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 ON MUSEUMS 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER CLASSIFIED COLLECTIONS, TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT, 
 AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION IN NATURAL SCIENCE. 
 
 BY II E >r R Y S ( ; A D D I N O , D . D . 
 
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 [IVom the " Canadian Journal."] 
 
 ON MUSEUMS 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER CLASSIFIED COLLECTIONS, TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT, 
 AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION IN NATURAL SCIENCE. 
 
 UY HENRY SCADDIXG, I). D. 
 
 Reixd htfore the Canudion IhsIUhU, Jannanj 13th, IS71, as the PrefUhiit'f AildrC'<s for the 
 
 Session 1S70-71. 
 
 So many persons had the advantage of examining for themselves the 
 Great Exhibition at Paris in 1867, and such full accounts and profuse 
 illustrations of its contents and surroundings were everywhere to be 
 seen, that it seemed for a long while very much like an impertinence 
 whenever any one proceeded to offer, in any formal way, additional 
 observations on the subject. 
 
 It was, I remember, some vague feeling of this kind that induced 
 me to refrain from committing to paper and reading to the Institute, 
 during its session of 1867-8, an abstract of a variety of memoranda 
 made in the Exhibition, and some of the thoughts which could not but 
 be stirred within one by a spectacle so marvellous as that Exhibition 
 undoubtedly was : it seemed foolish to imagine that there was any 
 point in relation '" i scene so palpable and accessible to every one, that 
 had not already Ijen well and sufficiently remarked upon. 
 
 A considerable interval, however, has now elapsed ; and the events 
 of the intervening time have, in the general mind, thrust back the 
 occurrences of 1867 into comparative oblivion. Moreover, some of the 
 most recent of those events have created the probability that such 
 another very perfecu international gathering will not again be witnessed 
 for some years to come. 
 
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 2 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 It may consequently be an act less out of place, and of less presump. 
 tuous seeming at the present instant, than in some way it appeared tc 
 be in 1867, for any one who imagines he has anything to say on the 
 subject, to indulge for a few moments audibly in his recollections of, or 
 deductions from, a display which was so unique, and the witnessing of 
 which could not but form an era in his experience. 
 
 I have therefore ventured on this occasion — no other eary subject 
 readily suggesting itself — to offer to the Institute, after all; some of the 
 casual and, as I fear even now it will be deemed, rather unimportant, 
 annotations and ideas, which I did not think it worth while to occupy 
 their time with in 1867-8. 
 
 On 3 desire which I found myself haunted with, on returning home 
 fresh from a brief — too brief — inspection of the marvellously diversified, 
 but beautifully classified contents of the Paris Exhibition, was to impress 
 upon all with whom I held any communication, and especially on young 
 Canadians about to travel, the practical, self-educating use to which they 
 might put their visits to Great Britain and the continent of Europe, 
 where access is so easy to grand and extraordinary assemblages of 
 objects, industrial, scientific and artistic, either temporary, like the 
 successive international expo';itions, or permanent but constantly aug- 
 menting, like the national museums to be found in capital cities and 
 university towns. 
 
 For the most part, I fear, such collections are approached by the 
 tourist, from Canada as from elsewhere, in a light and trivial spirit — 
 are gazed at simply as displays of so many singular, or beautiful, or 
 very useful objects. 
 
 But the doctrine which I longed to impress, and which I of course 
 at the same time knew to be neither novel nor abstruse, was, that in 
 the mind of every one about to enjoy the advantage of access to a great 
 classified coll action of objects anywhere, there should be a pre-arranged 
 scheme of examination ; a certain intention ; a definite aim and object : 
 there should be, if practicable, some especial subject of study, or a 
 particular point in some especial subject of real interest to the observer, 
 on which additions to his store of knowledge were sincerely desired. 
 Then, at once, the great museum or other large classified assemblage 
 of objects — although access to it could be had only for a few days, or 
 even for a few hours — ceases to be a mere show or plaything, and is 
 transformed into a gallery of illustration — a delightful and precious 
 instrument of self-education; a means of mental expansion, intellectual 
 
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AH INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
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 enrichment, and positive increase of personal competency, in whatever 
 sphere of duty the observer may be acting. 
 
 And the subject which, amongst a host of others, I thought might 
 conveniently have a large amount of light thrown on it by such exten- 
 sive collections as those to be met with at the present day in Great 
 Britain and on the continent of Europe, was Natural Science, in some 
 one or other, or all, of its divisions, of Mechanical Philosophy, Chemistry 
 and Physiology. 
 
 Natural Science is a subject which is now more or less attended to in 
 all our schools, I believe; but of course only its most elementary prin- 
 ciples :ire expounded there; and the appliances for illustration are, of 
 necessity, circumscribed and meagre. 
 
 A few days, or even hours, judiciously spent in some such collection 
 as that which was to be seen in the Universal Exhibition at Paris, by a 
 youth familiarized with and interested in the elementary principles of 
 Natural Science, might be productive to him of results of life-long 
 importance. Not only, in a general way, would his mental view be 
 likely to be widened, but his profession or career might bo happily 
 decided by an extra impulse there given to a taste, tendency or talent; 
 and a hint, or idea, paught from things and processes then for the first 
 time seen, might lead in practice afterwards to fume and riches, and to 
 the increase of a country's resources. 
 
 With the hope that even a rapid sketch of that collection may, here 
 and there, contribute slightly to like positive results, I now proceed 
 with my proposed annotations, purposing to add afterwards a brief 
 notice of the Museum at Oxford, and of one or two other kindred 
 establishments. 
 
 The Champ de Mars in Paris, the plot of ground on which tbd 
 Exhibition of 1867 took place, is an area of 103J acres. The whole 
 of this space was required for the purpose, and fifty acres more in ttie 
 island of Billancrurt, a few miles down the Seine. In Billancourt the 
 agricultural objects were to be seen, and experiment in scientific agri- 
 culture were performed. Here competitive experiments with ploughs 
 and other instruments worked by steam were carried on, exhibiting the 
 comparative effects of animal and machine labour, and showing the 
 possibility of the application of mechanical force to cultivation even on 
 a small scale. Here were machines for drill-sowing and reaping in 
 operation. Grass was cut, turned over and raked, and made up into 
 heaps, by machinery. Here was a miniature dairy-farm, on which 
 
 
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 4 ON MUSEUMS, tec, 
 
 economical processes for the preparation of food for cattle were going 
 OD ; and the manufacture of butter, cheese, oil, cider and piquetfef a 
 kind of sour wine made from unripe grapes, and much drunk by the 
 peasantry of France. 3Iodes of preparing different manures were 
 shewn. The basket-maker, the cooper, the wooden-shoe maker, the 
 farrier, the blacksmith, were all plying their respective trades, aided by 
 the most ingenious mechanical contrivances. 
 
 Incessant communication was maintained with the island of Billan- 
 court by rail and steamboat. 
 
 Of the 103J acres contained in the Champ do Mars, the Exhibition 
 build'ng itself, or Palace proper, covered 31} acres (153,194 square 
 yards). The space outside the Palace was styled the Park. An innu- 
 merable multitude of buildings were here to be seen in every variety of 
 form — kiosks, pavilions, chitlets, churches, chapels, bell-towers, school- 
 houses, barracks, temples, palaces, huts, Tartar wigwams, theatres, 
 stables, windmills, bath-houses, conservatories; with several real light- 
 houses, one of them 220 feet in height, displaying at night the elec- 
 trical light. The edifices just spoken of were scattered about most 
 promiscuously, as it might seem; but each had it- relation to oiio or 
 other of tlie exhibiting nations, and each gave shelter to and conve- 
 niently displayed some speoial product or products of that nation, 
 natural or artificial. Although at the first glance the paths leading 
 to these buildings seemed labyrinthine enough, by the aid of a plan uu 
 great difficulty was found in threading one's way to any desired point. 
 
