Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895; Naturalists -- England -- Biography
[According to Huxley's views a complete system demanded a triple museum
for each subject, Zoology and Botany, since Geology was sufficiently
provided for in Jermyn Street--one typical or popular, "in which all
prominent forms or types of animals or plants, recent or fossil, should
be so displayed as to give the public an idea of the vast extent and
variety of natural objects, to diffuse a general knowledge of the
results obtained by science in their investigation and classification,
and to serve as a general introduction to the student in Natural
Science"; the second scientific, "in which collections of all available
animals and plants and their parts, whether recent or fossil, and in a
sufficient number of specimens, should be disposed conveniently for
study, and to which should be exclusively attached an appropriate
library, or collection of books and illustrations relating to science,
quite independent of any general library"; the third economic, "in which
economic products, whether zoological or botanical, with illustrations
of the processes by which they are obtained and applied to use, should
be so disposed as best to assist the progress of Commerce and the Arts."
It demanded further a Zoological and a Botanical Garden, where the
living specimens could be studied.
Some of these institutions existed, but were not under state control.
Others were already begun--e.g. that of Economic Zoology at South
Kensington; but the value of the botanical collections was minimised by
want of concentration, while as to zoology "the British Museum contains
a magnificent collection of recent and fossil animals, the property of
the state, but there is no room for its proper display and no
accommodation for its proper study. Its official head reports directly
neither to the Government nor to the governing body of the
institution...It is true that the people stroll through the enormous
collections of the British Museum, but the sole result is that they are
dazzled and confused by the multiplicity of unexplained objects, and the
man of science is deprived thrice a week of the means of advancing
knowledge."
The agitation of 1859-60 bore fruit in due season, and within twenty
years the ideal here sketched was to a great extent realised, as any
visitor to the Natural History Museum at South Kensington can see for
himself.
The same principles are reiterated in his letter of January 25, 1868, to
the Commissioners of the Manchester Natural History Society, who had
asked his advice as to the erection of a museum. But to the principles
he adds a number of most practical suggestions as to the actual
structure of the building, which are briefly appended in abstract. The
complement to this is a letter of 1872, giving advice as to a local
museum at Chester, and one of 1859 describing the ideal catalogue for a
geological museum.]
January 25, 1868.
The Commissioners of the Manchester Natural History Society.
SCHEME FOR A MUSEUM.
OBJECTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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