786 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1915, 



Royal Society are merely of a kind that someone inu^t undertake, if we are to 

 have any regard at all for fhe progress of science ; and it wUl soon be necessary 

 for the State to recognise the national value of the work done by the Council 

 and Committees of the Royal Society in more ways than nominal recognition of 

 their ornamental positions. 



In practically every country on the Continent of Europe the premier learned 

 academies, that occupy positions corresponding to the Royal Society of London, 

 are financially supported by the State, and even the ordinary members are paid. 



In this country scientific organisationsj like the universities, are largely 

 dependent on private charity, with the result that, while we get the benefits of 

 individuality and local competition, we suffer, as the war has already proved 

 to us, the necessary loss of power, due to an undesirable number of wheels in 

 our machine, due to unnecessary duplication of effort, and due to industrial and 

 financial eddies in the stream of progress ; in a word, due to want of method 

 and organisation. That is the theme which I wish the delegates present to take 

 back for practical consideration by the societies that they represent. 



It is important to remember that organisation necessarily requires someone 

 to take the lead and someone to fill the subordinate's place, otherwise all is 

 anarchy ; and, whatever may be the discipline within each society, their rela- 

 tions to one another at present can but be described as anarchy. The fellow 

 of the Royal Society has no more responsibility at present than any member of 

 the smallest debating club. His selection is regarded as an honour, but an 

 honour is as meaningless as an iron cross if it does not imply responsibility 

 and an opportunity for more work. What applies to an individual applies to a 

 society of such persons. The premier position of the Royal Society is acknow- 

 l^deed by every British worker in science, and those societies which similarly 

 embrace all phases of science can assist the aims of organisation by reminding; 

 the Royal Society that its position is more than ornamental, and that its lead 

 will be welcomed. 



Sir EDV7ARD Brabhook proposed, and Mr. Willum Whitaker seconded, a 

 vote of thanks to the Chairman for his Address. This was carried with great 

 cordiality, and acknowledged by the Chairman. 



The subjects chosen for discussion were (1) ' Local Museums,' (2) ' Colour 

 Standards.' The first was introduced by Dr. W. E. Hotle. 



Local Museums. 



The duty of the opener of a discussion, as I understand it, is not to present 

 an exhaustive treatise on the subject entrusted to him, but merely to throw 

 down, as it were, certain ' bones of contention ' which those present may worry 

 to their hearts' content. I shall, therefore, with all possible brevity, place 

 before you a few theses, and leave you to fill up the too obvious lacunsB in my 

 observations. 



May I lay it down at the outset that the first and fundamental function of 

 a museum is to prefeerve? We museum officials are nowadays given so much 

 good advice about the desirability of making our exhibits aesthetically attrac- 

 tive, of compiling explanatory labels which shall at the same time instruct 

 the specialist and interest the casual visitor, and of catering for school children, 

 that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting that our paramount duty is to see 

 that ' neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,' and that ' thieves do not break 

 through nor eteal.' It always tends to clearness of thought in approaching any 

 eubject to begin with a definition. I will therefore provisionally define a ' local 

 museum ' as a museum existing in a place, belonging to that place, destined 

 for the instruction and delight of the dwellers in that place, and illustrative of 

 that place, and will leave to my critics the congenial task of picking holes in 

 my definition. 



It follows from this that the first duty of a local museum is to preserve the 

 things of interest pertaining to the locality, whether they illustrate its history, 

 folklore, natural history, or any other topic. These must be carefully kept, and 

 every particular relating to them recorded with scrupulous accuracy. A certain 

 proportion must be exhibited in such a way that their points of interest may 



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