4 EEPORT 1889. 



I was also reminded that the Association, though of necessity hold- 

 ing its meeting in some definite locality, was by no means local in its 

 character, but that its sphere was co-extensive, not with the United King, 

 dom only, but with the whole of the British Dominions, and that our 

 proceedings are followed with interest wherever our language is un- 

 derstood — I may say, throughout the civilised world. Furthermore, 

 although its great manufacturing industries, the eminence of its citizens 

 for their skill and intelligence in the practical application of mechanical 

 sciences, and the interesting and important geological features of its 

 vicinity, have conferred such fame on Newcastle as almost to have 

 overshadowed its other claims to distinction in connection with science, 

 this neighbourhood is also associated with Bewick, with Johnson, with 

 Alder, Bmbleton, Hutton, Atthey, Norman, the two Hancocks, the two 

 Bradys, and other names honoured in the annals of biology ; it has long 

 maintained a school of medicine of great repute ; and there has lately been 

 established here a natural history museum which in some of its features 

 is a model for institutions of the kind, and which, I trust, will be a 

 means of encouraging in this town some of the objects the Association was 

 designed to promote. 



There can be no doubt that among the vai-ious methods by which 

 the aims of the British Association (as expressed in its full title, the ad- 

 vancement of science^ may be brought about, the collection and preservation 

 of objects available for examination, study, and reference — in fact, the for- 

 mation of what are now called ' museums ' — is one of very great practical 

 importance ; so much ao, indeed, that it seems to me one to the considera- 

 tion of which it is desirable to devote some time upon such an occasion as 

 this. It is a subject still little understood, though, fortunately, be- 

 ginning to attract attention. It has already been brought before the 

 notice of the Association, both in presidential and sectional addresses. 

 A committee of our members is at the present time engaged in collect- 

 ing evidence upon it, and has issued some valuable reports. During 

 the present year an association of curators and others interested in 

 museums has been founded for the purpose of interchange of ideas upon 

 the organisation and management of these institutions. It is a subject, 

 moreover, if I may be allowed to mention a personal reason for bringing it 

 forward this evening, which has more than any other occupied my time 

 and my attention almost from the earliest period of my recollection, and 

 I think you will agree with the opinion of one of my distinguished pre- 

 decessors in this chair, ' that the holder of this office will generally do 

 better by giving utterance to what has already become part of his own 

 thought than by gathering matter outside of its habitual range for the 

 special occasion. For,' continued Mr. Spottiswoode, ' the interest (if any) 

 of an address consists not so much in the multitude of things therein 

 brought forward as in the individuality of the mode in which they are 

 treated.' 



