1842.] Museum of Economic Geology . 337 



various languages, which may relate to the application of Geology to the 

 useful purposes of life. 



It might, at first sight be supposed, however desirable such an esta- 

 blishment as this, which has been thus briefly noticed, may be in India 

 or elsewhere, that it would require considerable expenditure and much 

 trouble to form. From experience I can say, that I believe the contrary 

 would be the case, provided it were placed directly under a Govern- 

 ment, which necessarily in almost all countries, possesses the means 

 of carrying out the objects of an institution of this kind in a manner 

 which cannot be within the reach of any body of men formed into a 

 society, however active the members of that body may be. 



The collections in the Museum of Economic Geology though no doubt 

 valuable, have cost the country a mere trifle, having been chiefly pre- 

 sented by persons anxious to promote the success of the institution, 

 because it was national, and belonged to the public, under the controul 

 and care of Government. At the same time it must be admitted, that a 

 large portion of the collections have been formed through the exertions 

 of the Ordnance Geological Survey, during its progress through the 

 country, causing the Museum to be more known and appreciated than it 

 might otherwise so soon have been, and thus inducing many influential 

 persons to make extensive presents to it. 



It would appear from experience, that in such establishments outlays 

 of money are at first less requisite than arrangements by which the 

 various means of information at the disposal of a Government can be 

 rendered available, and at a suitable place set apart for the reception of 

 the different specimens, models, and other objects of interest that can be 

 collected, waiting, as was done at the Museum of Economic Geology in 

 London, until the accumulation of information and of specimens, models, 

 or other objects of interest should be sufficiently great to carry out the 

 design of the establishment on a more extended scale ; it being at the 

 same time observed, that a laboratory and a good analytic chemist ap- 

 pointed to it, may be considered as among the earliest requisites. 



The collections taken out to India by Captain Tremenheere, were 

 necessarily incomplete, and were merely intended as a foundation for 

 a more extended series of specimens, illustrative of the applications of 

 Geology to the useful purposes of life ; but like all such first collections, 

 they are most valuable as constituting such a foundation, and in this in- 



