i88 5 .] 
Correspondence. 
499 
THE NEW NATURAL-HISTORY MUSEUM. 
In consequence of the strictures of your able correspondent, 
the Rev. H, H. Higgins, I paid a visit to this out-of-the-way 
palace, and I found his objections more than verified. The 
skeletons of whales, &c., are placed in a cellar, where the massive 
square pillars of brick and stone render it quite impossible to get 
an unbroken view of the large specimens from any one point. 
The great ornithological gallery is principally lighted by a 
range of south windows, which in sunny weather are necessarily 
kept covered with blinds. Hence many parts are very insuffi- 
ciently lighted, — e.g., the cases occupied by peacocks and their 
kindred. Many of the smaller birds, such as the humming-birds 
(not including the splendid Gould collection), are placed on 
shelves so lofty that neither the specimens themselves nor the 
labels are distinctly visible. This is a case of want of room (!), 
of which there are proofs on every hand. 
I should submit that in constructing any kind of building — 
especially one for a public purpose — the architect should be held 
to consider first and foremost the purpose in view. This, in case 
of a museum, involves ample room for extension and good light. 
In examining any and everything, from the most delicate micro- 
scopic objects down to matching off the shades of cloth, a north 
light is insisted on by trained observers. South windows, there- 
fore, should have been rigorously avoided save for passages, 
stairs, &c. 
In the mammalian gallery, in a few cases, the stuffed speci- 
mens are accompanied by the skeletons of the species. But the 
great osteologica! collection occupies a separate gallery in the 
top storey. Surely in our National Museum, if not each species, 
yet each genus, should be accompanied not merely by the skeleton 
of one of its members, but by typical, anatomical, and embryolo- 
gical preparations. For all this, of course, there is in the vaunted 
new building — “ no room.” But how many thousands might 
have been saved, or how much more room obtained for the same 
money, had the powers that be taken a practical, common-sense 
view of the matter. The mistake, for the present, is irretriev- 
able. Parliament will not, during the present generation, vote 
the money for a fresh building in a more suitable locality. 
F. Fernseed. 
