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object, when those relations have been farther studied, and proof is 

 given that the true position of the object is thus better known, it 

 will be necessary to range it in its proper group and place ; which 

 may often require that the generic, and sometimes also that the 

 specific, name that has heretofore distinguished it, shall be changed. 



It has been thought, in forming the present Association, that 

 many who have opportunities of collecting geological illustrations, 

 will be thus induced to go out into the field, to whom the stimulus 

 to this effort has hitherto been wanting. It may not, therefore, be 

 out of place if, besides offering a warning against falling down in 

 worship before the barbarisms of modern so-called science, I make a 

 few remarks as to the material methods that may best be adopted in 

 the collection of specimens. I shall speak of nothing which I have 

 not myself found, as a collector in the field, to be the most useful. 



The hammers which I have found the best in use are those manu- 

 factured by Messrs. Knight of Poster Lane, in the City of London. 

 There is one of these in particular, which I take to be the most 

 handy and useful hammer that has been yet devised. Messrs. 

 Knight know it, I believe, as Percival Johnson's hammer. It com- 

 bines, in one convenient shape, the pick, the hatchet, and the ham- 

 mer. For the chalk this hammer is invaluable. But it is no 

 less so in working at many other rocks, especially when they are 

 fresh cut, and unhardened (as many soon become) by the weather. 

 Nothing could be better in getting those nearly the most beautiful 

 of geological specimens, the slabs of Dudley limestone. Of course, 

 in working harder and more massive beds, the simple hammer and 

 the chisel must be used. The best sort of hammer in the latter case, 

 is one that is square at one end, and cut down equally on two of 

 its sides to a narrow edge at the other end. 



In packing fossils, a mistake is often made, which has spoiled 

 many a good specimen. I allude to the use of cotton-wool. There 

 cannot be a greater mistake. It is pretty well known that, of the 

 most delicate fossils of the chalk, I have, in my own cabinet, the 

 largest collection that exists. The whole of these, with very few 

 exceptions, were got out of the rock by my own hand, and brought 

 home, over long distances, through ground where no railway eased 

 the dangers that beset the carriage. Yet I believe that I never 

 found a specimen damaged in the carriage home. The first rule is, 



