1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 75 



voyage to Bering Straits does not necessarily fit a man for the 

 administrative work of a large government department, that the 

 Primate cannot tell a Painted Lady from a Camberwell Beauty, that 

 a man who cannot teach the Trustees how to suck eggs is not fit to 

 direct a Museum of Natural History. However these things may be, 

 the recommendations of the Standing Committee have been laid 

 before the three Principal Trustees, the three have adjourned the 

 discussion, and criticism of their action must therefore be reserved 

 for our next number. 



The Museum oi 'Practical' Geology 



We learn from Nature that 500 Fellows of the Geological Society 

 signed a memorial to their president and council protesting against 

 the transference of the Museum of Practical Geology to South Ken- 

 sington, since " removal of the collections would seriously impede 

 the progress of science, especially on its economic side." The 

 Council did not see its way to comply with the request of the 

 memorialists, that it should address the Government on the subject ; 

 indeed, it expressed the opinion that the question of the removal 

 required more consideration than it appeared to have received. 

 Certainly this laying stress upon the ' economic side ' of the ques- 

 tion is a trifle ridiculous. As a well-informed article in the Builder 

 of June 25 th points outs, economic geology is the one thing that 

 is lacking at the Museum of Practical Geology. The collection of 

 building-stones is very incomplete, and even that is unaccompanied 

 by the necessary particulars. " The clay- working industry," says 

 our contemporary, " is not much advanced by the miserable show at 

 present arranged in the Museum." Agriculture, and even mining are 

 but indifferently attended to. If a museum " with the special object 

 of illustrating the applications of geology to the useful purposes of 

 life " is a desideratum, and we do not for one moment deny that it 

 is, then let us have one, and let it be in the place that is most con- 

 venient to engineers, architects, well-sinkers, medical officers, and 

 such practical men. But all this has mighty little to do with the 

 fine, stratigraphical series of British fossils, of which only a small 

 portion is named and exhibited at Jermyn Street, and that in a 

 manner to reflect credit on the palaeontologists of a past generation. 



French ' Protection ' of Fossils in Madagascar 



We learn from the July Geographical Journal that the Politique 

 Coloniale of May 25, 1898, publishes a circular issued by the 

 French Governor of Madagascar, ordering the local officials in this 

 colony to prevent any but Frenchmen from collecting fossils in the 

 island. No one is to be allowed to collect fossils unless he be pro- 

 vided with a special licence from the Governor ; and this will only 



