70 THt; LOCAL MUSEUM, LABORATORY, ANJ) LIBRARY. 



This is quite as true (if not more so) in agriculture as in manufactures." Lord 

 Reay (late Governor of Bombaj') wrote : " To my great regret I cannot be present 

 on Wednesday, as I have promised to attend another meeting at that hour. The 

 scheme for technical instruction has evidently been drawn up with great knowledge 

 and care. I should have been prepared to support, warmly, its main features. It 

 will fructif)' elementar}' education, and enhance its value and apprec ation in rural 

 districts, which stand more in need of technical instruction than the manufacturing 

 districts, because agricultural pursuits open a wider field of observation than the 

 supervision of even the most intricate machinery. I wish all success to your 

 undertaking." 



Mr. Ed. Fitch (^President of the Essex Field CltiU), read the scheme for the 

 amalgamation of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum with the Essex Field Club, 

 and for the establishment of a Local (Essex) Museum Laboratory and Library, 

 which had been agreed to by the two bodies (the scheme is fully set out in the 

 last volume of the Essex Naturalist, vol. iv., pp. 236-241). 



[In the circular calling the meeiing the fjUowing summary was given of the scheme, and of the 

 advantages to be derived from such an institution as that proposed to be founded : " It is pro- 

 posed, under an agreement for the amalgamation of the two above-named Societies, to establish 

 in Chelmsford (chosen not only as the County Town, but also as being a central position in Essex) 

 a Public ( F'ree) Museum, to illustrate the natural productions, the geology and physiography, 

 and the industries and manufactures of Essex, together with an Educational Series of specimens 

 and preparations, which may be employed for teaching purposes. The Museum will also contain 

 a Library of books, maps, Parliamentary- papers, pictures, &c., treating of the natural history, 

 geology, topography, history, and industries of Essex, as well as a general library of books, neces- 

 sary for the study of the before-mentioned subjects. 



" It is submitted that the Museum, Laboratories, and Library at Chelmsford will be of great 

 utility, not only to Naturalists and .Students of Science, but also to the inhabitants of the county 

 at large, to Farmers, Gardeners, Fishermen, &c., and to Members of the County Council, County 

 Officers and others, desirous of obtaining accurate information about Essex, its natural produc- 

 tions and industries, and also as affording facilities for any special technical investigations in 

 the subjects above-mentioned. 



" The benefit to be derived from the establishment of local museums as educational agencies is 

 being very widely recognised ", the British Association for the Advancement of Science appointed 

 a committee to consider the subject, valuable reports being issued in 1887 and 1888. In 1889 

 Prof. Flower chose Museums as a principal theme of his Presidential Address to the Association, 

 and in speaking of the value of Local ^iuseumE referred especially to that ' numerous class, and 

 one which it may be hoped will year by year bear a greater relative proportion to the general 

 population of the country, who, without having the lime, the opportunities, or the abilities to 

 make a profound study of any branch of science, yet take a general interest in its progress, and 

 wish to possess some knowledge of the world around them. . . . For such persons museums may 

 be, when well organised and arranged, 0/ benefit to a degree that at present catt scarcely be 

 realised. ' 



" Of the scientific Taluc of local museums nothing need be said — their importance is fully recog- 

 nised by all competent to judge. Mr. F. T. Mott, Secretary of the British Association Com- 

 mittee on Provincial Museums, has well said : ' Every provincial museum which undertakes to do 

 its proper work for the nation at large must set itself to collect and record every natural fact in every 

 branch of science wiihin the area of its own special district. It must waste no energy upon any- 

 thing outside of this district, but within it everything must be done as completely and rapidly as 

 possible. 7'he museum must be a scintific monograf>h of the district, illustrated by actual 



sf-ecimens 0/ the natural and artificial p'oducts of that district If every district in the 



kingdom were thus worked up, many scientific problems which are now insoluble would become 

 plain, and the /<;fa/ museums are the institutions most capable of accomplishing this object.' 

 The Essex Field Club, with its large body of expert naturalists and its serial publications, is 

 quite capable on carrying on such a work."] 



Mr. F. Chancellor, J. P., moved the first resolution, as follows : — 



"That, in the opinion of this meeting, the proposals put forward b}' the Joint 

 Committee of the Essex Field Club and the Essex and Chelmsford Museum for the 

 establishment of a Local Museum, Laboratory, and Library, is worthy of the 

 support of the county, and this meeting pledges itself to do all in its power to 

 pro note the same." 



In the course of his remarks Mr. Chancellor mentioned that the present 

 Chelmsford Museum iwas founded more than fifty years ago, and although, like 

 most local museums belonging to a former age, it contained a good deal of what 

 scientific men would call rubbish, it also contained many things of value and 



