PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
201 
has kept steadfastly in view the objects for which it was 
founded; and if we are now able to rejoice in the prosperity 
we have attained we must not forget that hard work in the 
past has conduced to it, and that it is only by hard and 
earnest work in the future that we can hope to retain it. 
During the past year nothing of paramount importance 
has been recorded in the annals of the Society. The 
reports that have just been submitted to you show that it 
is in a prosperous condition, though there is room for the 
wish that our Treasurer had been able to announce a 
larger balance in favour of the Society. It must be 
admitted that the Museum is a heavy tax upon our in¬ 
come. With the object of making the advantages the 
Society offers available to as many persons as possible the 
annual subscription has been fixed at as low a rate as it can 
well be. Amongst the special privileges of members the 
Museum cannot be included, for, as we have opened it free 
of charge to the public, its benefits are as accessible to per¬ 
sons who are not members as to those who are. But since 
the upkeep of it must be defrayed by the subscriptions of 
members it is desirable that our membership should if 
possible be increased, and we ask therefore all who are 
interested in our experiment of a “ Free Museum ” to assist 
us by joining the Society. They will find in the library, 
&c,, an ample return for the small subscription required. 
There is one matter in the reports that I cannot pass 
over in silence, and that is the resignation of the gentle¬ 
man who has so creditably held the office of Secretary for 
the past eleven years. As a member who has, perhaps 
more than any ether, come in contact with Mr Young in 
his capacity as Secretary, and as knowing from per¬ 
sonal experience what the duties are, I may be allowed 
to express the feeling of full appreciation that the Society 
has of Mr Young’s services during a trying period of its 
existence, and its gratitude for the manner in which they 
have been given. 
And now, following the example set by my predecessors 
of late years, I must ask your attention to a few words 
about the present condition and possible future of our 
Museum. We have heard from the report of the Council 
that, during the eight and a-half months during which the 
Museum has been open since this time last year, it has 
been visited by upwards of 7000 persons. What the 
motives of these visitors were we cannot, of course, say, 
but we shall probably not be wrong in thinking that the 
motive of the majority was no higher one than intelligent 
curiosity ; whilst a few were actuated by the desire of 
acquiring information. That some visitors come for the 
latter reason, seems to be really the case, as the same 
names occur again and again in the “ Visitors’ Book, 1 ’ a 
fact that is suggestive that the visits were repeated for the 
purpose of continuing a study of the specimens. In 
attributing these motives to the visitors to our Museum, I 
do not of course claim for it any peculiarities not possessed 
by other museums. A gentleman who has had much ex¬ 
perience in connection with the Liverpool Free Museum 
(an institution which, though supported by a public rate, 
owes its existence, like our own more modest establish¬ 
ment, in great measure to private munificence) has recently 
stated that out of every thousand persons who pass 
through the museum, 10 to 20 are students, 780 are in¬ 
terested observers, and 200 are loungers. Now, though of 
course we prefer visitors who come for purposes of study, I 
need not say that we are glad to see every visitor, be his 
motive what it may in coming, for, as has been said of 
certain other persons—“ Those who came to scoff re¬ 
mained to pray,” so possibly amongst the many 
individuals who are led into the Museum by curiosity 
only, some may be induced, from what they see there, to 
become students of those sciences for the study of which 
the Society was founded. 
But apart from this hope we ought to be glad—for 
another reason—to see so many visitors. The primary and 
most important object of this Society in forming the 
Museum was, of course, to afford easily accessible means 
of education in natural science—instruction not only in 
natural science as a whole, but more particularly as regards 
the Natural History of Perthshire. In short, our aim has 
been to supply to the citizens of Perth instruction in a 
branch of education for which no other means are provided, 
and regarding which the following words of Buskin are still 
unfortunately too true—“The whole force of education, 
until very lately,” says Mr Buskin, “ has been devoted in 
every way to the destruction of the love of nature. The 
oniy knowledge which has been considered essential is that 
of words, and next of abstract sciences; while every liking 
shown by children for simple natural history has been 
scrupulously limited to hours of play, so that it has really 
been impossible for any child earnestly to study the works 
of God but against his conscience ; and so the love of 
Nature has become the characteristic of truants and idlers.” 
Yet, though the promotion of this branch of education (not 
for children only but for adults as well) is, as I have said, 
our primary object, there is, apart from that altogether, 
another reason why we should be glad to see so many 
visitors to the Museum. In this changeable climate, it is 
not always possible to spend a holiday in the open air, and 
as there are but few indoor places of amusement, it some- 
times happens that a wet holiday is not always spent in a 
very profitable manner. By providing a place, therefore, 
