Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/156

130 may be classified as Industrial Art, and which includes furniture, textiles, glass, porcelain, iron work, wood carving and all the other objects of artistic workmanship which surround us in our daily life. Europe has already recognized the vital interest of collections of this kind and Berlin, Paris, Munich and London delight us with exhibitions worthy of all praise, which develop the taste of the ordinary public in matters connected with home life and are an inspiration to the artisan to produce useful objects of real artistic merit. The importance of such collections can scarcely be overestimated and the museum director will do well to perfect himself in a knowledge of the care of such material, as the public demand is daily increasing and in future no museum will be complete without large groups of industrial art.

Every object that can be preserved in a museum is subject to some kind of pest or disease which requires the care of a skilful physician. Some of these maladies are infectious, others are dangerous only to the object attacked. It is not within the scope of this volume to describe all, nor is it even possible to discuss all the methods of curing the diseases. As in the case of the restoration of paintings, there are experts who have devoted their lives to these things to whom inquiry should