Should there be a national museum of chemicals?

You have full access to this article via your institution. 50 years ago In the 150 years since its inception, the Zoological Society has developed from a collection of curiosities on which only observational research was carried out, to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of animal species, with two attached experimental research institutes … In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, towards the end of which the Zoological Society of London was founded, the science of zoology was emerging from the collecting of objects of natural history for the cabinets of the curious to become a discipline as scientific as botany and deserving the attention of people more serious than dilettanti. The works of Cuvier on the relationships of animals stimulated interest in the study of morphology among many naturalists who followed his researches on comparative anatomy and palaeontology … After long negotiations and the granting by the government of a site in Regent’s Park the Zoological Society was founded in 1826 for the advancement of zoological knowledge and “the formation of a Collection of living Animals; a Museum of preserved Animals; and a Library connected with the Subject.” From Nature 27 May 1976 150 years ago I plead for the establishment of national museums of chemical preparations; such collections would be of the highest interest both to the student and the investigator. …