4i 8 NEWS [may 



Thomas Chatterton, the poet ; the second, a number of drawings representing 

 different features of bygone Bristol. Other special exhibits of antiquities and 

 geological specimens were arranged for the meeting of the British Association. 

 The Heport ends, as such reports are wont, with a complaint of overcrowding. 



The tenth annual meeting and conference of the Museums Association will 

 be held in Brighton in the first week of July. The Mayor of Brighton, Mr. 

 A. J. Hawkes, is the president-elect, and Mr. B. Lomax of the Brighton Museum 

 is local secretary. 



£;")(), 000 has been left to the Trustees of the British Museum for the exten- 

 sion and improvement of the Library and Beading Room, by the late Vincent 

 Stuckey Lean of Clevedon. Bristol City Libraries benefit to the same amount, 

 under the same will. 



The large Ichthi/osattrus platyodon lately received at the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.) from Warwick, is now in place on the wall of the Gallery for 

 Fossil Reptiles. Although the proposed re-arrangement of the Ichthyosauria is 

 not yet complete, the new specimen can be well seen. It is more perfect than 

 the older specimen of the same species, that being in part plaster. A feature 

 of the general re-arrangement will be the introduction of outline sketches 

 of the various genera showing the bones in natural positions, which one has 

 seen at Brussels, and which is of great convenience to the student. 



We learn from The Scientific American that Brooklyn is to have a children's 

 museum located in the Bedford Bark Museum. Prof. W. H. Goodyear, from 

 whom the suggestion emanates, has suggested that the initial purchase should 

 be the technological series prepared in Paris under the title Musee Scolaire. 

 To this will be added collections illustrating natural history, and the museum 

 will also serve as a model for schoolroom decoration. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on March 26, the presi- 

 dent, Sir Clements Markham, said: — "In my opening address this session, in 

 referring to the urgency of obtaining funds for an Antarctic expedition, I .ex- 

 pressed my conviction that the spirit which influenced the patriotic adventurers 

 of the Elizabethan age was still alive among us. Many good men and true 

 have answered to my appeal ; but I now have the pleasure of announcing to 

 you an act of unselfish liberality which does, indeed, remind us of the merchant 

 princes of the days of old. Our associate, Mr. L. W. Longstaff, a Fellow of this 

 society of many years' standing, has subscribed a sum which virtually puts an 

 end to our chief difficulty. We shall be enabled at least to equip an efficient 

 expedition consisting of one vessel, and to co-operate with the Germans in the 

 scientific exploration of the Antarctic regions. You will like me to read to you 

 the letter I have received from Mr. L. W. Longstaff, from which you will learn 

 the noble motives that have actuated him, and the munificence of his con- 

 tribution : — 



" To the President of the Royal Geographical Society. 



" Dear Sir Clements Markham — Being convinced of the imperative need 

 of the immediate preparation of a British expedition, I have the pleasure to 

 inform you that I have this day paid to the credit of the National Antarctic 

 Expedition, with Messrs. Cocks, Biddulph, &, Co., the sum of £25,000, which, I 

 trust, will meet the exigency of the case. 



" Though my attainments are but slight, I have all my life been much 

 interested in scientific matters ; and, as a Fellow of our society for nearly thirty 

 years, it gives me peculiar pleasure to be able thus to contribute towards the 

 advancement of our knowledge of the planet on which we live. 

 " I am, dear Sir Clements, yours faithfully, 



" Llewellyn W. Longstaff. 



" Ridgelands, Wimbledon, March 22, 1899." 