 Very conspicuous in the western portion of the Park, on the avenue 
 leading towards the Military School, was one object which quickly fixed 
 the eye, and which even in 1867 was regarded as ominous. This was 
 a bronze equestrian statue of King William of Prussia, raised aloft ou 
 a high pedestal, of colossal dimensions, and crowned with laurel. 
 Towering up to a height of twenty-five feet, it seemed to dominate the 
 western portion of the Park, It was in jest likened at the time to the 
 fatal Horse which found its way into the heart of Troy. It was little 
 imagined that the comparison was destined to be so nearly exact as it 
 has proved. Another ominous Prussian object, in another place, filling 
 every beholder with awe, was the so-called Krupp gun, a cast-steel 
 breech-loading cannon, weighing vfith its carriage 141,002 lbs. To 
 enable this monster to reach Paris, tiie railway bridges in some places 
 were strengthened. A multitude of other kindred implements of 
 destruction accompanied it. Sorrow and shame, and indignation, could 
 
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AS INSTRUMENTS OP EDUCATION. 
 
 5 
 
 not but be stirred by the reflection that such, after all, were the nltimm 
 rationed of European diploniaijy. Rossini's hymn, too, composed for 
 the occasion of the distribution of the awards at this Fxhibition, and 
 there rendored with orchestral acconipaniments and appliances of the 
 grandest description, wound up, ominously, as was observed at the time, 
 with the toUinfi of bells and the booming of cannon. 
 
 But to proceed. The l^^lace itself, the Exhibition proper, was a 
 structure of iron, having the appearance of being an ellipse in outline, 
 but in reality it was a square, with semicircles attached to the north 
 and south sides. Its circumference measured just a mile. The 
 whole was only of one storey. Fatigue in visiting its parts was thus 
 diminished. To examine cursorily the contents of the Palace, it was 
 necessary to perform the circuit of it at least eight times It was 
 divided into zones or bands, concentric, so to speak; and these zones 
 or bands were cut into sections by passages radiating from the uiiddle 
 area of the building. Each of these radiating passages had a distin- 
 guishing name. Associations nnthought of in 1807 would now attach 
 to some of the titles on the French side of the Palace, as, for example, 
 Rue d' Alsace, Rue de Lorraine. The central area of the building was a 
 beautiful ornamental garden-plot, with flowers, fountains, and an abun- 
 dance of statuary in marble. Its dimensions were 460 by 180 feet. In 
 the middle of the garden was a pavilion 'or temple, in which centred, 
 of course, the apices of all the areas occupied by the several nations, 
 bounded respectively by the radiating passages and segments of the 
 elliptical circumference. The use to which this temple was put will be 
 presently mentioned. 
 
 To one passing through the zones or bands, the objects exhibited 
 appeared arranged according to the place of production of each ; but 
 to one passing up or down the radiating passages, the same objects 
 appeared arranged according to the nature of each. This was an inge- 
 nious and very interesting contrivance. 
 
 Nine-tenths of the east half of the building was occupied by France, 
 the remaining tenth by Belgium and the Netherlands. 
 
 The west half was occupied, largely, by England and her Colonies; 
 by the States of North and South America; by Spain and her colo- 
 nies; by Russia, Austria, North and South Germany; and, in slips, 
 narrow as compared with the spaces occupied by the other nations, by 
 Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Rome, 
 
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 ON MUSEUMS, kc. 
 
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 the Danubian Principalities, Turkey, Egypt, China, Japan, Siam, 
 Persia, Tunis and Morocco. 
 
 The phice of Canada in the great industrial, scientific and artistic 
 Cosmos was discoverable, but not immediately obvious. Australia, I 
 remember, asserted itself much more decidedly, and showed greater 
 individuality. And heroin a fact is symbolized. Australia, as a great 
 region of the Greater Dritain, is much more accurately realized, I 
 think, in the common mind of the mother-country, and of Europe 
 perhaps, than is Canada. Canada lies in the shadow cast by the great 
 pyramid thrown up, or being thrown up, on its southern side, and is 
 but dimly .seen. It is still, to a great extent, thought of, not as a vast 
 region filled or filling with millions of English-speaking workers, 
 emigrants from the IJritish Islands, but as a French colony in the 
 military occupation of Uritain. Even at the Exhibition in Paris, 
 prominent objecis to be seen in the Canadian slip, as well as the names 
 of several of the Canadian commissioners, served to perpetuate the 
 impression in regard to Canada to which I have alluded. 
 
 liut again to proceed : The temple or pavilion in the midst of the 
 central garden contained specimens of the coins, weights and measures 
 used in the countries enumerated, those of each country respectively 
 being placed in the apex of the section occupied in the elliptical area 
 by that country. 
 
 The first circuit of the Palace by the passage next to the central 
 garden was made through what was entitled the Gallery of the History 
 of Labour. This was a classified museum of the archceology of each 
 country. A means of judging of the progress made in the successive 
 centuries by each country, in industry and art, was thus afforded. To 
 this collection the choicest and most curious objects were sent from the 
 publi repositories in each country; and it is supposed there hnd never 
 before been presented at one view suuh an assemblage of the relics of 
 past ages. 
 
 It will give an idea of this remarkable gallery if I set down the sub- 
 divisions in the French portion of it, an analogous classificati'^n being 
 adopted, so far as was practicable in the space occupied by tlio other 
 nations. French archaeological objects were arranged up 'er tho heads 
 of — Gaul before the use of metals; Independent Gaul; G'U* under 
 the Romans; The Franks to the Coronation of Charlemagn-' ^A,j). 800); 
 The (Jarlovingians, from the beginning of the 9th to the end of the 11th 
 century; The Middle Ages, from the beginning of the 12th century to 
 
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 AS INSTRnMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Louis XL iooluBive ; Tho Renaissance from Charles VIII. to Henry IV. 
 (IGIO); Tho Reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV. (1610 to 1715); The 
 Rei^n of Louis XV. ; Tho Reign of Louis XVI. and ♦l;o Revolution 
 (1774 to 1800). In tho parts of this gallery devoted to tho early 
 portion of the medincval period, splendid manuscripts and illuminations 
 constituted a striking feature. Tho identity of stylo observable in the 
 illuminations of certain very ancicui; Persian or Arabian manuscripts 
 hero Hhown, and those which decorate the productions of tho Greek 
 and Latin monasteries, was very curi jus to notice. 
 
 In the Swiss portion of this gallery were to be seen innumerable 
 relics of the famous primitive lake-villages, built on piles, which have 
 recently been discovered, and which Arthur Helps has endeavored so 
 pleasantly in his Realmah to rehabilitate and people with a wise and 
 understanding set of inhabitants. These remains wore referred to ages 
 of stone, bronze ant', iron. Pictures reproducing those ancient Swiss 
 villages were also displayed. 
 
 The next circuit of the building to be made was through the Gallery 
 of Fine Arts. Each circuit, of course, became larger as one advanced 
 outward. This gallery was filled with paintings, drawings, sculptures 
 in groups, single figures, busts and medallions; drawings and models 
 in architecture, engravings and lithographs. Vela's Napoleon Mourant 
 was ever surrounded by a throng, watching the figure as though it were 
 a flesh-and-blood reality. The Columbus revealing America of the same 
 artist, a colossal group, was especially interesting to persons from the 
 Canadian side of the Atlantic. An Episode of the Deluge, by Luccardi, 
 obtained the highest prize in sculpture, with the Cross of the Legion 
 of Honour added to it — a fine group, representing a father and mother 
 and infant child, the waters just reaching them. — Whilst engaged in 
 making memoranda on the spot of several special coins in a fine ancient 
 collection in the Italian section, I noticed close at hand ^he quiet hist ! 
 of the police, indicating that one was being watched. The special coins 
 pencilled down on this occasion, as not having been seen before, were, 
 I find, a Livia as Justitia, a Livia as Pietas, a Manila Scantilla, a 
 Lucilla, a Paula, an Orbiana, and a Galeria Valeria ; with a Pupianus, 
 a Balbinus, and a Romulus Augustulus. 
 
