318 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



observer on entering are tlie walls and pilasters, and not tlie 

 objects; wbereas the impression to be secured on tbe mind 

 sbould be exactly the reverse of tbis, for be sure that, if tbe 

 colour of tbe walls be noticed at all by the casual visitor, 

 sometbing is radically wrong. Tbis is one of tbe reasons 

 wby I prefer ligbt oak wall-cases to anything else, by tbeir 

 being so unobtrusive, and not dividing tbe room so sharply 

 into squares as the black and gold. I venture to say that 

 the first thing noticeable on entering the zoological-room at 

 Leicester is the form and colour of the objects, and this is 

 as it should be. Having now got light in the rooms from 

 the top and, possibly, from the north, supplemented by, and 

 radiating from, the light walls and ceiling, we, having our oak 

 cases in position, must glaze them with as large sheets of plate 

 glass as are manageable or as we can afford ; a very handy 

 size is — say, 8ft. in height by 5ft. 4in. in breadth, this prevents 

 cutting up the enclosed specimens by many bars, enclosing 

 small panes, so prevalent in the older museums, also, of course, 

 adding greatly to the general effect. The backs of the wall 

 cases should be, if the specimens are mounted on pegs, of 

 some light tint slightly contrasting with that of the walls, 

 or, if the specimens are to be pictorially treated, with softly 

 graduated skies applicable to each group. Perhaps a sketch 

 of the treatment of the zoological-room of Leicester Museum 

 would help the reader to grasp the facts of the case better. In 

 the first place, the walls were cut for more windows, at a 

 height of 12ft. above tbe floor, the top light not being suflficient 

 nor properly available, nor end lights obtainable, owing to the 

 structural defects of the existing building; the ceiling was 

 then whitewashed, and walls painted of a nice warm stone 

 colour, quite unobtrusive in itself ; the artificial light was 

 provided for by twelve gas pendants* of twenty-four lights 

 each, i.e., eight arms, each holding three burners. The heating 

 — a most important matter, not only for the comfort of visitors, 

 but for the proper preservation of the specimens — was managed 

 by hot-water coils running around the walls under the cases. 



* I am not at all sure if the artificial lighting of wall cases is not best managed by gas 

 arms shaded from the eye of the spectator, and throwing their light into the cases by a 

 similar armngeraent to" that adopted for lighting jewellers' and other shops from the 

 outside. 



