August II, 1887] 



NATURE 



347 



introduction he writes as follows : — " My greatest obliga- 

 tion is to Mr. "William Gilbertson, of Preston, a naturalist 

 of high acquirements, who has for many years explored 

 with exceeding diligence a region of mountain limestone, 

 remarkably rich in organic remains. The collection which 

 he has amassed from the small district of Bolland is at 

 this moment unrivalled, and he has done for me, without 

 solicitation, what is seldom granted to the most urgent 

 entreaty ; he has sent me for deliberate examination, at 

 convenient intervals, THE WHOLE OF His magnificent 

 COLLECTION, accompanied by remarks dictated by long 

 experience and a sound judgment." He (Gilbertson) had 

 proposed to publish on the Crijioidea himself, but his 

 sketches, as well as his specimens, were all placed at Prof. 

 PhilHps's disposal. Phillips adds : " An attentive examina- 

 tion of this rich collection rendered it unnecessary to 

 study minutely the less extensive series preserved in other 

 cabinets ; . . . . most of the Jigitres of fossils are taken 

 from specimens in Mr. Gilbertson's collection, because 

 these were generally the best that could be found." 



The Gilbertson Collection was purchased for the 

 British Museum in 1841. 



The collections which follow mark a distinct era in 

 the annals of geological science. Some forty-seven years 

 ago a little Society was founded by a few London geo- 

 logists—namely. Dr. J. Scott Bovverbank, F.R.S., Searles 

 V. Wood, Prof. John Morris, Alfred White, Nathaniel T. 

 Wetherell, James de Carle Sowerby, and Frederick E. 

 Edwards — for the purpose of illustrating the Eocene 

 Mollusca, and entitled the " London-Clay Club." They 

 rnet at stated periods at each other's houses, and after a 

 time they said, '' Why should we not illustrate all the 

 fossils of the British Islands, and from every forma- 

 tion .? " No sooner proposed than a Society was founded, 

 called the " Palaeontographical Society," in the year 1847 

 (just forty years ago). The first volume, issued in that 

 year, was "The Crag Mollusca, Part L, Univalves," by 

 Mr. Searles V. Wood (with twenty-one plates). 



The " Searles Wood Crag Collection " was commenced 

 in 1826, and occupied about thirty years in its formation. 

 It represents the Molluscan fauna of the Red and Coralline 

 Crags of the neighbourhood of Woodbridge, and from 

 Aldborough, Chillesford, Sudbourne, Oxford, Butley, 

 Sutton, Ramsholt, Felixstowe, and many other localities 

 in Suffolk, also from Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. The 

 specimens so collected were employed by Mr. Searles 

 Wood in the preparation of his Monograph on the Crag 

 Mollusca, published by the Palaeontographical Society 

 (1848-61) ; with supplements in 1871, 1873, and 1879, 

 illustrated by seventy-one quarto plates. Each figured 

 specimen is indicated by having a small green label 

 affixed to it. 



A geological description of the Crag formation by Mr. 

 S. V. Wood, Jun., and Mr. F. W. Harmer, was issued by 

 the Palaeontographical Society in 1871 and 1873. 



The collection was presented by Mr. S. V. Wood to 

 the British Museum, January 1856, and a supplementary 

 collection was given by Mrs. Searles V. Wood in 1885. 



The next " Palaeontographical Collection " is of nearly 

 equal antiquity and fully of equal merit. It is the Eocene 

 Molluscan Collection formed by the late Mr. Frederick E. 

 Edwards, about the year 1835, and was continually being 

 added to, until a few years before his death, which hap- 

 pened m 1875. It was acquired for the nation by purchase 

 in 1873. 



Originally intending to illustrate the fossils of the 

 London Clay, Vix. Edwards extended his researches over 

 the Eocene strata of Sussex, Hampshire, and the Isle of 

 Wight, where, assisted by Mr. Henry Keeping, he made 

 the most complete collection ever attempted by any 

 geologist, and it still remains unrivalled. 



