I 4§ Circulating Medium for |_March, 
sustain their attention during a lesson on an objedt of fair 
size and striking form, combined with beauty of colour and 
texture, the like of which they have never seen before. A 
specimen of considerable excellence, say a mineral or a shell, 
will not only assist the teacher in firmly implanting the in- 
struction he wishes to give on its geographical distribution, 
place in Nature, and economic applications, but the beautiful 
and uncommon thing itself, if sent amongst children to be 
handled with care, and felt, and looked at closely, will, I am 
firmly persuaded, exercise a good moral and refining influ- 
ence on some of them. A piece of quartz as big as a walnut, 
or the shell of the Helix aspersa from any old garden-wall, 
would probably fail to serve the same purpose, not from any 
fault in the children or the teacher, but simply because it 
would not appeal to the same natural capacity for admira- 
tion, which would therefore be left unexercised. 
Such are some of the considerations pointing to the esta- 
blishment of a circulating museum. A method of circulation 
may to some extent be suggested by the kind of collection 
required : — 
1. It should be strictly limited to a single department or 
group in natural history, order being the main feature 
in Nature. 
2. It should not consist of many specimens, probably of 
not more than twenty. It is thought undesirable to 
continue the objedt lessons on one group for a longer 
period than two months, in which time fifteen or 
twenty specimens might be well illustrated, and 
application be made for another collection. 
3. A central depot would be required for the collections. 
If established at the Public Museum, the distribution 
would be arranged under the superintendence of the 
Curator, Mr. Moore, and the Science-teacher. 
4. Receptacles, each with lock and key, would be required 
for the conveyance and preservation of the col- 
lections. 
A beginning might be made with a few collections con- 
sisting of type specimens of very large departments in 
Nature : — 1, vertebrate animals ; 2, animals without bones; 
3, plants; 4, fossils: 5, minerals. These groups include 
everything suitable for an objeCt lesson, and must therefore 
always remain as the fundamental groups. But it may 
practically be found more convenient to start with a further 
division of some of them. Thus, from the vertebrated ani- 
mals might be segregated a group of such as suckle their 
