The British Museum and American Museums

Abstract

I VERY much regret to learn that my friend Prof. Flower thinks I have done great injustice to the British Museum of Natural History in my article on “American Museums,” which has appeared in the September number of the Fortnightly Review. The article was sent to England last February, and I had no opportunity of correcting the proofs, as some very bad misprints will sufficiently indicate. Nothing was farther from my mind than to make any reflections on the management or arrangement of the Museum by Prof. Flower and the able heads of departments, for all of whom I have the greatest respect; and I am further convinced that much credit is due to them for doing the very utmost that is possible under the circumstances of the case. My strictures on the Museum were intended to apply solely and exclusively to the fundamental principle underlying its arrangement, which principle is embodied in the new building as in the old one. I contrasted strongly the principle of moderate-sized rooms as compared with large galleries,—the principle of exhibiting, to the public, on the one hand, strictly limited typical collections; on the other, almost complete series of species,—the principle of making a geographical arrangement the main feature of a museum, as compared with that in which almost no provision at all is made for such an arrangement.