FOR CIRCULATION AMONC. THK \11.LAGK SCHOOLS OF KSSKX. 187 



the central museum, and allowed, under proper restrictions, to circu- 

 late on loan among the village schools of Essex. 



The means of scientific instruction by object-lessons would thus 

 be carried into remote parts of the county, to the great benefit of. 

 those least likely to be able to visit the Central Institution. As 

 Matthew Arnold said, with reference to a different subject, " We 

 must take this instruction to the students, and not hope to bring 

 the students to the instruction." 



In Liverpool the circulating system is worked with marked suc- 

 cess, but is confined to schools within the boundaries of the city. 

 The scheme originated with the Rev. Henry H. Higgins, who has 

 devoted the best years of his life to the development of the great 

 Natural History Museum which adorns his city. A memorandum, 

 embodying the suggestions, was originally drawn up by Mr. Higgins 

 in 1884, and issued by the Liverpool Museum Committee^ The 

 scheme was duly accepted, and a few months afterwards Mr. T. J. 

 Moore, the curator, presented a report,- giving details of the construc- 

 tion of the cabinets and the nature of their contents, illustrated by 

 three photographs showing the cabinets laid open for inspection. 

 The work of periodically distributing these collections to the schools, 

 and exchanging them for others, has developed upon Mr. J. Chard, 

 an enthusiastic assistant at the Museum- ; and at the Liverpool 

 Meeting of the Museums Association last year he read a paper on 

 the progress of the scheme.'' 



It is satisfactory to note that the scheme has been singularly suc- 

 cessful. "That the showing of specimens does interest the children 

 is abundantly proved by experience," says Mr. Chard. " The 

 promise to exhibit a cabinet to the children, and give a lesson upon 

 it, never fails to secure a large attendance." Surely there is no 

 reason why the success in Liverpool should not be repeated in 

 Essex. That the children in East Anglia — even the children of 

 agricultural labourers in rural parishes — are capable of appreciating 

 scientific instruction, if proi)erly and agreeably presented, was 

 amply demonstrated years ago by the notorious success of Prof. 

 Henslow's botanical lessons in the national school of Hitcham. 

 "No one," said the professor on one occasion, "who had heard the 



1 "Proposed Circul.iting Museum for Schools and other Educational Purposes." By the 

 Rev. H. H. Higgins, M..-\., Chairman of the Museum Sub-Committee. (Jan. 1884.) 



2 ■' Report on the Progress of the Circulating Museum Collections." By Thomas J. Moore, 

 Curator. (June, 1884.) 



3 "On Circulating Cabinets for Schools and other Educational Purposes." By John Chard, 

 Assistant in the Liverpool Museum. Report of Proceedings at First .\nnual General Meeting of 

 the Museums .\s>ociation, 1890, p. 54. 



N 2 



