PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. lxix 
desirable, since many of them are upon scientific subjects. The 
lecture-room has for many of the courses proved inconveniently 
small, for, though the audience has been packed into it, the resulting 
atmosphere has afforded a too realistic demonstration of that experi¬ 
enced in the famous Black Hole of Calcutta. I would now therefore 
propose that, in any future scheme of extension of the museum, the 
present Museum Hall should be used as the Lecture-Room, and 
that this room should be made the Index Museum. The advan¬ 
tages of this alteration would be manifold. In the new lecture-room 
both ample room and ample ventilation would be secured, as well as 
a greater distance from noises in the street; whilst by having the 
Index Collection in a room distant from the Perthshire Collection, 
the confounding in the minds of visitors of the two quite distinct 
collections would be obviated. For the Perthshire Collections I 
would build accommodation in the vacant ground at the back, the 
new building being a hall, surrounded by four galleries, and affording 
ample room. As to when this is to be done, and how the money to 
do it is to be raised, I can offer no opinion, but must content myself 
with prophesying that it will be done some day, though perhaps a 
distant one. 
Before proceeding with my address proper, I should like to say 
one word about the Library. That part of our establishment is, I re¬ 
gret, not being kept up to date. When we first acquired this building 
we were fortunate enough to have sufficient funds to enable us to lay 
the foundation of a good library of scientific works, but it is much to 
be deplored that since then we have not been able to make many 
additions thereto. The Photographic Section is more fortunate in 
one way, for by the liberality of Mr. R. D. Pullar it has the loan of an 
extensive series of books on its particular subject. But not only are 
we not able to add any—or at most, a very few—new works to our 
library, but there are no funds available for binding the books which 
require to be bound before they can be used. I have sometimes 
thought that it might be desirable to close the Museum for a few years, 
and expend the money thus saved upon the Library. I am certain 
that keeping the Museum open without charge to the public is a great 
tax on our limited resources. There can be no doubt, moreover, that 
our primary duty is not to the public, but the Society. Yet consider¬ 
ing, as I pointed out-in a former address, that the work done by the 
Society by means of its Museum is of a threefold nature—scientific, 
in that the local natural history is being carefully investigated; edu¬ 
cational, by providing carefully classified and labelled specimens; 
and philanthropic, by affording that of which there is great need in 
Perth—a holiday resort free of charge, where, if the visitor is not in¬ 
structed (and if he is not he has only himself to blame), he has at 
least harmless recreation—considering all this, and remembering 
that in the six years during which the Museum has been open, there' 
have been upwards of 26,000 visitors to it, it would be nothing less 
than a misfortune if we were reluctantly compelled to close it. We 
must therefore, I suppose, wait as patiently as we can for the exten¬ 
sion of both departments. Possibly if we could only make a begin¬ 
ning, there would not be much difficulty in going on. 
