ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A BOTANICAL STATION AT CEYLON. 97 



are of opinion that Peradeniya is a most suitable place for the establish- 

 ment of a botanical station in the Eastern tropics. From the memorandum 

 of Dr. Trimen it would appear that laboratory accommodation is already 

 supplied, and a comparatively small outlay would be required to provide 

 apparatus. The Committee therefore request that they be reappointed, 

 and that a grant of 50?. be placed at their disposal to provide this ap- 

 paratus. 



Rejport of the GoTnmittee, consisting of Professor Valentine Ball, 

 Mr. H. Gr. FoRDHAM, Professor Haddon, Professor Hillhouse, 

 Mr. John Hopkinson, Dr. Macfarlane, Professor Milnes Mar- 

 shall, Mr. F. T. MoTT (Secretary), Dr. Traquair, and Dr. H. 

 Woodward, appointed for the pinpose of preparing a Report 

 upon the Provincial Museums of the United Kingdom. 



We propose to treat the subject entrusted to us under the following 

 sectional headings, viz. : — 



1 . Preliminary Sources of Information. 



2. Methods adopted for obtaining correct Statistics. 



3. Tables of General Statistics. 



4. Discussion of Details. 



5. The Ideal Museum. 



6. Practical Suggestions for approaching the Ideal. 



We include in our inquiry all Museums out of London to which the 

 public can obtain access. 



1. Pkeliminart Soukces of Information. 



(a) A ' List of Museums in the United Kingdom,* prepared in 1876 

 by the Science and Art Department, a copy of which was supplied to us 

 on application to the Department. This was stated to be ' incomplete,' 

 but it contained the names of 158 museums, exclusive of those in London. 



(i) A i-eturn to an Order of the House of Commons in 1884, giving 

 a list of 41 museums established under the Public Libraries Act. 



(c) A list of local scientific societies contained in the Report of the 

 Local Scientific Societies Committee, presented to the Association at 

 Southport in 1883, and published in the annual volume for that year. 



This list indicates those societies which were known to possess 

 museums. 



(cT) A circular posted to the town clerks of all the municipal boroughs 

 in the United Kingdom (240), asking for the names of all museums in 

 their respective towns and districts. To nearly the whole of these circu- 

 lars we received very courteous replies, with the names of many museums 

 previously unknown to us. 



(e) Information from the members of the Committee and friends. 



2. Methods adopted foe obtaining correct Statistics. 

 From the various sources of information enumerated above a prelimi- 



nary list of museums was dr 



England 

 Wales . 

 Scotland 

 Ireland 



awn up and printed, containing, in — 

 190 j 

 27 I Total, 240. 

 15 



1887. ,tt 