 Again we passea round through the building. Now it was through 
 a gallery bearing over its entrances the inscription — The Materials of 
 the Liberal Arts. These were found to be paper for printing purposes 
 and all purposes; letter-press and printed books; book-binder's work; 
 
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 ON MUSEUMS, &e.. 
 
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 drawing materials; applications of drawing and modelling to the useful 
 arts; photographs; musical instruments of all kinds; medical appa- 
 ratus and surgical instruments of all kinds; things defined to be 
 " instruments of precision, and material for teaching the sciences," 
 that is, astronomical and land-surveying instruments, theodolites, &Cm 
 thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, maps geological and otherwise, 
 and plans in relief Especially noticeable among "printed books" 
 were magnificent large-paper copies of Louis Napoleon's Life of Caesar, 
 a production likely to be classed hereafter among the curiosities of lite- 
 rature, its author and his position at the time of its composition being 
 considered. 
 
 One always knew when he had completed the circuit of the building 
 by finding himself again in the grand vestibule, a wide and noble 
 passage leading straight from the principal entrance of the Palace to 
 the central garden ; a passage usually thronged with a mixed multitude, 
 and itself supplied with objects of interest, as, for example, a succes- 
 sion of magnificent specimens of prize plate, won in England by 
 French horses. At several points along the middle of this passage 
 were circles of seats or divans. A vacant spot on one of these was 
 often anxiously watched for in vain by the wearied investigator. 
 
 Proceeding again still outwards, we entered the next gdlery. This 
 was styled the Gallery of Furniture; in French brie'jy Mobib'er. This 
 term included an immense variety of things : furniture literally, of the 
 most elaborate description ; inlaid woodwork, picture frames, paintings 
 on wood, tapestries, carpets, crystal, ornamental glass, window glass 
 transparent and opaque, pottery, cutlery, silver and gold ware, works of 
 art in bronze, silver and iron, watches, chronometers, clocks, heating 
 and lighting apparatus, objects in morocco, brushes, products from 
 woody fibre. &c. Among articles of furniture exhibited was "the 
 cradle of the Prince Imperial." On coming suddenly upon this object, 
 I remember thinking its display here a slight overtax on the public 
 curiosity. A resplendent dinner set in silver gilt, the property of the 
 Emperor, duly arranged on a long dining-table, was also exhibited. 
 
 The gallery into which we next passed had the inscription 
 "Vetement" over it — "Clothing." Here, in addition to articles of 
 dress of all kinds and in every grade of magnificence, we find cotton, 
 hemp and flax fabrics in infinite variety, silk tissues, combed and carded 
 wool, lace, muslin, embroideries, artificial flowers, caps, hats of straw 
 and all other customary material, head-dresses and shoes, precious stones, 
 
- -. v.- '-' 
 
 AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 9 
 
 enamels, engraved jewellery. Here also were portable fire-arms, travel- 
 ling apparatus and toys. Life-size and life-like figures, carefully dressed 
 in the costumes of different countries, and of various provinces of 
 different countries, literally " from China to Peru," were set up in 
 divers places within this gallery. The large groups of real precious 
 stones of every name, and of jewel-sets in every variety of form, contri- 
 buted, not only by numerous manufacturers, but by imperial, royal and 
 other personages in difl^erent parts of Europe, were quite fairylandish 
 in character. Here, for one thing, was to be seen the Sancy diamond, 
 once the property of our Jarties IT., and sold by him to Louis XIV. 
 for £25,000. In another place I remember a cluster of unwrought 
 emeralds, shown as found in a Russian mine — a number of long, thick,, 
 six-sided crystals, of a pur'^ green colour, bristling out irregularly 
 from the sides of a great block of the whitish matrix in which they 
 had been formed. 
 
 Another gallery was now to be examined. This was entitled the 
 Gallery of Raw Materials ; in French " Maiit^res Premieres." 
 
 This, though the least showy, was possibly the most instructive of all 
 the galleries to the student. Here the observant traveller, with a 
 design of increasing his practical acquaintance with the products and 
 applications of Natural Science, would have reaped a rich harvest. 
 Here, if the visitor had the time, he could be deliberate, and be but 
 slightly disturbed ; for generally speaking the crowd was not great in 
 this zone of the Palace. Here were collections and specimens of rocks, 
 minerals and ores, ornamental stones, marble, serpentine, onyx, hard 
 rocks, refractory substances, earths and clay, sulphur, rock salt, salt 
 from salt springs, bitumen and petroleum, specimens of fuel in its 
 natural state and carbonized, compressed coal, metals in a crude state 
 pig-iron, iron, steel, cast steel, copper, lead, silver, zinc, alloys, products 
 from the washing and refining precious metals, gold beating, electro- 
 metallurgy, objects gilt, silvered or coated with copper or steel by 
 galvanic process, products of the working of metals, rough castings, 
 bells, wrought iron, iron for special purposes, sheet iron and tin plates, 
 iron plates for casing ships, copper, lead and zinc sheets, manufactured 
 metal, blacksmith's work, wheels, tires, unwelded pipes, chains, wire- 
 drawing, needles, pins, wire work, and wire gauze, perforated sheet 
 iron, hardware, ironmongery, edge tools, copper and tin ware, other 
 metal manufactures. Such a detail as this of objects, spread over only 
 a very small portion of the Gallery of Matieres Premieres, gives an idea 
 
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 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 of the enormous multitude of matters and things displayed; in the midst 
 of which nevertheless reigned the most perfect order, making examina- 
 tion and study quite possible. Without airain being as specific, it 
 will suffice to say, that after these products of mining and metallurgy 
 just named, came products of the cultivation of forests and of the 
 trades appertaining thereto. Then, the products of shooting, fishing, 
 &ad of the pjathering of fruits obtained without cultivation. Then, 
 agricultural products (not used as food), easily preserved; which 
 included among other textile materials, such as raw cotton and hemp, 
 the cocoons of silk worms. Then came chemical and pharmaceutical 
 products. Then specimens of the chemical processes for bleaching, 
 dying, pointing and dressing. Than leather and skins, including gut 
 work. The whole of the Bussian department was redolent of llussia 
 leather. 
 
 We reached now the sixth gallery, which was nearly a mile round 
 and of extra dimensions. This was the Gallery of Machines, of appa- 
 ratus and processes employed in the common arts. 
 
 All along its middle space was a slightly raised platform, on which 
 appeared a forest of cast-iron with a plentiful undergrowth of the same 
 material; mechanisms great and. small applied to every human purpose, 
 most of them busily in action. Here were railway apparatus, telegraph 
 apparatus, civil engineering apparatus, architectural apparatus, naviga- 
 tion and life-boat apparatus. 
 
