i895- NEWS OF UNIVERSITIES, ETC. 147 



which constitute a most important collection, we have already referred (vol. iv., 

 p. ^07). Dr. Sharp says that this collection has not been incorporated in the 

 Museum as yet, but remains at the cUsposal of anyone able and willing to work it out. 

 Dr. Gadow's appeal for bird-embryos has been liberally answered by Walter Heape. 

 The Geological Museum has received fresh additions to the collections pre- 

 viously presented by Professor Wiltshire, including many type-specimens. The 

 Rev. G. F. Whidborne has presented figured specimens of seventy-two species of 

 Devonian fossils. Some fine limb-bones and teeth of Elephas mcridionalis, E. piimi- 

 ,qenius, and Bison sp., dredged off Yarmouth, have been purchased. The work of 

 arrangement, of cataloguing, and of teaching, continues, though under great diffi- 

 culties owing to want of space. The erection of the new Museum, of which the 

 plans were published in N.\tural Science for December, 1893, is still deferred, and 

 the heart of Professor Hughes is sick. 



In our April number (p. 232, vol. vi.) we referred to the addition to the Educa- 

 tion Code, which permits the visits of board-school children to museums to be 

 counted unto them for " attendance." On Tuesday, June 25, a meeting of board- 

 school teachers was held at the Whitechapel Museum, 77, High Street, Whitechapel, 

 to consider how advantage might best be taken of this beneficent addition to the 

 code. Mr. G. L. Bruce, Member of the London School Board, took the chair, and 

 Miss C. A. Raisin delivered an address in which she pointed out the good to be 

 gained by those teachers who would avail themselves of this permission, and who 

 would properly prepare themselves for each visit. She laid stress on the habits of 

 order and observation that might be inculcated, deprecated an excessive use of 

 note-books, and suggested the formation, by the children themselves, of small collec- 

 tions in each school. In the discussion that followed, there seemed to be a fear 

 (surely groundless) that difficulties would be raised by the Inspectors, whose per- 

 mission has in each case to be gained ; one speaker was doubtful whether a visit to 

 the British Museum would receive official sanction. Some teachers shrunk from the 

 fresh burden laid on them, and complained of the length of time that would be 

 required for such a visit, though it could ill be spared. On the whole, however, the 

 feeling was that, if only the suggestion could be put into practice, it would prove 

 valuable. Mr. F. A. Bather, in proposing a vote of thanks to Miss Raisin, reminded 

 the teachers that they were the interpreters between the curators and the children, 

 and explained some of the aims of the modern curators. He advocated short and 

 cheerful visits with a definite object, the study and explanation of familiar things, 

 and a constant remembrance that the museum was only a makeshift epitome of the 

 whole actual world of nature, industry, and art. While recognising the value of the 

 collector's enthusiasm, he would not waste this in small local channels, but rather 

 have such a museum as the Whitechapel Museum working in unison, as an educational 

 factor, with all the schools in its neighbourhood. 



We cannot too strongly impress upon teachers the importance of preparing for 

 the museum visit, and not waiting for the inspiration of the moment. Miss Hall, 

 the curator at the Whitechapel Museum, is in attendance from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on 

 Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays ; 

 during these hours she will talk over with the teachers the subject for the next 

 museum visit. The teachers in this district have also the use of an excellent Refer- 

 ence Library — the Museum in question being in connection with the Free Public 

 Library. During the winter, the monthly lectures will be resumed, and a series of 

 demonstrations will be arranged expressly for teachers. 



A NEW room, furnished by special subscriptions from some members of the Chester 

 Society of Natural Science, has been opened at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 

 and in it the local collections have been arranged. A few features in the collection 

 call for comment. The fossil and recent mammals are arranged together, the former 

 being elucidated by photographs of the restored animals. The general and local 

 distribution of the birds are shown by maps and by printed extracts from W. H. 

 Dobie's paper, " Birds of West Cheshire, &c.," published in the Proceedings of the 



