CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 389 
played in his museum, he is too apt to think that none of his work is 
worth the trouble, and may be checked at the start in the proper classitica- 
tion of his work. 
Having made it my aim to visit local museums wherever possible, I 
am able to speak at first hand of the hopeless confusion which misleads 
and repels, in spite of the abundance of most valuable material. Some 
Yorkshire museums need immediate reclassification and arrangement. 
I would propose that each town should have a strictly limited collec- 
tion of the natural objects which are commonly found in that area ; that 
the flora and fauna should be separate ; that the district in which each is 
to be found should be indicated ; that, in the case of the flora, the months 
during which the plants may be found should be added, and that detailed 
descriptions by competent persons should be attached ; that in every 
museum there should be a large geological map of the area, with suitable 
vertical sections, showing the connection between the underground condi- 
tions and the variety of life on the surface. 
I should like to see in each museum a collection of the natural orders 
of plants, pressed specimens obtained locally and easily accessible to indi- 
vidual students, in order that the flora of the district might be within 
the knowledge of each boy and girl educated in the area. So, too, with 
the rocks. There should be a complete series of hand specimens of rocks 
illustrating the succession of strata in the neighbourhood, and, if the 
rocks are fossiliferous, or capable of economic use, then the fossils should 
be associated with the rocks and the economic products exhibited and 
explained. Each section should be kept in its own room for separate use. 
This small teaching collection need interfere in no respect at all with 
the general purpose of the museum as the receptacle of objects of interest 
of all kinds ; but would ensure, to all who wished it, a proper start on 
right lines, and would engender in them a keen desire to proceed to a wider 
knowledge of that branch which interests them. 
Now comes the question whether we should take the specimens to the 
classes in schools, or take the classes to the specimens in the museums. 
Personally I am in favour of the latter. I have watched with interest 
the growth of the latter plan in Leeds, where excellent results appear to 
be accruing from the admirable lectures and demonstrations of the Curator 
of the Leeds Museum, Mr. Crowther. But, apart from the evident success 
of this scheme, it would teach the young student to regard the museum 
as the centre of his work, and having been taken there by his teachers 
for the work of a course, he would soon be found there on his own 
account, searching for himself answers to questions which have arisen 
from his own work ; and every museum would become the training ground 
of a new set of investigators. It may be asked, when can time be found 
for all this? And that really is a serious question. Yet there is a good 
answer. During the winter holidays afternoon demonstrations could be 
given in every centre without dislocating any time-table ; and as there is, 
I believe, a strong tendency to reduce the demands of ‘home lessons’ 
a course of evening demonstrations during term could be no heavy inflic- 
tion on the children, and would be welcomed alike by them and their 
parents. 
Now, presuming we have the contents of our museums in order, so 
reduced in number as not to be bewildering, and so definitely described 
as to be intelligible, we should easily be able to get the young student to 
take interest in them. By taking our classes to the museum we should, 
