JAN 22 1893 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY. 
SESSION CXXI. 
Wednesday, 18th November 1891.—Dr R. H. Traquair, PB 
President, in the Chair. 
Dr R. H. Traquair, F.RS., President, delivered the 
following opening address :— 
I think that to most, if not to all, people who have any 
interest in natural history, the word “Museum” has associa- 
tions which are decidedly of an agreeable character. 
It is there that we go to get a closer and more complete 
view at preserved specimens of creatures which we may have 
only observed in the field—to compare specimens collected by 
ourselves with those collected and named by others of greater 
experience,—or to make a practical acquaintance with natural 
objects which we may never be able to collect for ourselves, 
or even to see in their native habitats, and which we would 
otherwise know only from books. 
The public to whom a natural history museum appeals 
is by no means a narrow one. It embraces, for instance, the 
expert engaged in working out a particular group of animals, 
and to whose work the study of large collections, especially 
those containing the original specimens upon which species 
have been founded, is absolutely essential. It embraces the 
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