No. 394.] NOTES ON EUROPEAN MUSEUMS. 781 
The Continental museums are also open for but remarkably 
few hours to the public. To illustrate this I have taken 
the trouble to quote the hours of a number in the preced- 
ing pages. Both of these peculiarities indicate that the old 
conception of a museum as a storehouse still predominates on 
the Continent. Yet the possibilities of a museum as a medium 
of public instruction, which are at present probably best under- 
stood and exemplified in the museums of Great Britain and 
America, are fast becoming appreciated on the Continent as 
well. í 
In conclusion, I have no better word than to quote a sen- 
tence spoken to me in conversation by Dr. Traquair, the able 
Keeper of the. Natural History Collections of the Edinburgh 
Museum: “ The first duty of a scientific museum is to teach 
science; of a curator, to preserve his specimens.” 
