362 NATURAL SCIENCE [June 



at South Kensington, while keeping them available for constant and 

 ready reference by the officers of the Survey. The Geological 

 Survey, of course, has always been a branch of the Science and Art 

 Department, and it might be supposed that the natural incorporation 

 would be with what is usually called the South Kensington Museum, 

 to which many of the models and appliances formerly at Jermyn 

 Street have already been transferred. But it must be remembered 

 that the scientific collections of the South Kensington Museum do 

 not embrace objects of natural history, except in so far as they are 

 definitely connected with education. The natural history collections 

 of the country are preserved in the British Museum, in that branch 

 of it now generally known as the Natural History Museum. It 

 would therefore seem more fitting that the collections in question 

 should be placed in the keeping of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum. 



We do not know exactly how the proposed alteration by the Com- 

 mittee will be received by those already in possession at the South 

 Kensington Museum and at the Natural History Museum, We can 

 imagine the existence of a little jealousy, counterbalanced by the 

 fear of being overburdened with work ; and we can understand that 

 there should be considerable indisposition to yield valuable space 

 without an equivalent return. With these matters an independent 

 scientific Eeview has no concern. It is our part to consider what 

 is best for the public and for the advance of science. Now, it is 

 generally recognised that, in spite of the ardent efforts of the two 

 or three hard-working gentlemen whose business it is to name fossils 

 at Jermyn Street, the lists of fossils that are published by the 

 Survey in its memoirs are not so reliable as they might be. We 

 do not for a moment blame the gentlemen just referred to. They 

 do as much as the difficulties of their position permit them ; the 

 fault lies with the system. What we want to see is the training of 

 a school of broad-minded specialists, whether amateur or profes- 

 sional, and the co-operation of those specialists in the advancement 

 of British palaeontology. Only in this way are the fossils of our 

 strata likely to be identified with sufficient exactitude to be a true 

 guide to the practical geologist and the miner ; only thus shall we 

 ever solve those wonderful problems of detailed stratigraphy and 

 palaeo-geography, the very existence of which we are just beginning 

 to realise ; only thus will fresh light be thrown on the fascinating 

 enigmas of the procession of life. It is obvious that the nucleus 

 of such a band of specialists already exists at the Natural History 

 Museum, and nowhere else ; and that museum is already the head- 

 quarters of many palaeontological specialists who are not on its 

 staff. There, too, is to be found in greatest completeness that 

 indispensable aid, a good library. Therefore, it seems to us that 



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