THE LOCAL MUSEUM, LARORATORY, AND LIBRARY. 7 1 



interest to the town and county at large. The object of the scheme was to increase 

 the usefulness of the Museum by making it truly representative of the county, and 

 to enlarge it so as to become of educational value. The middle classes must 

 ssriousl}' take up the question of technical education, if they wished to hold their 

 own. The establishment of the Museum on right lines would confer a very great 

 benefit upon Chelmsford, as well as upon the county generally ; and he should be 

 mistaken in, and ashamed of his brother townsmen if they allowed this scheme to 

 slip tlirough their hands, and the Institution to be located somewhere else. It was 

 simply a question as to whether they would raise sufificient money for the building, 

 and if they did not raise it, some other district would get the Institution. If they 

 established the Institution it was almost impossible that the County Council could 

 allow it to exist without providing money for its maintenance. (Applause.) Mr. 

 Chancellor proceeded to mention the names of a number of gentlemen who had 

 apologised to him for their absence, and said that Admiral Luard had promised a 

 donation of £•, 5s. (Hear, hear.) 



The Ven. Archdeacon of Essex seconded the resolution, and commended the 

 scheme to the approval of the meeting, because it had been thoroughly worked 

 out by men who well understood what they were doing. (Hear, hear ) 



Prof. W. H. Flower, C.B., F.R.S. (Director of the British Museum of Natural 

 History), then gave an able address on the "Educational Value of Museums," a 

 subject which, as above mentioned, formed the principal theme of his Presidential 

 Address to the British Association in 1889. Alluding to the scheme before the 

 meeting, he spoke highly of the claims and capabilities of the Essex Field Club 

 to undertake such a task ; he had followed the operations of the Club almost from 

 the beginning, and the energy and persistence in one line of work and observation^ 

 as evidenced in the publications of the Club, placed it, in his opinion, in the very 

 front ranks of similar institutions. He had had an opportunity of reading and 

 considering the scheme before it was adopted, and now that it was in print he 

 might say that he considered it was as good a scheme as could be devised to me^t 

 the special circumstances of the case. It was well abreast of the modern views of 

 the objects and functions of local museums, and contained all the elements of 

 success, having been drawn up by a body of men who were very much in earnest, 

 and he did not think that any fault could be honestly found with the plans th:it 

 had been put before the inhabitants of Essex. If they succeeded in establishing 

 this Institution it would certainly soon become the centre of great educational 

 advantages, and they would be setting an example for other counties in England 

 to follow. (Applause.) Under Mr. Chancellor's guidance he had been enabled 

 to pa}' a hasty visit to the old museum in Chelmsford that afternoon, and 

 it seemed to contain many things that would form a nucleus of a collection, 

 more especially in the way of Roman and Saxon remains. These remains should 

 always be carefully and jealously guarded. Prof. Flowers insisted most strongly 

 on the necessity of a museu.-n being well arranged, and said that an ill-arranged 

 museum was like the letters of the alphabet thrown about indiscriminately, 

 meaning nothing at all. A well-arranged museum, on the other hand, was like 

 those same letters properly arranged in words of counsel and instruction. But 

 almost everything depended upon the curator — but in most museums he was the 

 last thought of. The Professor was almost inclined to advise, " Get your curator and 

 build the museum around him." Unpaid labour of the kind could never be depended 

 upon ; voluntary aid would be most useful in particular departments, but the con- 

 trolling hand of a permanent curator was in his opinion an absolute necessity if 

 the plans set before them were to be usefully and efficiently carried out. A 



