162 BURTON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
cost until my father’s death in 1858; when his executors 
sold his share to Sir Oswald Mosley. As you may probably 
remember, Sir Oswald offered the collection to the town of 
Burton, conditionally on their finding a suitable room and 
keeping it up. The offer being declined, the specimens were 
removed to Rolleston.” 
In conclusion, I should like to make a few remarks on the 
subject of local museums, especially as the Burton of fifty 
years ago was in that respect in advance of the Burton of 
the present day. At the next census it is, however, to be 
hoped that Burton will have attained the necessary minimum 
of 50,000 inhabitants to enable it to assume the dignity of a 
County Borough. I believe in that case we shall have the 
spending ourselves of the £10,000 a year which the town now 
contributes to the County Fund of Staffordshire for Technical 
Instruction, instead of the beggarly pittance now doled out to 
us by the County Council. It will then be possible to establish 
a useful Institution of this kind. 
Now museums fulfil two objects. The first is as a means 
of education, and the second is as a place of deposit where 
collections of more or less value may be preserved and con- 
sulted. 
The British Museum serves both purposes. As a place of 
education, it contains typical collections sufficiently labelled 
to serve this purpose, and it also contains special collections 
which are only open to the student, aud to him only on 
speciai application and under proper safeguards. 
The true purpose of a local museum is two-fold. Firstly, 
the exhibition of typical collections, more or less complete, 
according to its means of space, for the purpose of education : 
and, secondly, as a place for the preservation of local speci- 
mens of animals, plants, fossils, minerals, aad antiquities. 
When we come to the question of the deposit in such Insti- 
tutions of valuable general collections, I look upon it as a 
positive misfortune that they should be placed in them, unless 
