484 REPOET— 1901. 



in the hands of the Committees of the Corresponding Societies, or indivi- 

 duals connected with those Societies, might be made more widely accessible 

 to persons who are engaged in antliropology and archaeology, if, after a 

 a negative is finished with for the time being, it were deposited in some 

 i-ecognised centre, say the Anthropological Institute, and placed at the 

 disposal of qualified people for use. In the case where the negatives are 

 retained by their owners and not deposited as suggested, these might be 

 registered in such a way that people may be able to find out what photo- 

 graphs have been taken, and whether they can be used for scientific 

 purposes. That is one suggestion that I have to make, and I do not think 

 it is necessary to enlarge on the subject. It has been already mooted in 

 connection with other Sections, and I think it is obvious to all that it 

 would be a very great convenience to those working at Anthropology. 



Another suggestion that I should like to bring forward is that this 

 Conference should draw the attention of the Corresponding Societies to the 

 very great desirability of systematically collecting and recoiding instances 

 of the survival of primitive customs, industries, appliances, and so forth. 

 I am well aware that there is a great deal done in this direction, and I 

 do not need to mention to you the enormous value which anthropology 

 derives from survivals of primitive customs. Numbers of such survivals 

 are still existing in our surroundings and only want recording. Many of 

 these customs, of the very greatest interest to the student of primitive 

 culture, are dying out at such a rapid rate that we should endeavour at 

 once to record them as far as possible and photograph them if they are 

 interesting. I hope that all the Corresponding Societies will be willing, 

 on the suggestion of Section H, to bear this matter in mind. I would 

 only mention or bring to your recollection that much of the very large 

 amount of valuable work that General Pitt-Rivers did in his lifetime was 

 due to his study of survivals. They will fill up the gaps in the archaeo- 

 logical recoi-ds in a way that these cculd not be filled up otherwise. I 

 need say little about the importance of recording them, but I may make 

 one remark. No one can have a higher admiration for the very noble 

 institution known as the British Museum than I have, but at the same 

 time I have a sort of uneasy feeling that it is representative of almost 

 everything except British archeology and ethnology ; and one object in 

 raising this matter to day is to suggest that this systematic collection of 

 all such things as I have referred to should be made with a view to esta- 

 blishing some day a museum which will adequately represent the past history 

 of our own country, not only the prehistoric period, but also the later 

 mediieval and peasant life of the country which has not received sufiicient 

 attention so far. Every big town on the Continent, especially in the 

 western part of it, has its Folk Museum, but we have nothing of the 

 kind. Isolated attempts to deal with the matter in a somewhat simple 

 manner are to be found, but nothing on any adequate scale. If it were 

 possible to aim at the formation of a museum which would represent that 

 side of culture, I think that we should have done a piece of work which 

 will be well worth supporting. 



Dr. Garson : In support of what Mr. Balfour has just said, I think 

 I might refer to the last year's report, where it is stated that the Com- 

 mittee which he is representing wants photographs of prehistoric stone 

 monuments, stone implements, primitive pottery, and all objects con- 

 nected with local superstitions and the like. Objects of this kind are 

 frequently to be found in local museums, and sometimes they are peculiar 



