The Scottish Naturalist. 



357 



minerals, and by diagrams, maps and models illustrative of the 

 relations of the strata, and of their mineral and fossil contents. 



If Archaeology is included, the history of man in the district 

 should be very fully illustrated, both by local relics and by records 

 of such changes in language and usages as cannot be otherwise 

 preserved. The industrial arts of the district should also find a 

 place, and should be well illustrated by examples in such a museum. 



The collections in most Provincial Museums are far more largely 

 the result of donations than of purchase. There are undoubted 

 disadvantages in this being the case, as donations are not always 

 such as to be worth preservation, nor do they always fill blanks. 

 Yet they are so helpful (in subordination to the more reliable 

 method of purchase or of employing collectors), that it would be 

 a mistake to discourage them ; and too many museums have still 

 to depend wholly on them. Even in rate-supported Provincial 

 Museums the funds available are usually too small to permit of 

 employing a staff of paid collectors. The Report strongly urges 

 their employment; but the conclusion arrived at as to the expense 

 under such an arrangement is that in a town of say 100,000 in- 

 habitants the site, building and fittings of a suitable museum 

 would probably cost not less than ^10,000, that during the first 

 three years the annual cost would be about ^1,500, and that 

 there should be a permanent income of about ^600. The natural 

 inference is that the penny-rate could not support both a library 

 and a museum on a satisfactory scale. But however desirable it 

 is that the museums should be placed from their commencement 

 on a satisfactory footing, and however useful may be the " office for 

 the curator, workrooms for the assistants, store-rooms, a students' 

 room with table, microscope, books of reference, chemical reagents, 

 and keeper's residence," recommended by the Committee, the idea 

 is much to be deprecated that it is essential to start on such a 

 scale ; and the history of almost all the older museums, even of 

 the most successful among them, shows that they began, and have 

 often been efficiently conducted, on a much smaller sum. 



One point should be clearly kept in view in the acceptance of 

 donations, that nothing should be accepted unless of real utility, 

 and with a reservation of power to the managers of the museum 

 to part with specimens should they subsequently acquire better 

 ones. The only exception should be in the case of collections of 

 very special interest, which it is desirable to keep intact. 



