162 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
The field club, as originally conceived, was invariably, I sup-
pose, a collection of men, with a sprinkling of women, of like
interests, meeting to discuss their favourite subjects, to exhibit
specimens and to listen to lectures, as well as to explore the
countryside. The scope of any such club would depend upon the
special interests of its members : activity was sometimes confined
to natural history, which seems always to have been interpreted as
botany, zoology and geology : at times it was more restricted, as
for example in the Quekett Microscopical Club and the Geolo-
gists' Association, although this could rarely have happened
locally for want of sufficient numbers; more often activities
embraced archaeology and subjects of antiquarian interest. I
recall one society whose rules restricted it, natural history and
geology apart, to archaeology, provided it was old enough;
trouble arose some years ago because the rules were so illegible
that no one could tell whether pre-Roman or pre-Norman archae-
ology was intended and the Council had no alternative but to
interpret the cryptic word in the more convenient way : but the
rules are now less accommodating—they have been printed.
Few natural history clubs have, I imagine, been in the fortunate
position of selecting natural boundaries to the area of country
over which they have decided to operate, and as we might expect,
the boundaries are nearly always parochial, sometimes those of a
town, often those of a county or part of a county. It is probably
not wrong to suggest that the idea of natural boundaries has
rarely been thought of. We are so used to political boundaries
that we probably tend to regard them as natural ones, or rather,
perhaps, to forget that they are often artificial.
The field club or local natural history society has nearly
always been composed, in the main, of amateurs. This does not
mean that the professional biologist and geologist deliberately
ignored such societies or that there was any attempt to confine
membership to non-professionals : but the professional had his
own national and specialist societies and moreover his interests so
often lay in the laboratory and not in the field ; his outdoor
interests, if any, were his hobby and distinct from his work.
Nowadays, there is more professional interest in field work and
interest in the local society is likely to increase.
Personally, I like to see a sprinkling of professionals in any
field club, provided that such members appreciate that a field
club is essentially for amateurs. The professional should, I
believe, take a back place but nevertheless be ready to assist when
required, always remembering that because of his specialised
knowledge and his status it is all too easy for him to dominate in
the club. In this respect the unwritten rule, which seems to have
been observed in our own Club, that professionals and amateurs