 I subjoin an extract from my memoranda : — 
 
 "I next undertake the outermost gallery, that of Machines. This is nearly a 
 mile round : it ought to be Journeyed through twice for even a cursory view of 
 it, as there is a highway on each side of the central roped-off space in which for the 
 most part the machines are placed, while there is a vast display also of objects 
 round the whole of the sides of each of the passages opposite to the central enclosed 
 space. This part of the building is about twice the height of the interior zones, to 
 give room for machine-structures of considerable altitude when setup. The rest- 
 less sound of innumerable machines at work is immediately to be heard ; their 
 movements also strike the eye ; the smell of oil and oily steam salutes the nostrils, 
 but only faintly ; the furnaces, the generateurs de va[)eur, arc placed at intervals 
 outside. Entering as before on the French side I notice a gigantic trophy of 
 iron and steel bars ready to be converted into anything, I pass cannon, fire- 
 engines, looms for all fabrics at work, steam-engines of an endless variety of 
 construction, circular saws, brick-making machines, gigantic organs here and 
 there pealing out grand music occasionally amidst the confused machine-babcl> 
 steam-pumps bringing in actual rivers of water, distilling apparatus, sugar-making 
 apparatus, models of ships-of-war with their machinery of propulsion. In Prussia. 
 
mmmmmi 
 
 v 
 
 AS INSTRUMENTS OP EDUCATION. 
 
 11 
 
 cannons — one monster weighing fifty tons; revolving cannon; ambulances; a 
 triumphal arch of imitation marble. In England, locomotive engines ; donkey 
 engines; printing presses; electric printing presses; wood-cutting machines; 
 carding machines for wool, cotten and flax ; lanterns for lighthouses ; coaclies ; 
 hat-making, sugar-plum-making and sewing machines. Near one of the entrances 
 to this gallery I noticed a gilded pyramid representing the gold produced from 
 the mines of Victoria, in Australia, in fifteen years, viz., 1851-66 ; its base, 10 feet 
 square ; its height, «3 feet ; its solid content, 2,081 cubic feet ; value representedi 
 one hundred and fifty millions sterling. In the Australian compartment was a 
 model of a £10,000 nugget." 
 
 The outermost circlo of all was the Gallery of Food and Drinks : 
 Aliments et Boissons. This gallery was open to the Park all round 
 the exterior wall of the Palace. A projecting verandah-roof extended 
 out over the whole of it. Underneath, in addition to a scientific 
 display behind glass of all f5ort3 of substances in any way connected 
 with the edible and the potable, there was a series of real restaurants, 
 ono after the fashion of one nation another after the fat,, ion of another. 
 These cstoblishmcnts were usually thronged, and the scenes presented 
 in a promenade round the whole of the exterior of the Palace were 
 those of a well-peopled Parisian boulevard. 
 
 Of the wonderful Park in the midst of which the Palace stood, I 
 have already briefly spoken. I may add that a meandering stream, a 
 cascade and a lake, all artificial, gave variety to its French portion. 
 Also two immense aquaria are specially recalled, one of salt water, the 
 other of fresh, underneath which the visitor might go and see a variety 
 of strange fish sporting above his head as though he were at the bottom 
 of the sea. • 
 
 A niagniliccnt velum or tapestry awning, green in colour and 
 sprinkled over with golden bees, had a grand classic eflFec^, stretched 
 over the whole of the wide avenue leading from the entrance gate by 
 the Seine up to the principal entrance to the Palace, sustained at 
 regular distances by lofty pules bearing long pendant gonfalons. 
 
 Though the Palace with its innumerable satellite appurtenances 
 quickly vatiished like a vapour, records of its existence and syetem were 
 made. The story of its beautiful exemplification of law and order in 
 the midst of an unparalleled multiplicity remains; and that, as I have 
 already hinted, may serve in instances here and there to assist a 
 thoughtful youth to methods by means of which he may, if he will, 
 divide and conquer the domain of human knowledge, and especially 
 that province of it which is occupied by Natural Science and its practical 
 applicatioDs. 
 
 ,-«. ■ 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 

 
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 (I r H 
 
 - %i 
 
 <.\ 
 
 •ssr" 
 
 12 
 
 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 The career of Napoleon III., the originator of the spectacle which 
 rendered 1867 so memorable, will doubtless hereafter be employed, after 
 the traditional fashion, to point a moral and adorn a tale. He will be 
 one more convspicuous instance of the instability of human greatness- 
 He will be parallelled perhaps in sentimental strain with Croesus. Solon 
 had said to Croesus, when displaying to him his magnificence as King 
 of Ionia, " No one while he lives is happy." When in the grasp of 
 Cyrus, Croesus recalled with groans this saying of 8olon. The oracle 
 had said to Croesus, " Go up against Persia, and thou shalt destroy a 
 great empire." He went up accordingly, but with the fate that has 
 befallen Napoleon. With reason did he, when in durance, send to 
 ask of Apollo if he were not ashamed of having encouraged him, as the 
 destined destroyer of the empire of Cyrus, to begin a war with Persia, 
 of which such were the first fruits ; and with equal reason did Apollo 
 reply, " When the God told him that if he attacked the Persians, he 
 would destroy a mighty empire, he ought, if he had been wise, to have 
 sent again and inquired which empire was meant, that of Cyrus or his 
 own." Again, 7n«7a</.s mutandis, the words of Croesus to Cyrus might 
 be addressed by Napoleon to William of Prussia, '^ What I did, King, 
 was to thy advantage, and to my own loss. If there be blame, it rests 
 with the God of the Greeks, who encouraged me to begin the war. No 
 one is so foolish as to prefer to peace war, in which instead of sons 
 burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. But the gods willed 
 it so." And this convenient shifting off from human shoulders of the 
 burden of responsibility would probably be accepted with complacency 
 by the Prussian King. 
 
 The words, however, of Napoleon III., which in connexion with the 
 Exposition of 1867, I was purposing to quote, when this digression 
 was induced, were these : — " The Exhibition of 1867," he said, in the 
 really noble address which accompanied ^he delivery by himself of the 
 medals to the successful exhibitors, " will, I hope, inaugurate a new 
 era of harmony and progress. Assured that Providence blesses the 
 efforts of all those who, like ourselves, wish to do good, I believe in 
 the final triumph of the great principles of morale and justice, which, by 
 satisfying all legitimate aspirations, can alone consolidate thrones, elevate 
 the people, and ennoble humanity." 
 
 These words, heard now amid the dreadful echoes which every hour 
 reach us from what was beautiful and comparatively prosperous France, 
 have a strange and hollow sound. They may, in spite of appearance, 
 
AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 13 
 
 yet prove true, although the issue may be brought about otherwise, 
 than as the speaker imagined. The most acute of men are often at fault 
 in their foresight. When the " Emperor of the French" pronounced 
 these noble words, he was surrounded by a group such as may possibly 
 be never seen assembled together again. On his right hand sat the 
 Sultan himself, Abdul-Azziz-Khan ; there sat also the heir apparent of 
 England, the heir apparent of the Netherlands, his own son, the heir 
 apparent of France, the Prince of Saxony, Prince Teck, the Duke of 
 Cambridge, the Due d' Aosta. On his left were to be seen the heir 
 apparent of Prussia, the heir apparent of Italy, Prince Hermann of 
 Saxony, Prince Napoleon, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Mohammed- 
 Mourat-Effendi, Abdul-Mamid. Behind him and the Empress were 
 arranged, besides a number of Princesses and Duchesses, the eldest 
 son of the Sultan, the brother of the (so-called) Tycoon of Japan 
 Prince Lucien Murat, Prince Joachim Murat, Prince Achillo Murat, 
 Prince Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, with the great officers of imperial 
 France and the suites of the foreign Princes. 
 
 All of this assemblage, with thousands of others present, applauded 
 the exalted ideas of Louis Napoleon at the moment doubtless with 
 sincerity ; and all anticipated possibly as little as the speaker himself 
 the bewildering collapse which was about so swiftly to ensue. 
 
