all kinds, and by working out the history
and significance of those collections. But there is a second and
distinct purpose which is often ignorantly put in the first place. It
is of less importance and quite unlike the first in the methods
necessary for its attainment, and yet is conveniently and
satisfactorily carried out in conjunction with the first. This second
and distinct purpose is the exhibition of such portions of the
collections in a museum as are suitable for exhibition (only a smaller
portion are so) in public galleries, so chosen, arranged, lighted and
labelled as to afford to the public at large the maximum of enjoyment
and edification. This is, as it were, a readily accessible enjoyment
given to the public in recognition of the large sums of public money
expended on the severer and less easily appreciated enterprise of the
museum. The public galleries of a museum, whether of natural history,
antiquities or art, should not contain the bulk of the collection, but
only special things, carefully selected, and equally carefully placed
in case or on wall, with artistic judgment as to space-bordering and
colour of background, and with scientific perfection of illumination,
so as to produce the "just" impression on the leisurely visitor. The
public "exhibit" should be arranged so as to draw attention to a
series of important facts of structure or quality clearly shown by the
specimens, whether they are natural products or works of art, and
these facts should be described in printed labels fully, and the
reason for attaching importance to them explained at sufficient
length. The man who arranges the public galleries (as distinct from
the closed study-rooms) of a public museum, should have a special gift
of exposition in plain language, and be able to separate (both in
regard to his words and to the specimens he selects) the essential
from the non-essential, the significant from the redundant.

It is important to make a complete distinction between an exhibition
intended for the general public and that intended for advanced
students in schools, colleges and universities. The confusion of these
two kinds of exhibition is the cause of the failure of many museums
and of the dislike with which most people regard a visit to them. The
public museum--metropolitan or local--should not include in its
purpose the "academic" instruction of schoolboys and university
students. That requires a different kind of museum, which i