ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS.
33
fall a prey to neglect. Hence, there was little to induce the
possessors of valuable objects to give them to the local museum.
But all this is now changed. Public opinion to-day recognises
that the care of the local museum is as much a part of the duty
of the Corporation as the care of the public roads. "The one
vital principle which surrounds Corporations," says Mr. Green-
wood, "is that they are gifted with perpetual life."10 Anyone
therefore who gives a collection to a municipal museum feels
that its care is permanently assured.
Since the Essex Field Club was founded, a quarter of a
century ago, there has been a great advance in the popular
appreciation of museums. An important step was taken in
1886, when the British Association appointed a committee
to report upon the Provincial Museums of this country. The
reports of this committee drawn up by the late Mr. F. J. Mott
as Secretary, form a valuable repertory of information.
But a far more important step was taken by the formation,
in 1889, of the Museums Association. Then, for the first time,
the Curators throughout the country became organised. At the
annual meetings of this Association the Curators and others
interested in museums meet in conference, so that all matters of
museum economy can be fully discussed by experts.
Those who wish to know something about modern museums
will find information of the most valuable character in the
Annual Reports and in The Museums Journal, which is the
organ of the association. Here the reader is made acquainted
with the most recent methods of museum work, and will thus
realise the admirable manner in which most of our provincial
museums are becoming organised.
As an example of a museum which in spite of very restricted
space, and with only moderate resources, may yet profit by the
modern system of museum technique, we may point with some
pride to our own museum at Stratford. Let it ever be remembered,
however, that the maintenance of a museum, worthy of the
present day, involves an immense amount of labour. It was a
remark of the late Sir William Flower, that "a museum is like
a living organism—it requires continual and tender care. It
must grow or it will perish."47 No words could be more just.
However carefully a collection may be arranged, it will, if left to
46 Museums and Art Galleries. By Thomas Greenwood, London l888. 
47 Essays on Museums p. 13.