146 The Origin and Development of Museums. [ March, 
ther and advance science to a degree not to be attained in any 
other way, and should therefore not be done away with. But a 
museum dependent for its subsistence upon certain and regular 
funds would be able to undertake them only rarely, and with the 
generous help of patrons, as is done so successfully in this country. 
On the whole, a well-managed museum hardly needs these ex- 
traordinary and irregular exertions, which always retard the 
progress of the institution. It should not be forgotten that a 
museum has a great advantage over a private collection, as it is 
generally of no great consequence if it waits years for a favorable 
chance to obtain certain objects, whilst a private collection can 
wait only during the life-time of its possessor, or rather during 
his working years. 
Indeed, the overwhelming number of objects obtained during 
the last thirty years by the steadily increasing trade with the 
whole world has filled every museum to overflowing, and thus re- 
tarded its progress. The scientific work is still entirely unable 
to keep pace with the collector. The conscientious worker in a 
museum suffers every day the torments of Tantalus, having be- 
fore him innumerable and most interesting objects for the further- 
ance of science, and for excellent publications. He must there- 
fore content himself with only putting them in the right places 
and on the right shelves, and has no time for scientific work if he 
would fulfill his duty. He is surely pardonable if he occasionally 
revolts, although he finds his recompense in the conviction that 
he is working not only for himself but for others, for the advance- 
ment of science and of culture. 
. The sudden and unlooked-for' enlargement of the collections 
has another equally unexpected consequence, which has not yet 
been accounted for. In former times most of the specimens were 
dried, and natural science came to be merely a knowledge of 
dried skins and dried animals, and the last great zodlogist who 
knew nothing but the skins of animals died only thirty years 
ago. The enormous expense of preserving objects in alcohol be- 
came more and more embarrassing, and a large part of the income 
of every museum had to be expended every year for this purpose. 
It is easy to calculate the time when a museum will be obli 
to stop its work, and even be unable to preserve the objects al- 
ready in hand. Various other liquids have been tried with more 
or less success, and finally the fact that objects preserved in 4 
different way were generally unfit for comparison 
collectors to return to the use of alcohol. 
