586 TEACHING OF KCON'OMIC NATURAL HISTORY. 



Last, but not least, the museums in the Union could be made 

 the centres of instruction on Economic Natural History by 

 mapping out the district to come under each museum, so that the 

 entire Lrnion might be covered. Then, make it one of the obliga- 

 tions of the museum Curator to give, say, two popular lantern 

 lectures to each school in his district annually. This would not 

 involve any change in the curriculum of the schools. The scholars 

 could be gathered together for the occasions. We would thus 

 have a steady stream of informed scholars issuing from the 

 schools annually, carrying knowledge with them of the 

 Economic Natural History of their country. Each of these 

 young men and maids would further the good cause by acting 

 upon it themselves, and imparting the knowledge they had gained 

 to others. By providing such in formation, and educating the 

 children in these ways, we would lay a solid and permanent 

 foundation of prosperity. The work would be slow, but all good, 

 solid, permanent work is necessarily slow. It could be expedited 

 by energy, system, and co-ordination. The time is past for 

 pulling against each other, and endeavouring to belittle and nullify 

 one another's efforts. We all belong to one big family, and in 

 the degree that we recognize the brotherhood of man and live up 

 to it, so, in that degree, will we triumph over the adverse forces 

 which are at work around us. 



Good educational work could be done if the Agricultural 

 Department of Government supplied the various museums in the 

 Union with mounted series of all the well-known insect pests, 

 showing their life history. Then make it an obligation for the 

 museum management to place them in special exhibition cases 

 with mounted specimens of their natural enemies, supplemented 

 by explanatory labels wTitten in simple language. Such a series 

 of exhibits would have a far-reaching educational effect. The 

 annual attendance of visitors to the Port Elizabeth Museum has, 

 for the past eleven years, fluctuated from 100,000 to 132,000. and 

 it can, in consequence, be readily realized how good a medium 

 a public museum is for the sowing of the seed of Economic 

 Natural History. 



In the past, coal was looked upon as a source of heat only ; 

 and even when used for that purpose, most of its energy was 

 allowed to go to waste. With the application of intelligence and 

 careful thought, coal is now made to produce a large variety of 

 valuable by-products. Public Museums can be compared with 

 coal in this respect. There are great possibilities in them, but 

 most of these are allowed to lie latent. In fact their by-products 

 are not utilized. 



In conclusion it would not perchance be out of place to 

 quote a few axioms by that- far-seeing and advanced educationist, 

 Dr. Viljoen, given at a public dinner recently in Bloemfontein. 



. (i) That the children were the best asset of the State, and 

 therefore no nation should stint itself in the matter of 

 expenditure for education. 



