36 



was very rich in the objects required. A portion of the Mu- 

 seum should also be devoted to the exhibition of all objects ; 

 that would be, of course, a work of time, and could only be 

 effected by exchanges, and they had not much to exchange, 

 having only one thin bed in which any rarities were found ; 

 he alluded to what was called the Folkestone Junction bed, 

 this had nothing whatever to do with the Junction station 

 (laughter), but was a bed lying between the Lower Greensand 

 and Gault ; they could work that to advantage. All Town 

 Museums ought to have a speciality, the one at Salisbury had 

 made a speciality of exhibiting flintheads and other vestiges 

 of pre-historic life ; he believed the speciality of Folkestone 

 should be an exhibition of foreign and colonial produce — 

 solids and liquids, and he was glad to find that a collection of 

 these objects had been lent by Mr. Robinson, a collection that 

 had gained a prize medal at the South Kensington Museum. 

 He would now say a few words as to the addition of an anti- 

 quarian section ; he believed that a lot of antiquarian objects 

 existed in the neighbourhood, and the fine field of employ- 

 ment the investigation would open out, was sufficient to 

 encourage the adoption of the suggestion. By doing this they 

 would get hold of many people who were fond of rummaging 

 (laughter) ; all m.en liked rummaging in something or the 

 other, some in natural history and others in antiquities. They 

 also wanted a library of reference ; a great many people had 

 reference books lying useless on their shelves and would be 

 glad to send them if they knew that they would be preserved 

 in a fitting place, easily accessible to those who study ; those 

 of course who could not give books would not be too proud 

 to contribute the money for the purchase of some (laughter). 

 They must not forget that had it not been for the extreme 

 liberality of the Corporation they would never have had the 

 room they were then in so well fitted up. A word about classes 

 and lectures ; he had the pleasure of conducting a class on 

 elementary botany last winter, and he was glad to know that 

 many novices who attended had become to a greater or less 

 extent botanists ; they could, no doubt, form classes with 

 similar results in the other branches of science if they could 

 only find the scholars, and if they found the scholars he would 

 undertake to say the Society would do their best to find the 

 teachers. (Loud applause). 



