542 
PHYTOGRAPHY. 
BOOK IV. 
tions, excessively troublesome. I have found that suspending 
little open paper bags, filled with camphor, in the inside of 
the doors of my cabinets, is a more simple and a sufficiently 
effectual protection. It is true that camphor will not drive 
away the larvae that may be carried into the herbarium in 
fresh specimens ; 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 
wishes 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 w^ant 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 superffuous, 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 perfectly 
certain, for all experience proves it, that to be liberal in the 
distribution of duplicates is a sign of a liberal generous 
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. 
It is most honourable to the British government, and espe- 
