OPENING OF THE ESSEX MUSEUM, ETC. 325
munificence and enlightened forethought on the part of Mr. Passmore
Edwards, combined with the splendid public spirit of the Town Council of
West Ham. (Applause.) To our ever zealous Secretary, Mr. William Cole,
belongs in the first place the credit of having advocated (and successfully
advocated) the claims of the Essex Field Club to have a permanent home for
the collections which in the course of twenty years have been gradually
formed under his auspices. Of his skill as a curator it is not for me to speak
—the collections, although at present far from complete, and at this early
stage, but in the first period of their arrangement, will tell their own story.
And, as another justification for the gratitude which all we members of the
Essex Field Club owe to Mr. Cole, I need only refer to the excellent little
Epping Forest Museum in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge at Chingford, which was
opened a few years ago, and for which a home was provided by the Corpora-
tion of London. (Applause.) The late Sir William Flower once said the
proper way to establish a museum was to find a curator, and then let him
build his museum around him. We have found our Curator ! Mr. Passmore
Edwards and your Town Council will enable us to carry out the complete
programme. (Applause.)
The nature of scope of a local museum have, as I learn from my friend
Professor Meldola, been frequently considered at meetings of the Field Club,
and I can hardly hope to add anything to the views which have been
expressed on this subject by specialists. But you will permit me to offer my
congratulations to your Museum Committee for the thorough manner in
which they appear to have realised what a local museum ought to be. The
days have gone by when the museum, so-called, of a country town was con-
sidered well furnished if it contained a promiscuous collection of rubbish
gathered together haphazard from all quarters of the globe. (Laughter.) The
local museum which can alone meet the ideal requirements of the present age
should be a perfectly organised registry office where all the natural products of
the district comprised can be seen by students, preserved so as to be capable of
identification, and displayed to the best advantage. The classification of the
contents of such a museum should be systematic, and the labelling of specimens
so complete and descriptive that each may tell its own story. And, above all,
the museum should be what it professes to be—Local. (Applause.) Collections
illustrating what species of animals, birds, insects, plants, &c., inhabited a
particular district at a certain period, and what species were inhabitants during
past geological ages, will be of enormous value to the present generation, and
of even great value to future generations. The foundation of a local museum
for purposes of study and reference is as valuable—perhaps even more valu-
able—than a public library, for the drift of modern thought in the direction
of scientific education is towards a knowledge of nature rather than a know-
ledge of books. (Applause.) With the alterations brought about in any
district through natural agencies, or through man's interference, there must
arise changes in the living inhabitants. Old species die out, new ones are
introduced. The sea is encroaching on our Essex Coast and removing, as I
am told, deposits containing fossils of unique interest—the sole representa-
tives of a particular kind of life that flourished here ages and ages ago. Such
relics of the earth's past history are worthy of being most religiously pre-
served in the local museum, to which institution all students should naturally