890 REPORT—1904. 
at any rate, teach him the way to the museum. It would accustom him 
to the idea of resorting to a definite place for the solution of his difficul- 
ties. It would make the museum the centre of distribution for much 
useful knowledge, whereas it is too often a swamp in which the streams 
of knowledge lose themselves. If we could ensure on the part of the 
teachers a definite acquaintance with the contents of the museums, it 
would be easy for them in the course of their lessons to refer their pupils 
to specimens which more fully illustrate the matter under discussion, and 
thus the grafting of one upon the other would be effected. I am not 
quite sure whether it would be better to depend on the curators of the 
museums (or of sections of the museums) for the descriptions or demon- 
strations, or to attempt to put this on the teachers of the schools. The 
advantage of the former course would be the intimate acquaintance with 
the subject and with the specimens of the museum ; of the latter a better 
acquaintance with the students and their powers, and probably a better 
aptitude for imparting knowledge due to professional training. If, as is, 
I believe, the case with the Curator of the Leeds Museum, these qualities 
can be found combined in the curator, I should have no hesitation about 
entrusting the whole of the work to him. 
I imagine that one of the greatest difficulties likely to be met with in 
the utilisation of our museums will be that of continuity of work, for if 
frequent changes take place in these offices, the development of the work 
must suffer from want of sequence. It would probably be wiser to 
secure, if possible, the attention and care of the science teachers of our 
schools. We should thus gain the double advantage of a definite interest 
in a science, and a definite interest in the schools which are using the 
museum and the course of work. The increasing number of science 
teachers is a guarantee of a continuous supply of curators. 
Especially do I think it advisable and desirable that a course of, say, 
four or five lectures should be given during the winter holidays on the 
elementary laws of meteorology, with an explanation of the instruments 
which are used for obtaining weather records, both how they are made 
and how they are used, together with the chief corrections which are 
needed to ensure an accurate result. In many museums these instruments 
are accessible to the public, and a knowledge of their use ought to be 
common property. 
There appear to be, in connection with museums, few rooms which are 
capable of accommodating a class of students for demonstrations. This 
is an obvious defect, if anything more than individual work is to be 
attempted, and one of the first improvements to be effected by our 
museum trustees will be the provision of such rooms with lanterns, 
screens, and lecture-room appliances adequate for the proper accomplish- 
ment of this work. 
I ought to say one word as to the cost of this new development. 
Many of the curatorships of our museums are honorary, and some carry a 
mere acknowledgment of work done. We all like to think of education 
as so attractive in itself, and so far producing in our pupils a thirst for 
more knowledge gained in a freer and larger way than is possible in 
schools. Moreover, we wish the museums to be the centres of diffusion 
of knowledge and the meeting-place of kindred spirits. There appears to 
be no good reason to be urged against the view that the State should, for 
services of this kind well rendered, provide an adequate sum for recom- 
pense, and it should be possible for our local authorities to hand over an 
