July 2j, 1911] 



NATURE 



embodied some very useful practical hints on the care of 

 collection?. 



Mr. J. A. Charlton Deas introduced the subject of 



national art loans to municipal museums, pointing out the 



1 growing need for making the artistic treasures 



01 the nation more accessible to the dwellers in the 



provinces. 



The value of museum guides, catalogues, and other 

 publications was dealt with by Mr. Thomas Sheppard under 

 the title " Pastimes for Curators." He described the 

 manner in which the eighty or more publications issued by 

 the Hull Museum had been prepared, and showed how they 

 kept public interest in the collections alive and frequently 

 led to desirable acquisitions. 



Dr. J. A. Clubb read a paper on the purpose and 

 arrangement of an index museum, in which the idea was 

 elaborated of making the entrance hall of the museum a 

 philosophic introduction to those fields of human knowledge 

 covered by the museum collections. The validity of the 

 word " index " in this connection came in for some 

 criticism, but it was generally agreed that some form of 

 introductory collection, broad in conception and treatment, 

 is an absolute necessity in all large museums. By the 

 multiplicity of their collections and specimens such institu- 

 tions bewilder the uninitiated visitor, who should be 

 enabled to get a clear grasp of what the institution is 

 aiming at by some lucidly sketched outline. 



As a new departure in the work of the association, a 

 public lecture was given during the conference. The 

 lecturer was Dr. F. A. Bather, F.R.S., who took for his 

 subject " Open-air Folk Museums." The lecture consisted 

 chiefly of a description of the open-air museum founded at 

 Skansen, Stockholm, by Arthur Hazelius. Dr. Bather 

 gave an outline ol the object of such museums, and 

 emphasised the urgent need for promoting some such 

 scheme in Sussex, and thus preserving the fast disappear- 

 ing relics of its extremely picturesque past. 



A further paper by .Mr. \V. Ruskin Butterfield on folk 

 museums dealt specially with thi material at present avail- 

 able in Sussex, and showed how rich Sussex still is in 

 picturesque old dwellings, involving much delightful folk- 

 lore. 



Mr. Arthur Smith showed how collections of photographs 

 might serve the purpose of recording the history and pro- 

 gress of the surrounding district. Many places have 

 collections of photographs and prints secured merely for 

 the purpose of what may be called a survey, but Mr. Smith 

 emphasised the fact that this is not sufficient. Photo- 

 graphs ought to be taken so as to show clearly, for 

 instance, the original and altered condition of a street or 

 building, so that a person looking at them may realise 

 the nature and extent of the change which has taken 

 place. 



Evolution in archaeology was dealt with by Mr. R. A. 

 Smith, of the British Museum, who described the 

 succession of developmental characters exhibited by such 

 articles of human manufacture as stone implements, 

 pottery, brooches, and primitive British coinage in a lucid 

 and informing manner. He strongly advocated the 

 arrangement of antiquities on evolutionary lines wherever 

 possible. 



The evolution of English pottery during the eighteenth 

 century was the subject of a paper by Mr. H. Stuart Page. 

 He argued that the adoption of an intelligent system of 

 classification on lines which he set out in some detail 

 would enable the involved story of English pottery to be 

 illustrated by a carefully selected series of examples show- 

 ing the gradual development in materials, processes, and 

 technique. It was a matter for speculation how long the 

 English potters would have continued contentedly in their 

 antiquated methods of producing coarse heavy ware but 

 for the introduction of Oriental china, brought into the 

 country by tea-drinking habits. The beauty of this ware 

 — all the more emphasised by the rudeness of the English 

 production — created a remarkable infatuation, and the 

 English potters sought to rival it. Their history then 

 becomes one of laborious costly experiment, absorbing lives 

 and fortunes. Ignorant of chemistry, they were, in fact, 

 gropyig in the dark. The eventual result, however, was 

 the acquisition of a technical skill which, whatever be the 

 artistic quality, holds its own among the ceramic produc- 

 tions of the world. 



