Excerpt from Essays on Museums: And Other Subjects Connected With Natural History Having lately, during an enforced period of restraint from active occupation, had leisure to look back upon the events of a somewhat busy life, it occurred to me that besides the administration, in succession, of two large public museums, and some original scientific investigation, the results of which can be of interest only to the very few, there have been occa sions which have involved a contact with wider and more varied circles. Though the records of these occasions have doubtless been mainly of passing or local concern, it is possible that some thing may be found among them worth placing in a more accessible and permanent form than in the scattered journals or pamphlets in which they can only be found at present. Such of these essays and addresses as seemed suitable for republication in the present collection mainly group them selves under three distinct branches of the many into which the intellectual and educational activity of our age is manifested. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.