088 REPORT—1904, 
statement and sent it to the managers of the railways, they would probably 
effect their purpose. He suggested that the Delegates should ask the 
Committee if they could see their way to discuss this matter, and, if pos- 
sible, draw up a memorial. 
Dr. Abbott proposed that the matter should be referred to the Corre- 
sponding Societies Committee to consider and take action. This was 
seconded and agreed to. 
It was resolved that an application should be made to the Committee 
of Recommendations, asking for the reappointment of the Corresponding 
Societies Committee, with a grant of 25/. 
The Rey. W. Johnson, B.A., B.Sc. (Yorkshire Philosophical Society), 
introduced the following subject :— 
The Utilisation of Local Musewms, with Special Reference to Schools. 
The selection of this subject for discussion is probably due to certain 
remarks made at the Southport meeting last year, when it was hinted 
that the local museum was often the dumping ground of curious finds for 
which room could not be provided by the discoverers, instead of being the 
centre of living interest and new growth. I presume the Association 
regards the local Societies as feeders, and therefore puts on us the duty of 
laying the foundation of the scientific habit, and of providing the means 
of satisfying the longing for more insight into nature. It will be at once 
apparent that the subject has certain limitations. We must confine our- 
selves almost entirely to the natural-history side of science study, partly 
because the general interest of workers lies there, and partly because the 
local museums lack storage-room for specimens suitable for illustration of 
the other branches. 
In discussing the question of ‘The Utilisation of Local Museums,’ in 
connection with the science work of our school, I lay down the following 
propositions ; (1) a great amount of material lies buzzed in local museums ; 
(2) it needs proper description and exhibition to make it available for the 
use of young students ; (3) it is very desirable that /oca/ natural history, 
rather than general science, should be illustrated and studied in this con- 
nection. 
Collecting, merely for possession of a collection, has been sufficiently 
disparaged without our adding another word of condemnation. When a 
young student approaches a specimen, a mere label is often inadequate 
to attract and inform him. Therefore it is necessary that a more or less 
detailed description, with drawings of separate parts, should be placed with 
the specimens side by side in order that there may be no mistake. The 
method adopted in the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, is, 
in my opinion, most effective to this end. There the admirable handbooks, 
issued in each section are taken paragraph by paragraph, and each state- 
ment made in the whole description is represented by a real object by 
its side, so marked by coloured papers, arrows, and guiding lines that a 
student who works through the cases in succession follows a natural 
sequence of treatment under scientific guidance. I have often thought 
that local museums have failed in developing the scientific habit because 
they have given undue prominence to what is special or rare. Now a 
beginner wants help in identifying what is common or elementary, for 
when, on going out on his field-days, he discovers none of the rarities dis- 
