lxxii PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
charge nine months ago must have been surprised both at the amount 
of work he has done and also at the quality of the work. I have now 
had the opportunity of inspecting a good many museums throughout 
the country, and I think I may safely say that ours will compare 
favourably with any of them for nicety of mounting, labelling, and 
arranging. I say this without fear of flattering Mr. Rodger, for I 
know that what he does is done in pure enthusiasm for the cause of 
Natural Science, and work done in that spirit is its own reward. One 
great advantage of having a permanent scientific curator in charge of 
the Museum is seen in the increased interest which is taken in the 
work of the Society generally, for Mr. Rodger has already gathered 
round him a band of workers who take an increasing interest in 
Natural History pursuits. Meanwhile, these workers have been kept 
busy mounting plants, arranging insects, painting casts, photographing 
trees, etc., etc., preparatory to the opening. 
It must not be supposed, however, that after the 29th of Novem¬ 
ber the work of arranging the Museum will be completed. It will be 
very little more than begun in the Perthshire collections, and in the 
Index collections it will not be begun at all. Indeed, it has become 
every day more plain to me that a Museum of the size to which ours 
has now attained can only be kept in a state of efficiency by the ser¬ 
vices of a permanent salaried curator. How we are to provide for 
the expense which such an arrangement will entail is a problem which 
the Society will have to face seriously, and at once. 
SUMMER EXCURSIONS, 1895. 
Having thus reviewed some of the events which have concerned 
the Society during the past summer, I now proceed to give a few 
details regarding the excursions, from the notes supplied by the 
several leaders : — 
1. On Saturday, 18th May, the Members of the P.S.N.S, joined 
with the Members of the University Education Society, who had 
been attending the course of lectures on architecture, in an excursion 
to Dunfermline. Mr. S. Henbest Capper, M.A., A.R.I.B.A., who 
had given the course of lectures, acted as leader, and under his 
guidance a most delightful and instructive afternoon was spent 
amongst the historic ruins of the Abbey and Palace. The object 
of investigation on this occasion was, of course, archaeological rather 
than scientific, but as such, it was by no means beyond the legitimate 
scope of our Society, and the precedent was one which might well be 
followed on future occasions. The party numbered about 30. Mr. 
S. H. Capper supplies the following note :— 
The nave of the Abbey Church, still one of the most important 
buildings of the Norman period in Scotland, was first fully examined 
within and without, the original work—of the twelfth century—being 
distinguished from subsequent additions, and its characteristic fea¬ 
tures—arcading, vaulting, and mouldings—discussed. The eastern 
portion of the Church, originally of the eleventh century, was rebuilt 
on a grander scale in the thirteenth, but this has been replaced (in 