 Nevertheless no thoughtful person familiar with the history of man 
 in the past can doubt of the progress of man in the future. That 
 progress will no doubt still be beset with impediments, as usual ; but 
 its rate may, in the age which is close at hand, be accelerated. 
 
 Unparalleled disasters have fallen upon Europe. Quidnuid ddirant 
 reffes, plectuntur Achod, has proved true again, and this time on a scale 
 more gigantic than ever. On a scale more gigantic than ever have the 
 many been made to suffer by the few. The rivalry, the ambition, the 
 caprice of rulers have brought lamentations, and mourning, and woe 
 into every household of the ruled. Will not the very enormity of the 
 desolations created hasten the day when nations, peoples and languages 
 will effectually secure themselves against an evil so dire ? Through the 
 reaction which is sure to ensue on the termination of the exit-ting most 
 lamentable condition of things, is it not reasonable to hope that peace 
 and happiness, truth and justice, will more rapidly and widely prevail 
 among men in the immediate future, than they have done in the past? 
 
 1 now ask you to transport yourselves in imagination from the City 
 of Paris to Oxford. 
 
 
 ■ 5 
 
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if 
 
 V 
 V 
 
 14 
 
 ON MUSEUMS. &c., 
 
 The Oxford Museum (the New Museum, as it is there called) is 
 contained in a range of buildings 236 feet in length, of the style of the 
 13th century, and situated in a large airy park. The Canadian is at 
 once struck by a certain resemblance which it bears to University 
 College, Toronto. In the interior of its central part is a fine quad- 
 rangle, a perfect square, each of the sides 70 feet in length. This 
 quadrangle is roofed over with glass. Around this square is a series of 
 rooms, four of them fitted up for lectures, with flights of seats descend- 
 ing down to a table for the lecturer. One ^ f the lecture-rooms is for 
 chemistry, another is for experimental philosophy, another is for mine- 
 ralogy and geology, and the fourth is for medicine. The other rooms 
 are Professors' work-rooms, store-rooms, sitting-rooms, apparatus-rooms 
 and laboratories; in the anatomical part of the building I observed a 
 Macerating-room ; to the chemical portion of the building there are 
 attached balance-rooms. Almost detached outside, at one corner is the 
 principal laboratory, a reproduction of the Abbot's Kitchen at Glaston- 
 bury, This almost separate building, circular, with conical roof, helps 
 the general resemblance to the Toronto University building, although 
 its position is towards the right and not towards the left. The circular 
 laboratory at the Toronto University is, by the way, not a reproduction 
 of the Abbot's Kitchen at Glastonbury; but, less appropriately, of the 
 Round Church at Cambridge, commonly called St. Sepulchre's, built 
 after the pattern of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. 
 Round the whole of the interior quadrangle of the Museum at Oxford 
 runs a corridor or arcade sustaining a gallery or upper corridor. Double 
 rows of slender metal columns sustain the lofty glass roof. On the 
 left as you enter are the anatomical and physiological collections; on 
 the right the mineralogical collections. In the middle, on each side of 
 the central passage, are zoological collections. Along the side opposite 
 to the entrance are palscontological collections. 
 
 Round three sides of the upper corridor are also rooms as below : the 
 whole of the front side is taken up with a library and reading room, 
 the latter containing the more recent books, the scientific transactions 
 and periodicals. On the left is a very spacious general lecture room; 
 also an anatomical lecture room, with professor's and students' sitting- 
 rooms. On the right is another lecture room, and rooms for an 
 astronomy professor and a geometry professor. There is also up here 
 au entomological museum with a curator's room. 
 
 : 
 
A8 INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 15 
 
 Is 
 
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 i > 
 
 The general contents of a great college of science, so to call it, like 
 the building just briefly described, can be conceived, and I sh^U not 
 ente» into many particulars. It should be said, however, that the 
 Oxford Museum contains the collections of the celebrated Professor 
 Buckland, and is rich in its palaoontological department. The extinct 
 forms of life that have existed on the globe are here seen, so far as 
 their remains have been found, in a connected series ; specimens in 
 abundance of the palaeozoic, mesozoic and cajnozoic fossils. Here are 
 veritable plesiosuuri (not casts), veritable icthyosauri, megalosauri, 
 pterodactyles, deinotheria, elephantes primogenii. There is also a very 
 striking collection, as it seemed to me, of beautifully prepared skeletons 
 (all properly articulated and set up in easy natural attitudes) of beasts, 
 birdy, reptiles and fish ; the interior bony framework of each creature 
 as marvellous to behold as its outward presentment when clothed with 
 flesh and adorned with feathers, hair or scales. 
 
 There is one feature in the interior of the museum which possesses 
 great interest. The series of pillars which support the luwer and upper 
 arcades subserve a scientific purpose. They are, all of them, geological 
 specimens on a large scale systematically arranged. The shafts on the 
 west side are respectively, grey granite of Aberdeen, red granite of 
 Peterhead, porphyritic grey granite from Cornwall, green syenite from 
 Leicestershire, pale-reddish granite from Argyleshire, red granite of 
 Ross in Mull. On the north side the shafts are, Devonian limestone 
 from Torquay, mountain limestone from Cork, mountain limestone 
 from King's County, green serpentine from Galway, mountain lime- 
 stone from Limerick, mountain limestone from Cork, Devonian lime- 
 stone from St. Mary Church, and so on all round the lower quadrangle; 
 and again all round the upper gallery, the shafts of the columns follow 
 in order of geographical age and succession; in all 125 columns. 
 
 Moreover the elaborately carved capitals of these columns, together 
 with a series of sixty corbels built into the walls, also elaborately carved, 
 are made to illustrate systematically the vegetable kingdom. On them 
 are sculptured, in such order as may assist the memory, and with such 
 attention to their natural aspect as may satisfy the botanist as well as 
 the artist, specimens of all the genera of plants and flowers. The capi- 
 tal of the column of porphyritic grey granite, for example, mentioned 
 a moment ago, is formed of leaves of the date-palm ; the two adjacent 
 corbels of leaves of the fan-palm ; the three together illustrate the 
 palmaccae. Again, the red granite column from Ross in Mull^ and its 
 
 '111 
 
•^* V ■" 
 
 ,vJ 
 
 16 
 
 ON MUSEUMS, &e., 
 
 two accompanying^ corbels, present specimens of the Liliaccae, viz., the 
 
 yucca, the aloe and the lilium, tulipa and fritillaria. The capital of 
 
 the mountain limestone column from Limerick, and the two neighbour. 
 
 ing corbels, exhibit wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, sugar cane (with 
 
 sparrows thereon), rice and canary grass, with buntings and canaries 
 
 • ; and quails thereon j these to illustrate the gramineoe. The Filices are 
 
 represented by the capital of Devonian limestone from St. Mary Church, 
 
 *\\. and the adjoininj corbels, whicli consist of ferns, the hart's tongue, 
 
 :"■': lastriea cristata, scolopendrium vul<::are, blechnuui boreale, and the 
 
 S. mallow. The capital of a column of black serpentine from the Lizard 
 
 in Cornwall, and two corbels, arc devoted to the Dioscoracese, being 
 
 sculptured over with small-leaved bryony, black bryony, and elephant'* 
 
 / . , foot. 
 
 Another feature in the architecture of the Museum is very interest- 
 
 ., ing, and possibly peculiar to itself : the elaborate and very ornamental 
 
 , ironwork in the spandrels that branch out from the metal pillars 
 
 /■ sustaining the glass roof; is made artistically to represent the foliage of 
 
 the following thirteen trees: chamajrops humilis, carica papaya, acer 
 
 pseudo-platanus, tilia europsea, tussilago farfara, jxjscuIus hippocastanura, 
 
 ". \ cocos nucifera, musa paradisiaca, querous robur, platyccrium alcicorne. 
 
 musa cavendishii, juglans rcgia, caryota urens. 
 
