CORRESPONDING SOCIKTIF.S OF THK P,RITISF^ ASSOCIATION. 1 23 



his remarks, Sir John Evans said he thought the keepers of the 

 various departments of the British Museum would be found 

 admirable referees in such matters. 



Mr. Peek considered that the leading feature of an unattractive 

 museum was a dusty stagnation. Such a museum became almost as 

 much fossilised as the fossils it contained ; its labels were either 

 illegible from age or invisible from displacement. Those who 

 casually entered such museums seldom revisited them. Some 

 variation in the aspect of a museum was itself an attraction. It 

 was most desirable that the English as well as the Latin name of a 

 specimen should be given. Much might be done to allow of com- 

 parisons between creatures of different families or genera. Thus, at 

 the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, the skeletons of a 

 man and of a horse had recently been placed, the one in front of the 

 other, in the attitude of running, so that the relations of the two, 

 bone for bone, could be distinctly seen. 



Museum demonstrations, though of the highest value, could only, 

 he thought, be really useful to a few persons at a time. It was 

 desirable that the demonstrator should be placed on a temporary 

 stand so that he might see, and be seen by, his audience. 



Lastly, he touched upon the relations between museums and 

 County Councils, remarking that it had always appeared to him that 

 demonstrations in museums should take a very prominent part in 

 technical education, especially in rural districts, and he had been 

 (Surprised that so little assistance had been given in aid of local 

 collections by County Councils. In order to ascertain what had 

 been done he had sent out a circular to County Council Technical 

 ■Education Committees, and had found that local museums and free 

 libraries had been assisted in only nine cases. The County Council 

 of Cumberland had been the most liberal, having made a grant of 

 v^6oo per annum during the last three years for the purpose of aiding 

 the Corporation of Carlisle to erect a Museum, Free Library, and 

 Art School. A grant had also been made to a Free Library at 

 Whitehaven for the purchase of books for the use of students at 

 |Technical Instruction classes ; and a grant of ^200 per annum had 

 jbeen given to the Local Board of Millom in aid of the Free Library 

 land Technical School at that town. Passing over grants to Free 

 Libraries, and for the purchase of technical books in various counties, 

 it appeared that in Surrey it was proposed to found a Museum in 

 connection with buildings for technical education, and a reference 



