AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL I, 1911. 223
be a revelation of educational possibilities. Many of the pro-
vincial museums, though full of material, are monuments of
wasted opportunities as far as its display is concerned. "He
who runs may read" may be truly said of our Museum. The
opening of the museum to a large public gathering on the occasion
of the Annual Conversazione of the Institute, with the special
exhibits arranged by the Curator and Assistant-curator and
other members of the Field Club, is, Mr. Hogg is good enough
to tell us, one of the educational features which makes the
occasion a success.
With a few hundred pounds for equipment and curating, the
Chingford Museum of Natural History might serve as important
an educational purpose for the visitors to Epping Forest, i.e.,
the people of London and of London-over-the-Border, as is
served by the Museum here for the people of this immediate
locality. The Chingford Museum is in just the same state now
as it was three years ago, and unless a regular income is assured
from a public body, the Club cannot hope to make the Museum
all it might be.
Nevertheless, as it stands, the Museum does good work.
Thousands of visitors during the year examine its contents.
Visits of classes of school children have become a regular feature.
More and more it is becoming the recognised centre for Natural
History rambles in the Forest. On the occasion of two such
rambles, the one organised by the Walthamstow Teachers'
Association and the other by the Nature Study Union, the
Museum was visited by invitation of the Club.
Thus ends the record of what we have been able to do for
the furthering of science by educational means. There is much
more, I believe, to be done. Though one must for the present
definitely abandon the idea of establishing classes for systematic
study in connection with the Stratford museum, the small
room upstairs might be definitely set apart for collections made
or specimens of work done by junior naturalists and teachers ;
school Nature-study exhibitions might be periodically held
in it and the best work from each retained as a permanent
object lesson. The formation of local Natural History Societies
among teachers and of Junior Naturalist Societies among boys
and girls in Secondary and Evening Schools is much to be
desired, and the Club might do much to foster such Societies.