114 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



voted to technical instruction and 

 manual training. It is almost im- 

 possible satisfactorily and effectual- 

 ly to conduct the latter without 

 the aid of Museums, and these in- 

 stitutions are destined to occupy a 

 most important place in this re- 

 spect. Specimens of raw mater- 

 ials with labels clearly defining 

 their properties and uses, and the 

 relation that one kind of raw ma- 

 terial bears to another kind, are 

 now, in many instances, looked 

 upon as indispensable scholastic 

 aids. 



The Manchester Exhibition was 

 particularly useful in this respect, 

 for there were many sections in 

 which the various stages of the 

 raw material up to the perfected 

 article were shown, and* it may 

 safely be stated that no exhibition 

 of modern times possessed in this 

 way a wider and more real educa- 

 tional value than the very success- 

 ful one held in Manchester in 1887. 

 The silk, chemical pottery, and 

 other sections were especially 

 complete in this respect. The 

 number of models of an almost in- 

 finite variety in these departments 

 had a value attaching to them as 

 a means of instruction, which 

 could not fail to be useful to the 

 many thousands of the youth of 

 both sexes who visited the build- 

 ing at Old Trafford. 



Vast collections of objects, 

 whether in Museums or Exhibi- 

 tions for educational purposes, do 

 not always accomplish the object 

 in view. Doubtless the vastness 

 of the collections in some of our 

 own Exhibitions in London and 

 those which have been held in 

 other cities, has been very im- 

 pressive, but it may be gravely 

 questioned whether any mind has 

 carried away many useful impres- 

 sions from the infinite multitude 

 upon which he has had an oppor- 

 tunity of looking. The general 

 mental state frequently produced 

 by such a numerous display is that 

 of distraction. There is such a 

 state of mind as picture drunken- 

 ness or Museum drunkenness, and 

 this should be carefully guarded 

 against. There should be in Mu- 

 seums and Art Galleries a more 

 extensive use of folding screens, so 

 that anyone so disposed could 

 themselves shut off from the crowd 

 while they study a case or a picture 

 minutely. A few striking objects 

 well and carefully studied are in- 

 finitely better and of greater educa- 

 tional worth than a number of 

 things at which there is only a 

 casual glance. 



Modelling, whether in card- 



board, wood or clay, is an invalu- 

 able means of cultivating and de- 

 veloping the manipulative skill of 

 youths. All know how readil} a 

 boy will take to the construction 

 of a boat, or a girl to dress a doll, 

 and in this lies the indiction that 

 young people will take as readily 

 to modelling as the boys do to 

 cricket and the 'girls to their skip- 

 ping ropes. 



Charles Kingsley, addressing 

 working men, with reference to 

 their requirements, says: "We 

 must acquire something of that in- 

 dustrious habit of mind which the 

 study of Natural Science gives. 

 The art of seeing, the art of know- 

 ing what you see, the art of com- 

 paring, of perceiving true like- 

 nesses and true differences, and so 

 of classifying and arranging what 

 you see, the art of connecting 

 facts together in your own mind, 

 in chains of cause and effect, and 

 that accurately, patiently, calmly, 

 without prejudice, vanity or tem- 

 per." 



The late Ralph Waldo Emer- 

 son, writing on the same snbject, 

 says: "Manual labor is the study 

 of the external world." This kind 

 of manual labor should be taught 

 in schools. Children's habits of 

 collecting and arranging objects of 

 interest should be encouraged. 

 The study of a single branch of 

 natural science, such as construct- 

 ive botany, may be made the 

 means of cultivating habits of neat- 

 ness, order and skill. The anal- 

 ysis of plant-forms would illustrate 

 the application of geometry to or- 

 namental purposes, and open up 

 wide fields for the development of 

 decorative taste and manipulative 

 skill. But cramped by the re- 

 strictive rules of our result system, 

 these sources of useful culture are 

 neglected; and, therefore, our 

 children are turned out of the ed- 

 ucational mill imperfectly pre- 

 pared for the further processes 

 necessary to qualify them for tak- 

 ing their part in the struggle for 

 existence. 



All this proves the necessity for 

 Museums having the closest pos- 

 sible connection with elementary 

 as well as advanced education. 

 The uses of constructive botany, 

 as referred to in the short quota- 

 tion from Emerson, are especially 

 helpful as a suggestive study to 

 the mind. For this branch of ed- 

 ucation Museums are the best text- 

 books which can be provided, but 

 in order that specimens in these 

 branches of natural science be 

 properly and usefully studied they 

 require to be explained by compe- 



tent teachers. It is in this respect 

 that practical and efficient curators 

 can be of the greatest service in 

 giving short and informal explan- 

 ations of some of the specimens in 

 their Museums. 



As far back as 1853, there was 

 delivered at the Museum of Eco- 

 nomical Geology, in London, a 

 lecture by the late Professor Ed- 

 ward Forbes, on the Educational 

 Uses of Museums. In one part of 

 this lecture he spoke as follows: 

 "In their educational aspect, con- 

 sidered apart from their education- 

 al applications, the value of Mu- 

 seums must in a great measure de- 

 pend on the perfection of their ar- 

 rangement, and the leading ideas 

 regulating the classification of their 

 contents. The educated youth, 

 ought, in a well-arranged Museum, 

 to be able to instruct himself in 

 the studies of which its contents 

 are illustrations, with facility and 

 advantage. On the officers in 

 charge of the institution there con- 

 sequently falls a heavy responsi- 

 bility. It is not sufficient that 

 they should be well versed in the 

 department of science, antiquities, 

 or art committed to their charge. 

 They may be prodigies of learn- 

 ing and yet utterly unfitted for 

 their posts. They must be men 

 mindful of the main end and pur- 

 pose in view, and of the best way 

 of communicating knowledge ac- 

 cording to its kind, not merely to 

 those who are already men of sci- 

 ence, historians, or connoisseurs, 

 but equally to those who, as yet 

 ignorant, desire to learn, or in 

 whom it is desirable that a thirst 

 for learning should be incited." 

 Among the most useful Museums 

 are those which are made access- 

 ory to professional instruction, and 

 there are many such in the coun- 

 try, but almost all confined to pur- 

 poses of professional education, 

 and not adapted or open to the 

 general public. The Museums of 

 our Universities and Colleges are, 

 for the most part, utilized in this 

 way, but the advantages derived 

 from them are confined to a limit- 

 ed class of persons. 



This educating the children in 

 the schools in the elements of nat- 

 ural science is most essential, es- 

 pecially in coun try districts. When 

 persons reach mature age without 

 knowing about Natural History 

 objects, they find it is then too 

 much trouble to investigate these 

 subjects. But by getting at them 

 when young, by simple and forc- 

 ible illustrations, they are bound 

 to carry it forward with them to a 

 certain extent, and if there should 



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