46 Correspondence — F. G. S. — On Local Museums. 



found overlying twenty-five feet of gravel and sands ; and in the 

 apparently corresponding beds at Finchley and Hendon Lane drift 

 fossils and casts are occasionally found. — Dr. Hicks agreed with the 

 conclusion that these sands and gravels are Mr. Wood's Middle 

 Glacial. — Mr. Caleb Evans thought the heights to the north of 

 London marked the southern termination of the Glacial drifts. — 

 Mr. Bott considered that the Glacial sea had extended over the 

 country south of the Thames. — Collections of fossils and boulders 

 from the Drift of Middlesex were exhibited, and Mr. J. T. B. Ives 

 drew the attention of the meeting to a quantity of peat which he had 

 taken from the Drift. — At the next meeting of the Association, 5th 

 January, 1872, a paper will be read " On the Overlapping of several 

 Geological Formations on the North Wales Border." By D. C 

 Davies, Esq., of Oswestry. 



coi^iaiESiPOisriDiEn^sroiE. 



LOCAL MUSEUMS AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.^ . 



Sib, — I am glad to see in the November Number of the Geological 

 Magazine, that my suggestions with regard to Local Museums are 

 seconded by Mr. Townshend M. Hall. 



If the British Association had for its object something beyond the 

 reading of scientific papers and discussions thereupon, part of its 

 energies might be well expended in giving an impulse to scientific 

 investigation in the several localities it annually visits. The value 

 of individual labour in the cause of science would be greatly en- 

 hanced by the development of scientific organization throughout the 

 country, i.e., by the development of the proper functions of local scien- 

 tific societies and museums. The result would be a greater national 

 appreciation of the importance of scientific investigation as it relates 

 to this country ; science would meet with greater support, and the 

 valuable private local collections of Geology, Natural History, and 

 Archaeology, would often eventually be added to the several museums 

 to which they would locally belong. The museums would rise 

 from their present debased position as curiosity shops, and would 

 become valuable storehouses for the benefit of science and posterity. 

 But this desirable state will not be arrived at so long as societies 

 are isolated, and have nierely local journals of proceedings. It is 

 needless to say what important results might arise from their uniting 

 their observations in a common journal of science. The present 

 system of societies throughout the kingdom is like a vast machine, 

 of which the wheels are unconnected ; unite them, and the results 

 might be gigantic. 



Scientific societies should always be in connexion with a local 

 Museum, for the development of which the members should indi- 

 vidually labour in their several departments. Private collections if 

 undertaken with any energy soon become an incumbrance. Unfor- 



1 See Nature, vol. t., p. 35. 



