ak, with single sheets of
plate-glass not less than 7 ft. 6 in. by 5 ft. or 8 ft. by 5 ft. 4 in,
artificially lighted by pendants shaded from the eye; the vertebrates
to be pictorially mounted both in the "general" and "local"
collections, but, of course, zoological sequence and science not to
suffer in consequence; I think that the "local" and "general" typical
collections should be entirely distinct though close to each other in
the same room for comparison; that extreme care should be taken in the
collection and mounting of the animals inhabiting the district, and
that no opportunity be lost of making this latter as complete as
possible; that anything for which the locality is famed, be it fossils
or antiquities, be the chief motif of any provincial museum; that,
failing this, some groups or forms be collected to establish a
monograph, such as Norwich is doing with its Accipitres; that, where
practicable, bones and complete skeletons of animals should be
collected, as being, of the greatest service to all students, be they
medical or biological.

Also that explanatory charts and lists take the place of labels for
the vertebrates, and that all information as to range and distribution
of species be given. Further, that anatomical diagrams and figures
explanatory of the structure and form of animals be provided, together
with all facilities for the study of biology from a scientific
stand-point. I have also laid down the axiom that a very small museum
must and should confine itself to objects collected in its immediate
vicinity, but that a fairly large museum would ever be in a disjointed
and unfurnished state if it relied solely on such specimens. It must,
therefore, have a general collection; and care should be taken in the
selection of specimens so that they may fill up the blanks occurring
in the "local."

Another thing I am quite assured of; it is that the management should
exercise a wise discretion in refusing unsuitable objects (chiefly of
ethnology) or duplicates of common forms, and never receive a
collection if fettered with the condition that "it must be kept
separate." Order, method, neatness, and careful cataloguing I say
nothing about, for I assume that all principals must practise these
virtues to do any good whatever with the collections entrusted to
their care.

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Scanner's remarks.

This book seems to have been printed about 1885. I got my copy when I
was still a te