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chemist did not intend to make a preservative when he discovered
formaldehyde; it was only by accident he found out the
practical use to naturalists and anatomists of what was to him,
in the first instance, of merely scientific interest. Here again,
we have an example of the importance of the useless. I believe
more and more sincerely that the gravest danger that science has
is the outcry for that which was immediately beneficial to indus-
tries or to human life or enjoyment. The cabbage held in front
of the nose of the donkey, without which the donkey would not
move, was surely not needed for the scientific man ! It is an
oft told tale—I have told it often enough, but I am afraid there
is need for repetition—that the one thing we want in
scientific study is to escape from the immediately useful.
We should seek to understand and search out the secrets of
Nature, and patiently allow time to prove their value to man-
kind.
Another part of the work of the Club I would venture
merely to touch upon, and that is the Museum work. The
success of the Epping Forest Museum has been most admir-
able. This success has been entirely owing to the fact that it was
worked on sound lines. The mere putting together of specimens
does not constitute a museum. The mere heaping together of
curiosities might make an old curiosity shop, but does not con-
stitute that which was worthy of the name or office of a museum ;
and*I do feel that it is owing entirely, or in a very large measure,
to the zeal and skill of our Secretary that the Epping Forest
Museum is not only of most valuable assistance to the study of
Epping Forest itself, but has also brought the question of
museums most favourably to the notice of others, and is an
example that will be followed in a good many other cases.
With regard to our Central Museum, the whole matter is still
sub judice, and I do not wish to speak too much upon it ; but
I do hope—knowing the great value of museums to students—
that we may be able, when we have settled these difficult
questions, which are being most carefully and patiently gone
into, to make the collections of the Club, not merely a
satisfaction to ourselves as collectors, but of great educational
use to our neighbours, and permanently so to our naturalist
friends. It is difficult to over-estimate the effects of a really
good museum as a means of education. If we only excite
the wonder and curiosity of a boy or girl, or of persons who
might be thinking themselves learned, but who had never