Mr. Edwards contributed six memoirs to the Palreonto- 

 graphical Society, 1848-56, also separate papers to the 

 London Geological Magozine, 1846, the Geologist, i860 



and the Geological Magazine ^ 1865, descriptive of the 

 Eocene Mollusca, in his collection. 



Mr. S. V. Wood continued the work for Mr. Edwards, 

 describing and figuring the " Eocene Bivalves " in the 

 annual volumes of the Palaeontographical Society for 

 1859, 1862, 1870, and 1877. Each specimen which has 

 been figured is specially marked. 



About 500 species have been described and figured, 

 but the collection is very rich in new and undescribed 

 forms. 



The last collection is that of a naturalist who devoted 

 his entire life to the study and illustration of a single class 

 of organisms, namely the Brachiopoda. It was formed by 

 the late Dr. Thomas Davidson, F.R.S. (of 9 Salisbury 

 Road, West Brighton, and Muir House, Midlothian), 

 between the years 1837 and 1886, with the object of 

 illustrating his great work on the " British Fossil Brachio- 

 poda," published by the Palaeontographical Society, in 

 six large quarto volumes between the years 1850 and 

 1886, comprising 2290 pages of te.xt, and 234 plates, with 

 9329 figures, and descriptions of 969 species. 



Dr. Davidson was also the author of the Report on the 

 recent Brachiopoda collected by H.M.S. Cliallenger 

 (vol. i. 1880) ; of the article " Brachiopoda," in the " En- 

 cyclopaedia Britannica," ninth edition, 1875 ; of a Mono- 

 graph of '' Recent Brachiopoda " (Trans. Linnean Society, 

 1886 and 1887), and of more than fifty other separate 

 memoirs mostly bearing upon Brachiopoda both recent 

 and fossil, printed in the Transactions and Journals of 

 the various learned Societies, &c. 



His collection, both of Recent and Fossil Brachiopoda, 

 together with all Dr. Davidson's original drawings, his 

 numerous books and pamphlets, were presented by him to 

 the British Museum through his son Mr. William Davidson, 

 February 1886. By his direction the entire collection of 

 recent and fossil species are to be kept together in one 

 series, for the convenience of reference of all men of 

 science who may wish to consult the same. 



NOTES. 

 On Tuesday the Technical Instruction Bill was read a second 

 time. The second reading having been moved by Sir W. Hart 

 Dyke, Mr. S. Leighton proposed as an amendment that the 

 measure should be rejected, on the ground that a new charge 

 ought not at present to be imposed on ratepayers. The amend- 

 ment was negatived ; but in dealing with it Mr. Goschen and Mr. 

 \V. H. Smith found it necessary, as Mr. Mundella complained, 

 to adopt a very "apologetic" and "persuasive" tone. The 

 fact seems to indicate that a good maay members of the House 

 of Commons do not evea yet realize that an adequate system of 

 technical instruction is absolutely necessary to enable this 

 country to hold its own in the industrial and commercial warfare 

 of the present age. 



In a memorandum on the Scotch Technical Schools Bill, 

 which has been introduced by the Lord Advocate, it is stated 

 that, "as there is a School Board in every parish and burgh in 

 Scotland, it is unnecessary to extend the powers of the Bill to 

 any other local authority. " The Bill is not to take effect in 

 any parish or burgh until after the triennial election of a new 

 School Board next year ; and the res ilution of a Board to 

 establish a technical school requires confirmation at a second 

 meeting of the Board, and also by the Scotch Education Depart- 

 ment. While the subjects to be taught in the technical schools 

 will be determined by the Department of Science and Art, the 

 schools will in other respects be under the Scotch Education 

 Department. No scholar will be admitted into a technical 

 school until he has passed the fifth standard, which in Scotland 

 frees from the obligation to attend an elementary school. The 

 proposal that adults above the age of twenty-one shall not be 



