14 ESSEX FIELD CLUB YEARBOOK, 1908.
ing brief statement of the various objects to which it desires to
devote its attention in the immediate future.
Taking, first, those objects more nearly connected with the
immediate business of the Club : it may be mentioned that, at both
Museums, much still remains to be done before either can be deemed
reasonably complete, having regard to the purposes for which it is
intended and the space available for the display of specimens. Of
the two Museums, that which will require the chief attention is
The Epping Forest Museum at Chingford (see p. 8).—Briefly
put, the aim of the Club is to get together a thoroughly representative
series of the natural productions of the Forest, exhibited in a pleasing
manner so as to be attractive to children and the ordinary visitors,
and to show also some special collections of antiquities which are
of interest from having been found in the district. Now that the
Essex Museum exists at Stratford (see p. 9), there is no necessity to
exhibit a complete set of the fauna and flora of the forest (even
if that were possible in the small space available). The contents of
the Epping Forest Museum should be rather of an introductory and
strictly-local character, and an aid to the cult of " Nature-Study " in
the Forest districts. A visit to the Museum will show that a good
beginning has been made.
A considerable sum of money (about £450 altogether) has been
found by members of the Club and by well-wishers, for the proper
equipment of the Museum; but about £200 is still needed by the
" Epping Forest Museum Committee " to carry out fully the scheme
laid down by the Curator in a report presented to and accepted by a
Public Meeting held recently in the Museum.
The sum named is needed to purchase additional cases and other
equipment, for preserving and mounting additional specimens for
exhibition, the publication of a " Guide," and other purposes. There
can be no doubt that this comparatively small sum can be obtained
without difficulty. When it has been raised and expended, all the
space the building affords will have been filled and the Museum will
be as complete as it is possible to make it, apart from the re-arrange-
ment, from time to time, of the objects exhibited. This stage once
reached, the Council has reason to hope that an influential public body
may be willing to co-operate with the Club in the maintenance and
curating of the Museum, under an arrangement somewhat similar
to that under which the Club's Museum at Stratford is maintained.
The Essex Museum of Natural History, at Stratford, though
much further advanced, still stands in need of a couple of year's
work and much careful thought on the part of the Council and the
Curator before anything like finality in the public exhibition alone
can be reached. The scheme of arrangement, is, however, well
in hand and seems likely to be carried to completion without serious
difficulty, so far as a Museum which will endeavour to keep abreast
of the progress of natural history can ever be completed. But there
will still remain the longer and more arduous task of building up the
" faunistic " and students' sets of authentic Essex specimens of
plants, birds, mammals, fossils, and the works of early man, etc.,
etc. This will need many years of systematic collecting, and the
aid of the small Biological Station alluded to later (p. 15). The work
would be greatly facilitated if members of the Club would present
to the Museum any Natural History specimens, suitable either for