18 SEPTEMBER 1852, Page 14

DISORDER OF PRACTICAL ART.

TE:E Museum of Practical Art is an institution of excellent inten- tions and we have a strong conviction that it goes far to fulfil its intentions ; its exhibition also is intended for an excellent purpose, and we have no doubt that the collection would be well calculated to serve that purpose ; but from any certainty on these points we are debarred by obstacles, trivial in themselves, yet very inconve- nient in their consequences. The obstructions are—the arrange- ment; and the catalogue. The arrangement appears to be intended to illustrate the pro- gress of ornamental art as applied to useful purposes, on true prin- ciples; and also to furnish the exemplar ad evitandum in the shape of works on false principles : a very good plan. It would not re- quire a very long array of examples in either category to illustrate the principles, true or false ; but to show the tendency of true or false development, it would need a certain order in the placing ; and this is what we miss in the collection. For example, we do not understand the chronology of the metal works from the coup d'eeil; nor do we perceive at a glance the relation of the Sevres designs to the false principles which in many respects they so strongly. illustrate. Possibly we might perceive this effect of collocation more dis- tinctly if the catalogue followed the order of the objects • but it does not do so. He that runs can by no means read ; and there- fore he that visits the collection without time to take up his abode in it has no i opportunity of mastering it. When we say that each class of objects s numbered, so that you have several sets of num- bers in one room—that the next numbers, even in the same class, are not always together, but you may have 41 succeeded by 62, the intermediate numbers being round the corner—and that false prin- ciples are placed separately for paper-hangings, but are mixed in other classes, and not always distinguished—it will be understood that the difficulty of the visitor is considerable. The only two parallels to it that we remember are the numbering of some former exhibitions in the rooms of the Society of Arts, and the number- ing of the houses in Glasgow,—the numbers sometimes indicating the order of the house in the whole street, sometimes, next doer probably, indicating its order in the particular row or "place," while sometimes the numbers of a street make the circuit of a blind court and then continue ; to the total confusion of all arithmetical progression. This fault of detail is really a serious hinderance to the visitor at the Museum of Praotical Art ; it is sufficient to prevent any col- lection from being fully appreciated by the public.