CHAP. VI. 
OF HERBARIA. 
469 
tions, excessively troublesome. I have found thai suspending 
little open paper bags, filled with camphor, in the inside of the 
doors of my cabinets, a far more simple and a most effectual 
protection. It is true that camphor will not drive away the 
larvae that may be carried into the herbarium in fresh speci- 
mens ; but the moment they become perfect insects they quit 
the cases, without leaving any eggs behind them. 
In all large collections of specimens there must necessarily 
be a constant accumulation of duplicates : as they are of no 
utility to the possessor, he will, if he is a liberal man, and 
wish well to science, distribute them among his friends, or 
other men of science, in order that the means of observation 
and examination, upon which the progress of science depends, 
may be multiplied at the greatest possible number of points. 
He will not hoard them up till insects, dust, and decay 
destroy them ; he will not plead want of leisure (meaning 
want of inclination) for looking them out, or, when applied to 
for them, invent some frivolous excuse for avoiding compli- 
ance with the request ; on the contrary, he will be anxious to 
disembarrass himself of that which is superfluous, and it will 
be his greatest pleasure to find himself able to supply others 
with the same means of study as himself. Conduct with 
regard to the disposal of duplicate specimens is a sure 
sign of the real nature of a man's mind. We may be per- 
fectly certain, for all experience proves it, that to be liberal 
in the distribution of duplicates, is a sign of a liberal, gener- 
ous disposition, and of a man who studies science for its own 
sake ; while, on the other hand, a contrary line of conduct is 
an equally certain indication of a contracted spirit, and of a 
man who studies science less for the sake of advancing it, than 
in the hope of being able to gain some little additional repu- 
tation by which his own fame may be extended. A private 
individual has, no doubt, a right to do as he likes with that 
which is his own, just as a miser has a right to hoard his 
money, if such is his taste ; but, of the keepers of public 
collections, it is the bounden duty to take care that every 
thing in their charge be rendered, in every possible manner, 
available for the advancement of science. For acting to the 
contrary they are publicly answerable, 
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