OPENING OF THE ESSEX MUSEUM, ETC. 325 



munificence and enlightened forethought on the part of Mr. Passmore 

 Edwards, combined with the splendid public spirit of the Town Council of 

 West Ham. (Applause.) To our ever zealous Secretary, Mr. William Cole, 

 belongs in the first place the credit of ha\'ing advocated (and successfully 

 advocated) the claims of the Essex Field Club to have a permanent home for 

 the collections which in the course of twenty years have been gradually 

 formed under his auspices. Of his skill as a curator it is not for me to speak 

 — the collections, although at present far from complete, and at this earl} 

 stage, but in the first period of their arrangement, will tell their own story. 

 And, as another justification for the gratitude which all we members of the 

 Essex Field Club owe to Mr. Cole, I need only refer to the excellent little 

 Epping Forest Museum in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge at Chingford, which was 

 opened a few years ago, and for which a home was provided by the Corpora- 

 tion of London. (Applause.) The late Sir William Flower once said the 

 proper way to establish a museum was to find a curator, and then let him 

 build his museum around him. We have found our Curator ! Mr. Passmore 

 Edwards and your Town Council will enable us to carry out the complete 

 programme. (Applause.) 



The nature of scope of a local museum have, as I learn from my friend 

 Professor Meldola, been frequently considered at meetings of the Field Club, 

 and I can hardly hope to add anything to the views which have been 

 expressed on this subject by specialists. But you will permit me to offer my 

 congratulations to your Museum Committee for the thorough manner in 

 which they appear to have realised what a local museum ought to be. The 

 days have gone by when the museum, so-called, of a country town was con- 

 sidered well furnished if it contained a promiscuous collection of rubbish 

 gathered together haphazard from all quarters of the globe. (Laughter.) The 

 local museum which can alone meet the ideal requirements of the present age 

 should be a perfectly organised registry office where all the natural products of 

 the district comprised can be seen by students, preserved so as to be capable of 

 identification, and displayed to the best advantage The classification of the 

 contents of such a museum should be systematic, and the labelling of specimens 

 so complete and descriptive that each may tell its own story. And, above all, 

 the museum should be what it professes to be— Local. (Applause.) Collections 

 illustrating what species of animals, birds, insects, plants, &c., inhabited a 

 particular district at a certain period, and what species were inhabitants during 

 past geological ages, will be of enormous v^alue to the present generation, and 

 of even great value to future generations. The foundation of a local museum 

 for purposes of study and reference is as valuable— perhaps even more valu- 

 able — than a public library, for the drift of modern thought in the direction 

 of scientific education is towards a knowledge of nature rather than a know- 

 ledge of books. (Applause.) With the alterations brought about in any 

 district through natural agencies, or through man's interference, there must 

 arise changes in the living inhabitants. Old species die out, new ones are 

 introduced. The sea is encroaching on our Essex Coast and removing, as I 

 am told, deposits containing fossils of unique interest— the sole representa- 

 tives of a particular kind of life that flourished here ages and ages ago. Such 

 relics of the earth's pajt history are worthy of being most religiously pre- 

 served in the local museum, to which institution all students should naturally 