NO. 2178, VOL. 87] 



.Mr. E. Rimbault Dibdin read a paper on the functions 

 and scope of a municipal art museum, in which he 

 showed that there exists in England a very confused idea 

 of the way in which to make an art museum of value. 

 He urged that special efforts should be made to attract 

 curators and directors of art institutions, and to assign a 

 special day to the discussion of the questions of function, 

 scope, conservation, arrangement, lighting, and the 

 hundred and one other practical problems which face the 

 administrator of art collections. 



A small trade exhibition organised in connection with 

 the conference was of considerable practical interest to 

 curators. 



During the meeting visits were paid to the Worthing 

 Museum and Library, to the Booth Museum, to Hastings 

 Museum, to Sedlescombe Museum, and to Battle Abbey. 

 The association concluded its business by accepting the 

 invitation of the Board of Agriculture and Technical 

 Instruction for Ireland to meet in Dublin in 1912, and by 

 unanimously electing Count Plunkett, director of the Irish 

 National Museum, through whom the invitation was con- 

 veyed, to the presidential chair for the ensuing year. 



THE FRENCH AEROTECHNICAL INSTITUTE. 

 ON July 6 the Aerotechnical Institute of the University of 

 ^-' Paris, which has been founded by the generosity of 

 M. Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, was inaugurated at 

 St. Cyr. Its object is entirely scientific, and is to study all 

 problems of aviation and aerostation relative to the sup- 

 port of bodies in the air, both at rest and motion, from the 

 double point of view of theory and practice. Under the 

 presidency of the vice-rector of the Paris University, with 

 M. Deutsch de la Meurthe and the dean of the faculty of 

 sciences of the Paris University as vice-presidents, the 

 council includes all the famous names in French aero- 

 nautics, as follows : MM. Armengaud, Barthou, Baumes, 

 Bleriot, Bouttieaux, Cailletet, Carpentier, Eiffel, Estienne, 

 Hugon, Janet, Jouguet, Kapferer, Kcenigs, Le Cornu, 

 Loreau, Maurain, Marchis, Painleve, Picard, Sauvage, 

 Soreau, Surcouf, Urbain, Voisin, Weiss. 



The area occupied by the buildings and grounds is 

 72,000 square metres, of which the principal part has 

 been reserved for building purposes. The remainder in- 

 cludes a strip 25 metres by 900 metres, with an additional 

 piece of some 462 metres in length, which has been con- 

 ceded by the Minister of War. Moreover, 4000 metres 

 have been set apart for the erection of aeroplane sheds, 

 workmen's houses, &c. 



In the central hall are the following : — 



(1) A large fan, two metres in diameter, fitted with 

 various adjustments, and an aerodynamical balance for 

 measuring wind-pressures on surfaces. 



(2) A wind tunnel furnished with a fan for the study 

 of the reaction of the air on surfaces, the air-current being 

 capable of maintaining a uniform speed of 20 metres a 

 second. 



(3) An aerodynamical balance. 



(4) A wind tunnel similar to that built by Col. Renard 

 for studying the stability of model hulls or planes. 



(5) An apparatus for measuring the friction of various 

 surfaces moving through air of various pressures at gradu- 

 ally increasing speeds. 



(6) A dynamometrical installation for measuring the 

 thrust of stationary propellers. 



(7) An installation for the study of helicopters. 



(8) A protected chamber for testing the resistance of pro- 

 pellers at very high speeds. (Although it would be difficult 

 to attain to bursting speed, it will be possible to run them 

 at a considerably higher rate of revolution than the normal.) 



(9) A test bench for motors. 



In the chemical laboratories researches will be made in 

 the study of light gases, of fabrics for balloon envelopes 

 and aeroplane coverings, and of varnishes. 



The physical laboratories will be concerned with the im- 

 provement and application of instruments^ used in aerial 

 navigation, and the physical properties of light gases. _ 



The photographical s'ection will be occupied in obtaining 

 records of experiments made ; a special department will 

 test all materials used in the construction of flying-machines 

 and dirigibles; and the usual meteorc logical instruments 

 are provided. 



