book reviews

In the context of translations, Danielson has missed a good opportunity here to Science in culture correct the long-standing error in the trans- lation of Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius as ‘Starry A window on the future Messenger’. Galileo himself wrote very clear- The ‘Museum for the Third Millennium’ has ly that Nuncius was intended to be as ‘mes- opened in , . sage’, not ‘messenger’. Mark A. Elgar The past is, by definition, politically The largest museum complex in the Southern correct. Arabs existed in the past (as they do Hemisphere opened last month in Melbourne, today), and Arab thought, especially in ’s capital city. Melbourne Museum is the TWEEDIE/CORBIS PENNY astronomy and cosmology, is very much flagship campus of Museum Victoria, which part of Western culture, as the names of is responsible for the state’s extensive many stars remind us every night. The collections. Located for the past 100 years in Muslim philosopher Averroës, to quote but the cramped State Library Building, the new one, had strong ideas about cosmology. And museum complex is adjacent to the historic because of them he ran into trouble with his Royal Exhibition Building in the picturesque own religious authorities, which went by the . literal interpretation of the cosmological The relocation to a new, larger building also aspects of the Koran (also entirely neglected coincides with a substantial shift in thinking in Danielson’s book). Considering the about the arrangement and design of museum initial emphasis the book places on the exhibits. The shift has been from passive displays Torah of the Jews, the absence of Arab of historical artefacts and stuffed animals to authors and thought in this anthology gives exhibits of particular themes that place the an incomplete picture of our direct cultural collections in a broader context. According to Painting place: Aboriginal art by Paddy Karol. inheritance. chief executive George MacDonald, the museum Danielson does include some irritating will be “full of life and activity, a museum for the mirror to reflect the past, while our new museum digressions in his descriptions of the classics. Internet Generation and beyond. A museum for holds up a window through which we can look Why, for example, do we read so much about the future, not the past.” forward to what the future might hold”. This Arthur Koestler in a chapter supposedly And they are bringing life to the museum. philosophy is evident in the astonishing Body and about the Greek philosopher Parmenides? The Forest Gallery is a world first; a living Mind Gallery, which opens in a few months’ time. And why should Galileo’s translated words interpretation of Victoria’s tall mountain forest This is no stamp collection in a dusty cabinet, but be interspersed with rather irrelevant quotes environment, housing 8,000 plants of at least 120 an impressive use of both collections and local by the nineteenth-century astronomer Mary species, and home to a variety of animals, expertise to address contemporary issues and Agnes Clerke? They are far less acceptable including birds, reptiles, small mammals, frogs provoke public debate. Visitors gain insights into than Danielson’s own comments, which and numerous invertebrates. These living the processes, structures and functions of the are not only required by the genre, but also ‘exhibits’, together with various multimedia mind and body through some 1,300 objects, quite useful. installations, tell stories about how past and imagery and interactive experiences, including a The framework containing Nicolaus present forces of change have shaped the forest series of full-size nude photographs and Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, John Milton, habitat. Unlike zoo exhibits, which focus on a preserved sections of real cadavers. Undoubtedly, René Descartes, Isaac Newton and single species, the Forest Gallery provides a more these exhibits will be controversial. Immanuel Kant, and also Mary Agnes Clerke holistic view of the environment. Ross Field, A museum is only as good as its collections, and all the others, is very useful. So, in gener- environment programme director, believes the curators and research staff; otherwise, it is little al, is the choice of morsels presented. exhibit will “encourage a deeper understanding more than an exhibition hall. The move to Inevitably, though, things become more and appreciation of Victoria’s temperate forests, Carlton Gardens finally brings research staff into complex with contemporary twentieth-cen- and stimulate visitors to go out and visit them”. the same building as the exhibits. Previously tury cosmology. Opposing schools of diverse The museum delivers messages around hidden away in a shabby annex, they are now thought thrive in our global village, no issues, rather than the traditional focus on highly visible, through the plate-glass walls, in longer truly ‘Western’ as the United States taxonomic groups or historical eras. The their well-appointed offices and laboratories. has come to embody global cultures. English, exhibitions relate to six core programmes that And here’s the rub. It cost some A$290 like Greek, Arabic, Latin and French before are the current focus of research and collection million (US$150 million) to develop the it, is now de rigueur, and this simplifies development (science, technology, Australian museum and its very impressive exhibits, of things. Deceptively so, however, because society, indigenous cultures, human mind and which $263 million came from the Victoria state modern cosmology retains uncertainties body, and environment). Thus, the Australia government. The museum is quick to and debates (origin of redshifts), and a Gallery shows how Melbourne has evolved, and acknowledge that the programmes, collections diversity of voices, including non-Anglo- includes the mounted hide of an Australian and research are an integral part of the exhibition Saxon ones (where is tavarisc Zeldovich?) sporting icon, the legendary racehorse Phar Lap. development process. But although the new that don’t make it onto the pages of this book. Bunjilaka, the Aboriginal Centre, provides a building provides enviable infrastructure, the Well, as the Romans used to say, tot capita, tot conduit for the Aboriginal communities of museum offers little more than token funding for sententiae [loosely, each to his own, especial- southeastern Australia to tell their stories, and its research staff. Instead, researchers, like their ly his own taste]. As for the definition of allows visitors to explore the nature of Aboriginal university colleagues, must compete for ‘book’. This is given in the glossary and is law, property, knowledge and their complex government and private-sector funds, which are obviously much needed, as it can range relationship with land. modest in Australia. A Museum for the Third from a “device which takes the form of The change in museum philosophy is more Millennium may need to make more than a bound pages” to “the universe”, as in “the than just rearranging exhibits. Robin Hirst, rhetorical investment in its future. I book of the cosmos”. I director of programmes, research and collections, Mark A. Elgar is in the Department of Zoology, Giovanni F. Bignami is at the Italian Space Agency, says that, “traditionally, museums hold up a , Victoria 3010, Australia. viale Liegi, 26 00198 Roma, Italy. © 2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd 292 NATURE | VOL 408 | 16 NOVEMBER 2000 | www.nature.com