 One more feature must be noticed, which, to myself at least, afforded 
 infinite pleasure : all round the quadrangle, against the piers of the 
 arcade, there were arranged full-length life-size figures of the following 
 world-famed scientific worthies, finely conceived and exquisitely sculp- 
 tured in white stone: Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, (Jalileo, Bacon, 
 Newton, Leibnitz, Harvey, Davy, Priestley, Watt, Liunivus. 
 
 Altogether, the Museum at Oxford was a very fascinating place. 
 With its library, reading room, lecture rooms, appointed lecturers, 
 varied apparatus, and studied ornamentati<m, it seemed more liko an 
 institution in Plato's xVtlantis, or More's Utopia, than a tiling of the 
 present day. It was a beautiful realization of a truo Muofflun — of a 
 home of the Muses; of those of the Nine, at all events, who preside 
 over the departments of Natural Science and Medicine. 
 
 Since 1850, much encouragement has been olfered at Oxford to the 
 study of Natural Science. After the lapse of seventeen years, I 
 expected, in 18G7, to find the number of those who were applying 
 themselves with enthusiasm to the subject to be large ; but I was 
 surprised to find it to be still comparatively small. The m iiiertise of 
 
 
 I i 
 
^ i 
 
 AS INSTRUMENTS OP EBUCATION. 
 
 17 
 
 the old system, which practically excluded Natural Science, is very 
 great ; and although rewards are now oflFered in the University, as also 
 of late too in most of the old endowed schools, for proficiency in the 
 subject, the majority of those who preside over ancient educational 
 institutions do not heartily recommend the subject to the attention of 
 the youth under their charge. In 1861, out of 295 who took their 
 B.A. degree, 45 had been students in the Natural Science school; of 
 whom 13 only were classed, and 32 passed. In 1862, 335 were ^^adu- 
 atedj 41 of these were Natural Science students, 12 of waom were 
 classed, and 29 passed. In 1863, 317 obtained B.A. degrees, 8 were 
 classed in Natural Science, and 14 passed. In 1864, 281 graduated; 
 of whom 10 were classed and 9 passed in Natural Science. In 1865, 
 out of 276 B.A's, 12 were Natural Science students, of whom 10 were 
 classed and 2 passed. In 1866 the numbers were : in Literis Humaoi- 
 oribus, 258 ; in ScientiS, Naturali, 8 ; of whom 7 were classed and 1 
 passed. In 1867, 295 graduated ; 14 in Natural Science, of whom 9 
 were classed and 5 passed. Thus we see the number of those who have 
 sought distinction in this department of study has been fluctuating and 
 never large, considering the intrinsic interest and practical value of the 
 subject, the opportunities and facilities offered, and the rewards to be 
 obtained. Several of the Colleges have scholarships for the best can- 
 didates in Natural Science. Miss Burdett Coutts has, in recent times, 
 founded so-called Geological scholarships, for which the examinations 
 include Physiology, Chemistry and Experimental Physics. Every year 
 a Travelling scholarship, worth £200, for three years, is obtainable, on 
 what is called Dr. Radcliffe's Foundation, by the best candidate among 
 those who have taken a first class in Natural Science, and who purpose 
 entering the medical profession. 
 
 As to the qualifications of successful candidates in the school of 
 Natural Science at Oxford, from passmen a general acquaintance with 
 the principles of two of the three subjects of the course, viz., Mechani- 
 cal Philosophy, Chemistry and Physiology, is required ; and familiarity 
 with a special subject in Mechanical Philosophy, as Hydrostatics, Pneu- 
 matics, Light, Heat, &c. From classmen a certain knowledge of all the 
 three branches is required, to which must be added a more extensive 
 acquaintance with one or other of the three, including a special subject 
 in that branch for more minute examination. A classman, for example, 
 may take up Physiology as his principal subject, and Osteology as the 
 special subject included under that head. Of Mechanical Philosophy 
 2 
 
 ^. I 
 
18 
 
 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 and Chemistry, he would only be expected to have a good general 
 knowledge. Under Mechanical Philosophy, it may be proper to add, 
 are included Meyhaiiics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Acoustics, Lijjht, 
 H(;at, Electricity and Magnet iwm. In Chemistry great stresa is laid in 
 the dual examination on Analysis. A knowledge of some part of 
 Organic Chemistry is required, as, e g. the Alcohol series. When 
 Mineralogy is offered as a subject, some special branch, such as the 
 optical properties of crystals, must be studied. Classmen in Physiology 
 are required to exhibit skill in dissection. Special instruction on this 
 subject is given by a professor or lecturer in the University, styled 
 Lee's Reader in Anatomy. The present occupant of this important 
 lectureship is Mr. Bardiy Thompson, a brilliant alumnus and graduate 
 of the University of Turonto. Special subjects that are taken up for 
 examination under the head of Physiology are, as has been already 
 said, Osteology or Odontology; one of the functions, as circulation; 
 the functions of any group of animals, as, e.g. fish or molluscs; the 
 nerves; Kthnology also. Botany, Geology and Palaeontology. 
 
 Another famous museum at Oxford is the Ashmolean, built in 1679. 
 The portion of its contents really useful for scientific illustration has 
 been removed to the new museum just now described. The remaining 
 objects constitute simply a collection of mixed curiosities. In the base- 
 ment of the Ashmolean are deposited the celebrated Arundel Marbles. 
 The inscription over what was originally the principal entrance of 
 the building is " Museum Ashmoleanum : Schola Naturalis Historise : 
 Officina Chymioa." The term " Naturalis Historia," as used by Elias 
 Ashmole, included of course, what we now understand by Natural 
 Science, just as the renowned Natural History, so-called, of Pliny is 
 in fact a cyclopaedia of the Natural Science of Pliny's age. 
 
 In the University of Cambriv^^ge since 1848 there have been, as at 
 Oxford, instituted special examinations for honours in Natural Science. 
 The system of study pursued previously at Cambridge involved the 
 necessity of attention to many branches of Physics. The examination 
 for honours in the Natural Science Tripos at Cambridge requires an 
 acquaintance with the following subjects : — Human or Comparative 
 Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Mineralogy (excluding the Mathe- 
 matical part of Crystallography), Botany and Geology. In a calendar 
 that happens to be at hand I observe valuable papers set at the Natural 
 Science Tripos Examinations by the Professors of Chemistry, Minera- 
 logy, Botany, Anatomy and Geology, and the Regius Professor of Medi- 
 
 ii' 
 
AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 19 
 
 cine, viz., Profa. Gumming, Miller, Heoslow, Clark, Bond, Sedgwick and 
 Paget. I give one question from each of these papers. In the paper on 
 Chemistry it is asked " If nitric acid is decomposed by voltaic electricity, 
 in what direction are its elements separated ? " In the paper on Miner- 
 alogy it is required to "Enumerate the systems of crystallization in 
 which double refraction has been observed ? Describe the situation of 
 the optic axis or axes with respect to the figure of the crystal in the pyra- 
 midal, rhombohedral, prismatic and oblique systems ?" In the paper 
 on Botany the examinee is required to " Describe the diseases in wheat 
 termed ear-cockle and ergot." In the paper on Comparative Anatomy 
 it is asked " Have any of the ringed worms true joints ? " In the 
 paper on Physiology it is asked " What appears to be a principal office 
 of the pancreatic fluid according to Bernard ? By the selection of what 
 species of mammal for his experiments was he enabled clearly to dis- 
 tinguish between the action of the bile and that of the pancreatic fluid 
 during life ?" In the paper on Geology it is asked " What evidence 
 have we- for a 'glacial period?' Assuming its existence as a fact in 
 the history of the earth, how do we fix its geological date?" In 
 the " general paper" we have the queries : — " How do we discover the 
 mean density of the earth ? " " What are the indications of its prime- 
 val fluidity?" "What are the present indications of an increasing 
 internal temperature ? " " State some of the modern theoretical inves- 
 tigations bearing upon the question of the actual internal fluidity of 
 the earth, and the results derived from them." 
 
