212 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



often insisted on the need for greater co-operation between educational and museum 

 authorities, and especially on the advantage to a museum of a properly appointed 

 laboratory, that we are delighted to learn that such has become " the usual supple- 

 ment to a museum " ; hitherto we had been sadly unaware of that fact. At any rate 

 the Hastings people are shining examples. The Secretary to the institution is Mr. 

 W. V. Crake, Highlands, St. Leonards. 



In imitation of the Yorkshire naturalists, those of Lincolnshire have formed 

 themselves into a union, which, if we may judge from the first volume of Transactions, 

 kindly sent us by the organiser and late secretary of the union, Mr. Walter F. Baker, 

 seems likely to do good work. It is not, we gladly read, the ambition of the Lincoln- 

 shire naturalists, "to record new species, or find new localities for species already 

 recorded" ; nor do they sympathise with the mere laboratory microscopist. They 

 wish to unite the best work of the two classes. They want, as Professor Miall says 

 in his admirable article, " live Natural History." The presidential address by Mr. 

 John Cordeaux attempts to define the faunal areas of this large and diversified 

 county, and gives useful hints for future work. Mr. F. M. Burton lists the chief 

 writings on the geology of Lincolnshire, and urges the formation of a Boulder Com- 

 mittee to work in connection with that of the British Association. A vigorous 

 attempt is being made to found a museum in Lincoln, a city which has allowed 

 many famous treasures to elude its grasp for the want of such an institution. And 

 already the union has done yeoman's service to British natural history, for we are 

 told that an application has been made on its behalf to the Lindsey County Council 

 to protect the coast area under the Act of 1894 relating to birds' eggs, and the 

 Council have agreed to it unanimously. The area thus protected extends from the 

 northern end of the Lincolnshire coast down to Boston ; and if the County Council 

 of Holland follow suit, the whole of the coast area of the county will be protected. 



We congratulate the union on its start. Made virtute ! 



On Saturday, February 2, the Duke of Westminster opened the Chester Museum 

 extension. In the course of his address he referred to the opening of museums on 

 Sunday, and stated that he "had always considered Sunday as the only day on 

 which many of his fellow-citizens could see such collections." Chester has always 

 kept up its reputation as a centre for local scientific research, and the energies of 

 Mr. Newstead are admirably directed towards the continuance of that useful work. 



Speaking at the Birkbeck Institution, on the occasion of the distribution of 

 prizes to successful students by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, on Wednesday, 

 the 13th ult., Mr. Justice Bruce dealt at some length on the great utility of the 

 British Museum as a means of spreading education of the highest possible order 

 among the inhabitants, not only of the metropolis, but of the United Kingdom. 

 He paid a splendid tribute to the officers of the Museum, who, he said, were always 

 willing to impart the great stores of knowledge they possessed to those seeking it. 



We regret to learn that that valuable publication, the Index Medicus, is likely to 

 come to an end for want of funds. To enable it to continue, it requires 500 new 

 subscribers at £2 a year. Surely among medical men enough have attained to such 

 prosperity as will enable them to support a work of such practical service to their 

 profession. 



Apropos, we learn from the Revue Scientifiqitc that, in France, Mr. Marcel 

 Baudouin, general secretary of the Association de la Presse medicate francaise, has 

 founded a circulating library of medical literature, from which the local practitioner 

 can borrow the works of which he may be in need in return for an annual sub- 

 scription of 20 francs and a small sum of "caution money," varying with the value 

 of the books. Mr. Baudouin has also organised a bibliographic service similar to 

 those for the benefit of zoologists and botanists to which we have recently referred 



