104
THE COMING OF AGE OF
local museums was again brought before the Club by Mr.
Harting in 1881 (Trans. II., 36; also Proc. II., xxii.) and we
have since had many contributions from other authorities on
this subject. I may refer you to the "Introductory Remarks to
the Papers on the Museum and Technical Instruction Schemes"
prepared when the establishment of our Museum at Chelmsford
was contemplated in 1890 (Essex Naturalist IV., 234) and to
the reprints of valuable papers on local museums by Mr. Rudler
and Prof. Traill (Ibid. 242, 252). We may I think flatter our-
selves that the original programme so far as concerns the nature
of our collections has been faithfully adhered to. That such
museums, when properly stocked and arranged, are of great
educational value has long been recognized by all who have
given attention to the subject, and Sir Wm. Flower addressed
the Club on this point at a meeting held at Chelmsford in 1891
(Ibid. V., 71). We have certainly—thanks to the wise policy
adopted by our Curator—kept the contents of our museums well
within the prescribed limits and have avoided the temptation of
converting them into old curiosity shops, a danger foreseen at
the outset and evidently familiar to all who have had opportuni-
ties of seeing many provincial museums. It may be of interest
to quote in this connection a letter from the late Prof. Huxley
referring to a scheme for a museum in Manchester which he had
been requested to draw up : —
" I have no hesitation whatever in expressing the opinion that, except in
the case of large and wealthy towns (and even in their case primarily) a Local
Museum should be exactly what its name implies, viz., 'local'—illustrating
local Geology, local Botany, local Zoology and local Archaeology.
" Such a Museum, if residents who are interested in these sciences take
proper pains, may be brought to a great degree of perfection and be unique
of its kind. It will tell both natives and strangers exactly what they want to
know, and possess great scientific interest and importance. Whereas the
ordinary lumber-room of clubs from New Zealand, Hindoo idols, shark's
teeth, mangy monkeys, scorpions and conch shells—who shall describe the
weary inutility of it ? It is really worse than nothing, because it leads the
unwary to look for the objects of science elsewhere than under their noses." -
Life and Letters, vol. I., p. 136.
The history of our own museums requires but very brief
recapitulation. The first attempt to establish a Forest Museum
dates from 1883, when, at the suggestion of Mr. Cole, a meeting
was held at Knighton in order to confer with Mr. Edward North
Buxton, with the object of ascertaining whether Queen Elizabeth's