PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. CX1X 
that they could not otherwise have been. Just in connection with 
this he should like to read to them a few sentences from one letter, 
which might be taken as a sample of several. It was from Professor 
Clowes of Nottingham. He says :— 
“I can only tell you that the handing over of the small local Museum to the 
municipal authorities has been altogether a success here. We have managed to 
maintain the interest of those previously interested, and have vastly increased its 
general scope and usefulness. Of course a scientific curator was appointed, and 
admirable new buildings have been provided ; and a permanency has been given 
to the Museum as an institution, which it lacked as a private enterprise. We 
combined the Library, Museum, and University College under one roof, and the 
institutions are most helpful to one another. ” 
There was only one other extract he should like to read to them, 
because it had such a direct bearing, and it was from Sir William 
Flower. He said :— 
“After my visit to Perth I saw two other museums in Scotland, which I need 
not particularize, but they were both sad examples of what such institutions may 
become if allowed to fall into neglect. They had both been started under favour¬ 
able auspices, and provided with fairly good buildings, and contained a considerable 
number of valuable specimens ; but for want of arrangement and the care of a 
permanent competent curator they have fallen into such a condition as to be 
perfectly useless, even repellent. I feel, therefore, more strongly even than I did 
when I had the pleasure of seeing you, that with such an admirable building as you 
now have, and such an excellent plan of arrangement as that which you have 
adopted (quite the best I have seen anywhere for a museum of the size of yours) 
any scheme which may present itself for securing its permanent conservation is de¬ 
serving of most careful consideration. Museums which depend entirely upon 
voluntary effort and the zeal of a few individuals always want this element. It is 
quite as much the business of a municipality to support a museum as a library, and 
I should think that, in the present day, any such body would be glad of the assist¬ 
ance of experts, such as your Society contains, in carrying on the work. In this 
way you could well co-operate. The municipality would give the stability and 
such pecuniary assistance as would at least secure it from perishing. Your Society 
might continue to do the rest, and I feel sure that, if you go on as you are now 
doing, your Museum will become the greatest source of interest and enlightenment 
that your city affords, and a model for similar institutions throughout the country. ” 
That letter of Sir William Flower, he thought, put the whole matter in 
the clearest light it could possibly be put, but looking at it from any 
point of view, he thought they might consider, since they as a Society 
had been at the expense of building and furnishing and fitting up this 
Museum, that they had done their duty towards the community, and 
he thought they might very fairly look forward to the municipal 
authorities to do the rest, namely, to keep it up as a public institution 
open to the citizens during all time coming. Just in order to show 
the increasing popularity of the Museum he had asked Mr. Rodger 
that day to make an estimate of the number of persons who had 
visited the Museum since it was opened last November, and he was 
extremely surprised to find that close on 15,000 people had visited 
the Museum during these nine or ten months. He thought this itself 
at once disposed of the argument that the Museum was a place only 
for students. He had always held that their Museum was not a place 
for students only, but a place for the enlightenment of the whole com¬ 
munity, both young and old, and also a place that should be open 
to anyone with leisure to go, and a place that would attract visitors to 
