the Day and Hour in which they are to come, which, on being
sent for, are delivered. If by any Accident some of the Parties
are prevented from coming, it is proper they send their
Ticket back to the Lodge, as nobody can be admitted with it
but themselves. It is to be remarked that the fewer Names there
are in a List, the sooner they are likely to be admitted to see it.”
The establishment of the British Museum was coincident in time with the development of the systematic study of nature, of which Linnaeus was at that time the most distinguished exponent. The modern sciences, the wonderful triumphs of which have revolutionized the world, were just emerging from their infancy. Museums were speedily found to furnish the best agency for preserving the records of advancing knowledge, so far as these consisted of the materials upon which the investigator had laboured. In a short time it became customary for the student, either during his lifetime or at his death, to entrust to the permanent custody of museums the collections upon which he had based his studies and observations. Museums were thenceforth rapidly multiplied, and came to be universally regarded as proper repositories for scientific collections of all kinds. But the use of museums as repositories of the collections of the learned came presently to be associated with their use as seats of original investigation and research. Collections of new and rare objects which had not yet received attentive study came into their possession. Voyages of exploration into unknown lands, undertaken at public or private expense, added continually to their treasures. The comparison of newer collections with older collections which had been already made the subject of study, was undertaken. New truths were thus ascertained. A body of students was attracted to the museums, who in a few years by their investigations began not only to add to the sum of human knowledge, but by their publications to shed lustre upon the institutions with which they were connected. The spirit of inquiry was wisely fostered by private and public munificence, and museums as centres for the diffusion of scientific truth came to hold a well-recognized position. Later still, about the middle of the 19th century, when the importance of popular education and the necessity of popularizing knowledge came to be more thoroughly recognized than it had heretofore been, museums were found to be peculiarly adapted in certain respects for the promotion of the culture of the masses. They became under the new impulse not merely repositories of scientific records and seats of original research, but powerful educational agencies, in which by object lessons the most important truths of science were capable of being pleasantly imparted to multitudes. The old narrow restrictions were thrown down. Their doors were freely opened to the people, and at the beginning of the 20th century the movement for the establishment of museums assumed a magnitude scarcely, if at all, less than the movement on behalf of the diffusion of popular knowledge through public libraries. While great national museums have been founded and all the large municipalities of the world through private or civic gifts have established museums within their limits, a multitude of lesser towns, and even in some cases villages, have established museums, and museums as adjuncts of universities, colleges and high schools have come to be recognized as almost indispensable. The movement has assumed its greatest proportions in Great Britain and her colonies, Germany, and the United States of America, although in many other lands it has already advanced far.
There are now in existence in the world, exclusive of museums of art, not less than 2000 scientific museums which possess in themselves elements of permanence, some of which are splendidly supported by public munificence, and a number of which have been richly endowed by private benefactions.
Great Britain and Ireland.—The greatest museum in London is the British Museum. The natural history department at South Kensington, with its wealth of types deposited there, constitutes the most important collection of the kind in the world. The Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street contains a beautiful and well-arranged collection of minerals and a very complete series of specimens illustrative of the petrography and the invertebrate paleontology of the British Islands. The botanical collections at Kew are classic, and are as rich in types as are the zoological collections of the British Museum. The Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons contains a notable assemblage of specimens illustrating anatomy, both human and comparative, as well as pathology. In London also a number of private owners possess large collections of natural history specimens, principally ornithological, entomological and conchological, in some instances destined to find a final resting place in the national collection. One of the most important of these great collections is that formed by F. Ducane Godman, whose work on the fauna of middle America, entitled Biologia centrali-americana, is an enduring monument to his learning and generosity. The Hon. Walter Rothschild has accumulated at Tring one of the largest and most important natural history collections which has ever been assembled by a single individual. It is particularly rich in rare species which are either already extinct or verging upon extinction, and the ornithological and entomological collections are vast in extent and rich in types. Lord Walsingham has at his country seat, Merton Hall, near Thetford, the largest and most perfect collection of the microlepidoptera of the world which is in existence.
The Ashmolean Museum and the University Museum at Oxford, and the Woodwardian Museum and the University Museum at Cambridge, are remarkable collections. The Free Public Museum at Liverpool is in some respects one of the finest and most successfully arranged museums in Great Britain. It contains a great wealth of important scientific material, and is rich in types, particularly of birds. The Manchester Museum of Owens College and the museum in Sheffield have in recent years accomplished much for the cause of science and popular education. The Bristol Museum has latterly achieved considerable growth and has become a centre of much enlightened activity. The Royal Scottish Museum, the herbarium of the Royal Botanical Garden, and the collections of the Challenger Expedition Office in Edinburgh, are worthy of particular mention. The museum of the university of Glasgow and the Glasgow Museum contain valuable collections. The museum of St Andrews University is very rich in material illustrating marine zoology, and so also are the collections of University College at Dundee. The Science and Art Museum of Dublin and the Public Museum of Belfast, in addition to the works of art which they contain, possess scientific collections of importance.
There are also in Great Britain and Ireland some two hundred smaller museums, in which there are collections which cannot be overlooked by specialists, more particularly by those interested in geology, paleontology and archaeology.
India.—The Indian Museum, the Geological Museum of the Geological Survey of India, and the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden in Calcutta, are richly endowed with collections illustrating the natural history of Hindostan and adjacent countries. The finest collection of the vertebrate fossils of the Siwalik Hills is that found in the Indian Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum in Bombay and the Government Museum in Madras are institutions of importance.
Australia.—The Queensland Museum, and the museum of the Geological Survey of Queensland located in Brisbane, and the National Museum at Melbourne, Victoria, represent important beginnings. Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, is the centre of considerable scientific activity. The museums connected with the university of Sydney, the museum of the Geological Survey of New South Wales, and the Australian Museum, all possess valuable collections. The museum at Adelaide is noteworthy.
New Zealand.—Good collections are found in the Otago Museum, Dunedin, the Canterbury Museum at Christ Church, the Auckland Museum at Auckland, and the Colonial Museum at Wellington.
South Africa.—The South African Museum at Capetown is a flourishing and important institution, which has done excellent work in the field of South African zoology. A museum has been established at Durban, Natal, which gives evidence of vitality.
Egypt.—Archaeological studies overshadow all others in the land of the Nile, and the splendid collections of the great museum of antiquities at Cairo find nothing to parallel them in the domain of the purely natural sciences. A geological museum was, however, established in the autumn of 1903, and in view of recent remarkable paleontological discoveries in Egypt possesses brilliant opportunities.
