778 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  [Vovr. XXXIII. 
of the city library and museum. The model is hardly one 
worthy of imitation in museum architecture, especially on 
account of the outer arcade, which, though it doubtless adds 
to the beauty of the building, cuts off much of the light so 
essential to museum display. The geological collection is 
installed in floor desk cases. The fossils and minerals shown 
are chiefly local, but the region is one exceptionally rich in its 
representation of the strata of different ages. Type specimens 
are indicated by disks of yellow paper, figured specimens by 
green. Casts and maps are hung about to some extent. The 
minerals are grouped in an unusual fashion, the divisions being 
silica, silicates of alumina, lime minerals, and metallic ores with 
iron. This may be better than no grouping at all, but it can- 
not be said to teach anything of value. The installation as a 
whole shows lack of care, the case interiors being dusty and the 
specimens likewise. The labels are written with poor ink and 
many are hardly legible. Hence while there are many rare 
and showy specimens in the collection, and while the lighting 
of the upper floor at least is good, one is soon overcome by 
“the musty feeling,’ which, though once supposed to be a 
necessary concomitant of museums, now, happily, survives in 
but few. 
Edinburgh.— The Museum of Science and Art combines 
the functions which its name indicates. The first-named func- 
tion is apparently the more prominent, but the combination 
with the second (made to include industrial art) gives a pleas- 
ing character. It is one of the few museums which have suc- 
ceeded with the experiment of evening opening. The evening 
attendance indeed is larger than that in the daytime. The 
hours of visiting are from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., free on Mondays, 
Wednesdays, and Fridays. On other days admission is sixpence. 
The plan of the museum building seems unfortunate in some 
respects, as it is of the type which has been not unaptly termed 
“well construction,” z.¢., tiers of galleries round a central roofed 
court. In such a building few visitors are likely to climb to 
the upper floors, and the lighting of many of the halls is neces- 
sarily poor. In the collections exhibited much attention is 
