ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS,

WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF A CENTRAL MUSEUM

IN WALES.

BY F. W. RUDLER, F.G.S.,

Professor of Natural Science in the University College of Wales.

[Read before the Cymmrodorion.]

WHEN I had the honour of being invited to read a paper before the Cymmrodorion Society, I cast about me for some subject which should not only fall in with my own line of pursuits by being scientific, but should also bear in some way upon the welfare of Wales, and thus be brought fairly within the sympathies of this Society. The subject which I have been led to select fulfils both these conditions. Having for many years been officially connected with a large museum in London, I have naturally taken much interest in the formation and arrangement of collections, and have seized every opportunity of studying natural history museums-metropolitan, provincial, and continental. In this way I have been led to carefully note the characteristics of a large number of public collections, and to compare what appear to me to be their respective merits and demerits. On coming to Wales, I was of course anxious to learn something of the local museums. "When a naturalist goes from one country to another", said the late Professor Edward Forbes, "his first inquiry is for local collections. He is anxious to see authentic and full cabinets of the productions of the region he is visiting." Such collections, however, not only exhibit the natural productions of the province in which they are situated, but they may be taken as standards by which to gauge the scientific

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spirit of the neighbourhood. Wales possesses, I am pleased to find, many scientific collections; but, at the same time, I am bound to add that those which I have yet had an opportunity of visiting fall far short of what local museums should really be, when measured by the present advanced state of natural science. It has, therefore, occurred to me that a few suggestions on the formation and arrangement of a central museum, to illustrate Cambrian natural history, might not be without interest to those who are anxious to see the educational institutions of Wales not a whit behind those of the most advanced type.

In forming such a museum, the one great object to be steadily kept in view must be that of collecting, arranging, and exhibiting all the natural productions of the Principality. Every animal and vegetable, whether recent or fossil, every mineral and rock, to be found within the limits of Wales, must be adequately represented, so that the museum shall ultimately form a complete exponent of Welsh natural history. But I would go beyond this. Not only should the indigenous productions be exhibited, as presented in their original condition, but the application of these products to the arts of life should equally be illustrated. In other words, the purely scientific department should be supplemented by a technological collection, exhibiting the uses which we make of the natural resources at our command. Such a collection might even be extended with advantage to the local application of foreign raw materials; and would thus completely illustrate the industries which are carried on within the limits of the Principality. Nor should the art and archæology of Wales be neglected; but these are wide subjects, which lie far beyond my present scope.

Whilst we should patriotically aspire to render the local collections as perfect as possible, I would not, by any means, have the usefulness of the museum stop here. Comparing

any local collection with a general collection, it will of course be found that many important groups of animals, vegetables, and minerals are but imperfectly represented, whilst others are altogether blank. There is, consequently, great danger of very limited and inadequate notions of the great system of nature being formed by the student who confines his attention to local natural history. It was the fundamental fault of Werner's system of geology, that he supposed all the world to be modelled after the pattern of the kingdom of Saxony. A student confining his studies to Welsh natural history would be in danger of contracting equally narrow and vitiated views. To counteract such a tendency, it is eminently desirable to form, under proper conditions, a general collection which will give the visitor some notion of, at any rate, the larger groups in which natural bodies are classified. Just as every scientific man should strive to acquire a mastery over some special branch of science, however small, and, at the same time, have a general knowledge of science as wide as possible; so, it seems to me, every provincial museum should aim at illustrating thoroughly the natural history of its locality, whilst it offers, as far as its resources allow, a superficial though sound view of nature in its entirety. There should consequently be two departments to our central museum— one local, and the other general-each with distinct aims, and each appealing to a distinct class of visitors. Differing thus in their objects, it would be well to keep the two departments entirely apart, as is done, for example, in the Worcester Museum, where a special room is devoted to the illustrations of the natural history of the county. Whilst our local collection would certainly give value to the museum in the eyes of genuine students of science, who would be attracted thither by the opportunity of taking a complete survey of Welsh natural history, it is probable, on the other hand, that the general collection would form the chief source of interest

to the casual visitor and less-advanced student. But this general collection must be kept within moderate limits. The investigator, who has occasion to study with thoroughness any particular group of natural objects, will assuredly resort to the great metropolitan collections; and it would be absurd for a provincial museum to endeavour to illustrate with completeness any natural group, unless it happen to be indigenous. All that we should attempt in the general collection is to convey to the visitor, who uses it educationally, some broad, though clearly defined, notions of the larger groups of natural bodies. This may be done, and indeed best done, by the display of only a limited number of typical specimens, provided that they are selected with judgment, and displayed with intelligence. We have no need of a multitude of objects, tending to bewilder rather than to enlighten. Nor should we covet rare specimens, which always cost much, and often teach little. Neither should we seek pretty and attractive things, such as are to be found in some museums, heaped together in bower-birdish fashion, where they gratify the senses, without nourishing the intellect. Let us by all means have rare and pretty specimens, if they can claim educational value, but not simply for sake of their rarity or their beauty. What we really want is a moderate number of comparatively common objects, judiciously selected, accurately classified, well displayed, and fully illustrated, where necessary, by preparations and diagrams. Such a collection, though small, would have far higher educational worth, and would command greater respect from scientific authorities, than the large heterogeneous collections of unassorted donations which frequently form the bulk of museums of old-fashioned type. "Unfortunately", says Professor Edward Forbes,1" not a few country

1 "On the Educational Value of Museums." Being the Introductory Lecture at the Metropolitan School of Science (now the Royal School of Mines) for the Session 1853-54.

museums are little better than raree-shows. They contain an incongruous accumulation of things curious or supposed to be curious, heaped together in disorderly piles, or neatly spread out with ingenious disregard of their relations. The only label attached to nine specimens out of ten is, 'Presented by Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so'; the object of the presentation having been either to cherish a glow of generous self-satisfaction in the bosom of the donor, or to get rid-under the semblance of doing a good action-of rubbish that had once been prized, but latterly had stood in the way. Curiosities from the South Seas, relics worthless in themselves, deriving their interest from association with persons or localities, a few badly stuffed quadrupeds, rather more birds, a stuffed snake, a skinned alligator, part of an Egyptian mummy, Indian gods, a case or two of shells, the bivalves usually single and the univalves decorticated, a sea urchin without its spines, a few common corals, the fruit of a double cocoa-nut, some mixed antiquities, partly local, partly Etruscan, partly Roman and Egyptian, and a case of minerals and miscellaneous fossils-such is the inventory and about the scientific order of their contents." These words were spoken more than twenty years ago. During that time, science has grown rapidly in this country, fostered chiefly by the Department of Science and Art; whilst local museums have multiplied under the Public Libraries Act of 1855.1 Yet there are too many provincial collections to which Professor Forbes's language may still be fitly applied. Hence, a word on the principles of classification and the method of exhibition to be carried out in a local scientific museum may not be out of place.

1 An Act for further promoting the Establishment of Free Public Libraries and Museums in Municipal Towns, and for extending it to Towns governed under Local Improvement Acts and to Parishes. 18 and 19 Vict., c. 70. It is understood that Mr. Mundella intends to introduce a Bill for extending this Act.