192 NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
for some time in a semi-unconscious state, having sustained slight concussion
during the fall. As he lay on a bed of mud, and through the small opening
at the top sunlight and darkness succeeded each other without any help
coming in response to his calls, he suffered, he states, terrible mental anguish."
Mr. T. V. Holmes informs us that on September 23rd he passed through
the village, and ascertained that the facts had been accurately reported.
Crockenhill is a village on the Thanet Sand, about a mile S.W. of Swanley
Junction on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, and about three miles
S. of the Deneholes of Joyden's Wood, Bexley. The above incident recalls
the mysterious tragedy of which Denehole No. 3 in Hangman's Wood was
the scene in years long past. Readers of the Report of the Exploration of
the Deneholes will remember the fact that in removing the cone of gravel
and Thanet-sand from the bottom of the shaft, the explorers came upon the
bones of a man and horse, with portions of decayed leather probably repre-
senting a bridle (see Report in E.N., vol. i., p. 238). The conclusion was
drawn that they were the remains of a mounted traveller through the Wood
who had met death, perhaps a century before, by falling down the shaft and
so miserably perishing—or they were possibly the partial evidence of a yet
deeper tragedy—who shall say ! On the occasion of our last visit to the
Deneholes on August 12th, 1893, Mr. W. Cole found in No. 2 Pit a poor dog,
living, but in almost the last stages of starvation, which was rescued and
tended (see E.N., vol. vii., p. 147). It may be added that the Daily Mail on
October 4th, incited by the tale of the Crockenhill mishap, gave a very good
short account (illustrated) of the Deneholes, under the title "What is a
Denehole? The Puzzle of the Age."—They are truly still a puzzle; when
shall it be solved ?—Ed.
The late Sir B. W W. Richardson on the Educational Value
of Local Museums.—The late Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, F.R.S.,
became a surgeon's assistant first at Saffron Walden. This is how he speaks
of the Museum there in his auto-biographical Vita Medica (Longman's 1897)
"There was an institution devoted to natural specimens. Who started it I
cannot say, but the late Dr. Forbes Winslow and the late Dr. Edwin
Lankester, who had been assistants in the town before me, had assisted in
sustaining it and their efforts stimulated me to do the same. The determina-
tion did me a great deal of good and made me curious. At the village of
Duddenhoe End near by, a boy by the name of Wombwell was born, and be-
came devoted to natural pursuits. He collected animals of all kinds, showed
them about, and in the end became well-known as the owner of the finest
travelling menagerie in the kingdom. We were very grateful to Wombwell,
as I have often told his mother, who was a patient of mine, for in order to
serve us he sent many animals after they were dead, to the museum. He
sent lions, leopards, tigers, bears, and many sorts of birds, some of which
were dissected, their skeletons being set up and their skins stuffed and pre-
served. I had the opportunity of learning a vast deal from this museum;
the leading points of difference between the herbivora and the carnivora,
including observations that have lasted me as subjects of study up to this
time, and have always been useful at my lectures." [Extracted and sent in by
Prof. Boulger, F.L.S.]