 The Fitz-William Museum at Cambridge is not peculiarly adapted 
 to the necessities of the Natural Science student. It is a magnificent 
 collection of sculptures, paintings and books. Institutions that help to 
 the attainment of honours in the Natural Science Tripos at Cambridge 
 are the Anatomical Museum, the Geological Museum, the Mineralogical 
 Museum and the Botanical Garden. 
 
 It would be superfluous to attempt a sketch of the British Museum 
 in London. In a collection so extensive and so scientifically arranged 
 the devotee of any speciality in Natural Philosophy will of course find 
 what will delight and instruct him. I will only add for the benefit of 
 any who are interested in meteors and aerolites that here they may see 
 and closely examine many hundred of these petty but eccentric 
 and not unfurmidable members of our system. After contemplating 
 thoughtfully the aspect, size and weight of several of these stray 
 vagrants from the outer space, all of which must be well-autbentioated 
 
 N- 
 
 \ 
 
 M.if^i'.ii^fienvmm 
 
20 
 
 ON MUSEUMS. &c. 
 
 or they would not be deposited here, no one can fail to regard with 
 
 increased curiosity the so-called shooting stars to be seen every night in 
 
 the heavens, but especially the November and August showers ; and 
 
 no one can fail to feel in an intensified degree thankful that disaster to 
 
 cities and men from the impact of such masses on the Earth is so rare. 
 
 In the north gallery of the Museum are between two and three 
 
 hundred specimens of meteorites, classed as aerolites, siderolites and 
 
 aerosiderites. The first are meteorites, containing from the most part 
 
 various silicates, interspersed with isolated particles of nickeliferous 
 
 native iron and meteoric pyrites. The second are meteorites, consisting 
 
 of nickeliferous native iron in a more or less continuous or sponge-like 
 
 state, cavities in which are charged with silicates. The third are masses 
 
 of native iron, generally nickeliferous, and containing phosphides of 
 
 nickel and iron, carbon and other substances. One found in Yorkshire 
 
 weighs. 451bs. 8oz.; one found in Tennesee weighs GOlbs.; one found 
 
 in Oldenburg, in Germany, weighs 771bs.; one found at Parnallee, in 
 
 India, weighs 1341bs. ; one found at Tolucca, in Mexico, weighs HSlbs. 
 
 9oz.; one found at Tucuman, in the Argentine Republic, South America, 
 
 weighs l,4001bs.; finally, one found at Cranbourne, Australia, weights 
 
 8,2001bs. — The so-called Blacas collection, purchased by the British 
 
 Government in 1866, for the sum of £43,000, consisting of antique 
 
 gems, cameos, coins, Roman plate, bronzes, painted vases, frescoes, and 
 
 defensive armour, may also here be examined. It has its name from 
 
 the Royalist French Dukes of Blacas. The number of engraved gems, 
 
 cameos and intaglios which it contains is about 800. It has also some 
 
 fine specimens of ancient phalerac or horse-ornaments — large silver 
 
 plaques, with crescents appended. 
 
 Other scientific collections in London are the Museum of Economic 
 Geology; the Royal Society Museum; the Museum of the Royal 
 College of Surgeons ; the iCoane Museum ; the India House Museum ; 
 the Linnaean Society Museum; the Horticultural Society Gardens; 
 the South Kensington Museum; the Botanic Garden at Kew, where 
 there is a grand palace of glass, 360 by 90, filled with palms. Here 
 also is to be seen the gigantic lily, named the Victoria Regia. The 
 wonderful Crystal Palace at Sydenham, with its surrounding domain 
 can be put to scientific use in many ways by those who pay their visit 
 with that intention. Some life-size models of the animals of the 
 palseontological class, seen in the open air in their proper habitat, in 
 the act of crawling up the green bank of a breezy lake give a vivid im- 
 
 
/ 
 
 A8 INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 31 
 
 pressioD of the shape and magnitude of those now extinct forms of life. 
 The Palace at Sydenham is a perpetuation of the Universal Exhibition 
 Building of 1871, only greatly extended and enlarged. 
 
 The felt utility of the great temporary assemblages of objects at 
 international and universal exhibitions, as instrum'^nts of education, 
 has been a stimulus to the improvement of museums, and has led to 
 the establishment on a large suale of permanent exhibitions acientifioally 
 arranged. 
 
 Adjoining the Horticultural Gardens at Kensington there have just 
 been erected magnificent permanent exhibition buildings, 550 feet in 
 length ; and close by them is to be Hceu the beautiful Rotunda or 
 Colosseum, entitled the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences. It is 
 elliptical in form, its axes being 219 and 185 feet. A beautiful external 
 feature of the building is a band or frieze six feet six inches in length 
 carried round its whole circuit, 794 feet, towards the top, crowded with 
 groups emblematic of the arts and sciences and industries, executed 
 partially in colours in terra-cotta. The subjects are agriculture, astro- 
 nomy, geology, workers in wood, and stone, and iron, music, poetry, 
 construction, sculpture, and applied mechanics. 
 
 This vast elliptical building, with a spherical rooi of glass, has not 
 yet been opened : it has been built by the commissioners of the Exhi- 
 bition of 1851, out of a portion of the proceeds of that exhibition. It 
 will assuredly be one of the most striking architectural objects in 
 London, and will be one more of the scientific institutions containing 
 collections, which the studious visitor from Canada will earnestly desire 
 to examine. 
 
 Altogether it will be seen that at the present time there are very 
 many appliances by means of which science in all its branches, especi- 
 ally natural science, can be thoroughly illustrated and made intelligible 
 and interesting to every inquiring mind. If the communities of 
 English-speaking countries do not steadily advance in their acquaint- 
 ance with the facts and laws exhibited in Natural Science, it will be very 
 surprising. Still no doubt patience will be required. Where the 
 so-called masses have been for centuries neglected, as, for example, in 
 Southern Britain, where, astounding to narrate, a comprehensive scheme 
 for elementary popular education did not exist until last year, several 
 decades must pass before the laws, the beneficent laws of Nature are 
 known and consciously obeyed among the classes at the base of the social 
 fabric. It will be a happy state of things when throughout a community 
 
 ^ '-l-il 
 
22 
 
 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 from its apex to its lowermost stratum each successive geueration, by 
 availiag itself of the facilities conveniently placed within its reach, at 
 an early moment possesses itself of the acquisitions of its predecessors, 
 thus securing leisure to itself for new enquiries, having in view the 
 extension of the domain of practical science. 
 
 The world stands amazed at the rapid progress made in civilization 
 and material improvement by the colonies planted in Australia, New 
 Zealand, British Columbia, Canada and the continent of America gene- 
 rally. That rapid progress is due to the fact that the colonists, settling 
 in those regions, started from the point which the old communities from 
 whence they issued had attained in science and civilization. They 
 carried with them the results and experiences which had accumulated 
 in the course of past human history. Had it been required of our 
 colonists that they, like their remote fathers, should pass literally 
 through a flint era, a bone era, a bronze era, an iron era, the continents 
 of Amerii ■ and Australia, the islands of New Zealand, Van Dieman's 
 Land, and a score more places that might oe named, scattered over the 
 surface of the globe, would not be presenting at this day the scenes which 
 they now do present — scenes which, for evidences of human culture, 
 industry, taste and art, begin to rival those which, a few years since, 
 were supposed to be the special characteristics only of lands whose 
 annals reach back centuries in the past. 
 
