276 Kkpout 8.A.x^. AdvancEiMent of Science. 



small collection of objects of art, and in mining or educational centres 

 a special division for mineralogy and petrography. 



Are these arrangements practical, do they satisfy the public want, 

 and do the}' advance South African science in a sufficient degi'ee I 



The ideal position would no doubt be that, whatever local enter- 

 prise and local energy might found and keep in existence locally, there 

 should be one comprehensive Government or State museum for the 

 whole of South Africa ; but on account of the large area and thin 

 population of this continent this ideal would be unpracticable, at least 

 for the next fifty years. Each colony^ has at present its own Govern- 

 ment mu.seum, comprising all brandies of natural histor}^ besides all 

 subjects enumerated above, and it is right that this should be, and I 

 sincerely hope that political changes of which we hear so much of late 

 wi41 have the effect that the importance or the present status of any of 

 these museums will not be altered or intei'fered with in any way. 

 It is the duty of all those who are interested in the advancement of 

 science in South Africa to guard jealously the integrity of each insti- 

 tution now in existence, and to enhance their scientific value and to 

 improve their efficiency. 



I regret very much that on account of the enormous distance 

 between our South African museums it is difficult for us, directors 

 and our assistants to pay regular visits to our fellow-institutions, and 

 I personally have, alas ! only the privilege to be ac({uainted with the 

 South African Albany, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria museums. 

 What I have seen of them, however, makes me bold to say that they 

 all are in very much the same condition as our own in the Transvaal, 

 i.e. there is a vast amount of most valuable and interesting material, 

 in the majority of cases a hopeless want of space for exhibition, a nearly 

 total absence of work-rooms and laboratories for original scientific re- 

 search, and a lamentable want of qualified assistance to wade through 

 tlie enormous accumulation of scientific material ; the consequence is 

 that European and American museums to a great extent undertake the 

 work that in the natural course of events ought to and should be done 

 in this country. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no South 

 African nmseum has a properly trained collector, who systematically 

 sur\eys the country, district by district, zoological!}' or botanically. 



The acquisitions to our museums are greatly due to lay people, 

 who, believing tliey have found something they have not seen before, 

 send their discoveries to the neai-est museum ; and to chance purchases, 

 from people who either from pecuniary interests, for the love of hunt- 

 ing and also sometimes for the genuine love of natural history, have 

 coUectefl with more or less zeal, and who afterwards got tired of their 

 collections, could not afford to keep up their hobby or wanted to leave 

 the country, and offer their collections for sale to oive of our museums. 

 European and American museums have done better : London, 

 Tring, Lisbon, Berlin, Leyden, Washington and numerous other 

 museuujs have .sent their own trained collectoi's to Africa, in order to 

 make a more systematic zoological survey of the country, and montii 

 after montli brings us the disheartening and galling news in the- 



