the topography or geography of plants. And all this is exactly that 

 sort of kuowlcdgc the acquisition of which should and might he 

 assisted by a local museum, and from which school teachers and 

 their disciples could always obtain information. Some of our coun- 

 try museums are already thus valuable ; but these are exceptional, 

 and thougli worthy of all praise and imitation, are too few to affect 

 the general question, and indisputable fact, of the lamentable 

 shortcomings of our provincial museums. 



On the continent they are better arranged, judging from the 

 evidence of Professor Boyd Dawkins, and the report of the eminent 

 zoologist, A. de Quatrafages, in his "Rambles of a Naturalist " 

 (8vo London, 1857, vol. 2, p. 253), accompanied by the nowveteran 

 Professor Milne Edwards: "In 1853, I reached Rochelle before 

 night, and on the following morning I hastened to pay my respects 

 to the elder M. d'Orbigny, one of the veterans of marine zoology. 

 Like most men who have worked hard themselves, M. d'Orbigny 

 gives a hearty welcome to all those who follow in his own steps. 

 On the strength of my title as a naturalist I was received as an old 

 friend. I soon made the acquaintance of several men devoted to 

 the study of the natural sciences, and in their company I visited the 

 museum, in which they had made a most interesting collection of 

 the different productions belonging to the three kingdoms of nature 

 which are to be obtained in the department of the Lower Charente. 

 Having examined this local fauna in the museum, I at once under- 

 stood the nature of the district that I was about to investigate." 



Tour Committee have pleasure in directing attention to this state- 

 ment by Mons de Quatrafages, because it plainly shows what sort 

 of questions should arise in the minds of intelligent visitors after their 

 examination of a provincial museum, and what, as a matter of course, 

 we have a right to expect of any such institiition, supported by 

 compulsory rates ; and how, moreover, it should act as an agreeable 

 link in the kin of all true naturalists, as it did at the brave little 

 town of llochelle. In our own country similar and not less intelli- 

 gent views are entertained by more naturalists than the examples 

 of so many defective local museums would seem to indicate, and have 

 been expressed of late by our respected vice-president, Mr. H. Lee, of 

 Croydon, by Mr. Alexander Murray, of Hastings, by the editor of 

 "Nature," of the "Athenoeum," and others. The distinguished Scotch 

 philosopher. Sir David Brewster, held a still higher opinion of local 

 museums. He thought that, if properly conducted, they would in the 

 long run promote concord among nations. When presiding at the Peace 

 Congress, held in London, 1851, he said — " Were our youth better 

 insti-ucted than they are in the popular departments of phyiscal 

 and natural science, subjects with which no deeds of heroism or 

 personal adventure are associated ; and were every school to have a 

 Museum, containing objects of natural history, the amusements of 

 the school would assume a different character, and the scholars 



