PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION D. 103 
chosen is usually chemistry, and it is taught as if each boy were 
to be trained as an analytical chemist, whilst little attempt is 
made to render the subject a real instrument of mental training. 
Tt has always appeared to me that the science-teaching in schools 
should be far less specialised, that it should cover a much wider 
field, that it should, for instance, invariably include some know- 
ledge of the physical properties of matter, and both of plant-life 
and animal life. But I attach far more importance to the train- 
ing to be derived from these subjects than to the actual know- 
ledge of facts which may be gained. The British Association has 
a committee appointed to consider the improvement of science- 
teaching, and certain recommendations have recently been 
published through the columns of Vat¢wre which, to a large extent, 
follow the lines I have indicated, and these I would earnestly 
recommend to your attention. 
There is another educational subject about which I wish to 
say a few words, namely, the development of Natural History 
museums as educational institutions. It is a subject on which I 
have had occasion to think and write for some years, and it is 
one with which biologists are especially concerned, for a very 
large proportion of the natural objects which are accumulated in 
such museums are either plants or animals. It has always 
appeared to me that a museum can be, and should be, made a 
most powerful means of popular education ; but in going through 
museums in many parts of the world, the feeling has again and 
again been forced upon me that in this respect they are » failur es. 
Ww alking around the well-stored courts and galleries which teem 
with treasures from all quarters of the world, I have observed 
the visitors. Perhaps they are standing before a case of tropical 
birds, and you may think that to their imagination is presented 
the tangled luxuriance of a tropical forest, the warm air filled 
with the cries of the birds as they flit from tree to tree, or climb 
along the branches in search of insects or fruit ; whilst in the 
sunshine, amongst the flowers, the humming birds dart with flash 
of crimson, sapphire and gold, now poised for a moment in front 
of a flower, with the long bill inserted into its calyx in search of 
honey, now with a gleam of brilliant colour away to seek food 
elsewhere. The naturalist may see all this and much more, but the 
ordinary visitor only sees rows of dead stuffed birds of various 
colours and sizes, which appeal to his mind no more than the 
stuffed birds you may see in a milliner’s shop. He does not even 
know the names of the birds, for although there are labels with 
the Latin names set out at full length, the Latin repels the 
unaccustomed eye, and is therefore disregarded. It may be said, 
perhaps, that museums are not for such people. My sympathies, 
however, are altogether with these visitors. I believe that our 
museums ought to provide for them in the first place, that they 
ought to attract and instruct them. 
