98 
GENERAL ARRANGEMENT. 
GENEEAL AEEANGEMENT OF THE CONTENTS OF 
THE MUSEUM. 
Use of the NATURAL HISTORY is an old term, used bo describe the study 
mstory^*^^*^ ^^^^ processes or laws of the Universe, and the results 
of the action of those processes or laws upon such of the 
materials of which it is composed as are independent of the 
agency of man. 
It is thus contrasted with the history of Man and his works^ 
and the changes which have been wrought in the Universe by 
Man's intervention. 
This distinction afforded a convenient and rational basis for 
the division of the numerous and multifarious objects collected 
together in the old building of the Museum at Bloomsbury. 
When it was decided to effect a separation of the collections^ 
those that were purely the products of what are commonly called 
"natural" forces were removed to South Kensington, while those 
showing the effects of Man's handiwork remained at Blooms- 
bury. Like most others of the kind, this distinction cannot 
be applied too rigidly. Such lines of demarcation almost 
always overlap. For instance, examples of modification of 
animal or plant structure under Man's influence legitimately 
find a place in a Museum of Natural History, especially as 
they may afford illustrations of the mode of working of natural 
laws. Prehistoric stone-implements, again, are shown in the 
Geological Department, in order to illustrate the co-existence 
of Man with extinct Mammals. 
Processes or laws cannot, however, be satisfactorily demon- 
strated in museum ; therefore such branches of knowledge as 
deal chiefly with these, as Astronomy, Physics, Geology (in 
the stricter sense of the word), and the experimental sciences, 
as Chemistry and Physiology, though essentially belonging to 