 Now, each successive generation of men should enjoy a privilege 
 analogous to that which the colonists of Great JJritain have enjoyed. 
 Each generation should start on its career, consciously equipped with 
 the practical science which has accrufc:^ up to the moment of its setting 
 out. 
 
 And in a similar manner, should not each individual youth in a 
 modern community start in his career with a like outfit ? Ought not 
 Education to mean this — the indoctrination of each successive crop of 
 youth with at least the elementary principles of all contemporary 
 aBcertained human knowledge, with a view to practical purpose in sub- 
 sequent life? Would not EtJucation, if it signified this, and was this, 
 be the means of saving a great number of human beings from a great 
 deal of blind, aimless action, and from a great number of blunders and 
 mistakes, and so be the means also of ecouomi^*ing a great deal of the 
 world's precious time ? Should not each generation of our youth be as 
 a colony swarming off from an old, well constituted and wise state, 
 carrying with it, in germ at least, the knowledge and experience of the 
 
 are ; 
 
AS INSTRUMENTS OP EDUCATION. 
 
 23 
 
 parent community, and starting from the point to which that had 
 managed to attain ? Especially in respect to the subjects to which in 
 this address particular reference has been made — the subjects commonly 
 embraced under the term Natural Science — should not an adequate 
 indoctrination of the young be secured ? 
 
 It is one of the chief distinctions of the era in which we live, that 
 Nature has been, to an extraordinary extent, interpreted — not interpreted 
 fully : work in that direction remains to be done in the generations that 
 will succeed us — but interpreted in very many respects; and so inter- 
 preted as to make clear certain consequent duties on the part of man, as 
 well as certain practical advantages to be enjoyed by man in virtue of 
 an acquaintance with that interpretation. 
 
 It is discovered, and is universally confessed, that throughout Nature 
 laws reign. These laws does not every sane man confess to be laws of 
 God ? It becomes then even a matter of religious obligation to incul- 
 cate a knowledge of those hwa so far as is practicable and suitable in 
 the education of the young, independently of expediency; independently 
 of the efficiency, personal happiness and economy whioh accrue when 
 a man's line of action is habitually in the line of those laws ; and of 
 the failure, personal misery and waste which are inevitable when his 
 line of action is habitually athwart the line of those laws. 
 
 To come back again then to the particular thesis with which this 
 address has been occupied in the main, the place and function of 
 museums and other classified collections in a system of education, 
 popular cr abstruse, are clearly seen. The admirable order which 
 objects, simple and complex, raw and wrought up, are therein mada to 
 take, even to the eye, impresses in a powerful manner the reign of law 
 in Nature; and they enable the student of Nature, professional or ama- 
 teur, to make, with immense convenience and great rapidity, personal 
 examinations advantn^oo'is to his own enlightenment and advancement 
 in knowledge ana skill, which would otherwise be all but impossible for 
 him to make. 
 
 I have offered the advice that our youth, who at school or college 
 have received instruction in the first principles of Natural Science, should 
 make a specific use of the great Collections which in so many quarters 
 they will discover in their tour in Great Britain and on the continent 
 of Europe. I have advised that a scheme or plan should be beforehand 
 decided on, to be closely followed during the days or hours which they 
 are able to devote to such collections. 
 
 ^ 
 
 m 
 
 :-3 
 
 V*-:;. 
 
24 
 
 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 
 
 Visits to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington might in like manner 
 bo utilized. 
 
 The Geological Museum at Montreal should be deliberately and 
 minutely examined Laval, at Quebec, also contains scientific treasures. 
 Our own University Museum at Toronto is of course familiar ground 
 already to our young lovers of Natural Science. It will be found a 
 good antepast to the feasts that await them on their visits to larger 
 establishments. It presents some good studies in ornithology and 
 entomology. I wish our own small Museum, connected with the 
 Canadian Institute, were richer in objects, but it is not wholly to be 
 despised. The formation of a " Provincial Museum" was one of the 
 objects to be promoted by the establishment of the Canadian Institute. 
 The first section of our constitution reads as follows : — " The Canadian 
 Institute has been established by Royal Charter, for the purpose of 
 promoting the Physical Sciences, for encouraging and advancing the 
 Industrial Arts and Manufactures, &c., effecting the formation of a 
 Provincial Museum, and for the purpose of facilitating the acquirement 
 and the dissemination of knowledge connected with the surveying, 
 engineering and architectural professions." 
 
 When an instituti'^n like the University of Toronto establishes a 
 Scientific Museum on a good scale by the side of an humble collection 
 like that which the Canadian Institute, with only limited resources, 
 has been enabled to make, the latter necessarily becomes somewhat 
 insignificant. Nevertheless there is a field which our Museum might 
 
 icupy. It might be made a repository of Canadian archaeological and 
 historical objects. The collections in the J^ormal School buildings, 
 Toronto, exist expressly for educational purposes, and repay a studious 
 examination. Barnett's Museum, at the Fulls of Niagara, is by no 
 means a common-place repository of objects. Some very fine genuine 
 Egyptian mummies may be seen there. Our annual Provincial Exhi- 
 bitions might also be utilized by a student visiting them with definite 
 intention and purpose. 
 
 Now, I desire it to be observed, that in all that I have thus far said, 
 I have not supposed for a moment, that Natural Science is to be the 
 sole subject-matter of instruction or study in a system of Education. 
 I have only been insisting that in a system of Education adapted to 
 modern men, Natural Science must have its due place. 
 
 I think morals and religion are legitimate developments of man's 
 being; and are subject to Divine law. I believe therefore that these 
 
 assign 
 
 a hit»h 
 
 
AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 25 
 
 ought to be included amongst the matters with which Education, some- 
 where or other in its programme, concerns itself. I think History and 
 the wise and beautiful Thoughts of men in all ages should be subjects 
 of study in a system of Plducation. Have we not a hint of this in the 
 fact that the written Records which we accept as Holy Writ, as a Divine 
 Revelation, consist of History — of Thoughts exalted, nay, inspired? 
 
 I do not dream that Language is to be abandoned in a system of edu- 
 cation. That too is now seen to be a human development subject to 
 natural law, i.e., Divine law. Tt must continue therefore to be a study 
 as it has been in times past, but now a more intelligent study than 
 formerly, as being a positive science, far-reaching, wide-spreading. It 
 will even possibly still hold its own as one of the chief instruments in 
 the training of the very young, for is there not by a Divine arrangement 
 a special aptitude in every infant mind for language ? What is more 
 marvellous than the mastery which a little child acquires over its 
 native tongue or any tongue which it hears familiarly spoken? 
 
 The laws of mind too. being really laws. Divine laws, brought out 
 into view by a comparison of human experiences, must continue to be 
 taken up, in their elements, in every complete course of education. 
 
 Rut what we incul'iato is this, that in addition to all these subjects, 
 at the present time it is expedient, it is reasonable, it is devout, to 
 assign a high pliee in schools to the knowledge which will help a youth 
 from tlu; very beginning of his career to a true view of the Earth on 
 which he lives, of its constituent parts, of its relations as a mfan'jcr of 
 the Universe. It is expedient, it is reasonable, it is devout, to assign 
 a high place in education to the knowledge which from the beginning 
 of his career will help a youth to soundness and suppleness of body 
 and mind ; which, throughout life, will render him, consciously, an 
 interested and skilled worker in his place in the great Whole ; and as 
 such, a happy man, going on his way rejoicing, singing and making 
 melody in his heart.