1882.] 



Presidents Address. 



315 



sion" have been published, containing full particulars and instructions 

 relating to the whole circumpolar scheme. 



The geological, mineralogical, and botanical collections, formerly 

 in the Museum in Bloomsbury, have been properly arranged in the 

 new building in Cromwell Road, and are on exhibition in their respec- 

 tive galleries. A commencement has been made in the transfer of 

 tbe zoological collections. The osteological specimens, hitherto packed 

 out of sight in an obscure vault in the basement of the old Museum, 

 have been safely removed to the new building, and are now exhibited 

 in a large and well lighted gallery. The collection of shells, which 

 occupied the floor space of the long eastern gallery in Bloomsbury, 

 is now suitably exhibited at South Kensington. Some of the corals 

 have been removed, in order to clear the way for the removal of 

 other specimens ; and many of the stuffed quadrupeds and mammalian 

 skins which had been stowed away in the old Museum basement are 

 now in the new repository. 



The removal of the general collection of mammalia, of the birds, of 

 the entomological specimens, and those of British zoology, will not be 

 undertaken until after the coming winter. The fittings for the 

 galleries prepared for them are not fully completed. The detached 

 building designed for the specimens preserved in spirit cannot be 

 made ready for their reception before the opening of next spring. 

 It is, however, expected that the whole of the zoological collections 

 will have been transferred to the new Museum by the end of June, 

 1883. 



The subject of Technical Education has continued to be prominently 

 under the notice of the country during the past year. The appoint- 

 ment of a Royal Commission on Technical Instruction, to which I 

 have previously referred, has done much towards awakening the 

 interest of manufacturers, and exciting curiosity in regard to the 

 efforts that are being made abroad to improve the education of 

 artizans. The Commissioners issued in March last their first Report, 

 which dealt exclusively w T ith primary education and apprenticeship 

 schools. The Commissioners expressed an opinion adverse to the 

 establishment of apprenticeship schools in this country; and in this 

 view they are supported by nearly all our large manufacturers, 

 and by the action of the City and Guilds of London Institute 

 for the Advancement of Technical Education. At the request of 

 the Executive Committee, I myself gave evidence before the Com- 

 mission, explaining generally the objects of the City Guilds and 

 Institute, and describing the progress already made towards 

 their attainment. As a member of the Executive Committee of 

 this Institute, I have watched its progress with interest, and have 

 observed with satisfaction that its scheme of Technical Instruction 

 is being gradually matured. The general Examinations in Tech- 



