MUSEUMS AS EDUCATIONAL ADJUNCTS. 
255 
being. Taking this into consideration, the progress of the art of taxidermy has 
been less rapid, and to-day occupies a position less conspicuous in the way of actual 
achievements than would have been expected. 
It would seem that chemists have not by any means done so much for us as 
they might have done towards discovering new and better methods of preservation. 
Nevertheless, some intelligent attention has been given to the subject, and we are 
now able to preserve organized bodies with some degree of satisfaction. 
In the preservation of these objects it should be borne in mind that they 
should be thoroughly and permanently preserved ; that their normal shapes and 
relations of their parts, together with as little shrinkage and loss of color as possible, 
should be aimed at. 
But I cannot here go into detail in reference to the preservation of museum 
specimens. It is a subject of considerable magnitude, and to do it justice, the 
various processes of preparation would have to be described in full, which would 
prolong this paper far beyond its proper limits. 
For details upon the subject, I would respectfully refer the reader to the 
following books and papers noticed at the close of this article, viz: No. 22, and 
Nos. 31 to 42 inclusive. 
N .—Financial Support. 
The importance of liberally supporting museums is set forth in the following 
remarks taken from the Annual Report of the Trustees of the Museum of Com¬ 
parative Zoology, for 1866: 
“The benefits are not local, but are shared by all, and not in one country 
alone, but throughout the entire scientific world. Thus, a large museum carried 
on in the interests of the highest education must do much towards uniting all men 
in interpreting the marvels of creation. We cannot afford to stint any of our 
educational institutions. We cannot have too many scientific classes, or too many 
museums, and money applied to their endowment will surely tend to enrich the 
nation, as well as advance good learning and the broadest culture.” (11. I. 287.) 
In this relation it is, of course, to be lamented that most of our medical 
colleges are dependent for their support upon the patronage of students. I hope, 
however, that I have succeeded in making it evident that even under these circum¬ 
stances the managers of medical colleges will find it to their advantage to encour¬ 
age and support what might be called a ‘ working medical museum.’ That is, 
it need not be extensive, but one which contains typical forms, systematically ar¬ 
ranged, useful for class and laboratory instruction. 
I know that some of the ideas herein advanced with reference to museums in 
connection with medical colleges, partake somewhat of the nature of a new 
departure, but it mnst be borne in mind that as our knowledge increases in special 
lines of thought and experiment, we must have improved methods and better 
facilities for instruction. The advance made by science renders it imperative 
that more extended facilities should be offered to the medical student in the way 
of general and special training in order that he may keep pace with the rapid 
strides which are being made in all scientific matters. The methods of educating 
men for the practice of medicine that have been handed down to us from the past, 
may have been suited to the requirements of their time, but they are certainly 
not in accord with the intellectual necessities of the present age. 
