdam, were 
for a long time a principal authority in natural history, and the 
source from which naturalists obtained their knowledge. Indeed, 
this time is to be considered a forerunner of Linnzeus in bringing 
together materials which he was to classify, and thus begin a new 
era in the study of natural history. Considerable progress is 
now to be noticed in the development of collections of natural 
history, as well as the attempt to arrange and preserve objects 
in a manner to secure them against a speedy destruction. 
The objects preserved in alcohol are secured by large corks, 
covered again by different materials to prevent the evaporation 
of the preserving fluid. Delicate objects, such as shells and fine 
corals, were placed in drawers, fixed in the bottom in artistical 
figures, and the insects were mostly preserved in the same way. 
Tnsect-pins did not exist till a century later, and in their stead 
were used needles, and formerly thorns of plants, as we find them 
even now in the boxes arranged in China and imported from 
that country. The entire boxes were protected against dust or 
museum pests by glass covers; or else small boxes, each contain- 
ing a few insects, or only one, were arranged in larger boxes, & 
custom prevailing as late as the beginning of this century. 
The well-known naturalist, Petiver, pressed the insects as flat 
as possible, and fastened them between two plates of mica pasted 
together by slips of paper and fastened on a leaf folded on one — 
side of a large book. This curious collection is still preserved in 
the British Museum. 
