On the objects and management of provincial museums : an address delivered at Canterbury, October, 1871, to a meeting of the East Kent Natural History Society / by George Gulliver.

  • Gulliver, George, 1804-1882.
Date:
[1871]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the objects and management of provincial museums : an address delivered at Canterbury, October, 1871, to a meeting of the East Kent Natural History Society / by George Gulliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    so far as they admit of it; partly for the knowledge' they conv< of the science, bnt principally for the information they afford the natural history of the locality. Antiquarian objects should 1 treated in a similar spirit. Thus would be collected at one view, < at least under one roof, much of that important knowledge which within the means and scope of any country Museum, so that evei visitor to it might easily find therein both pleasure and profit t natural science in general and on the natural features of tl locality in particular. The Museum would then also be in condition to fulfil one of its leading offices, as a centre for tl meetings, lectures, aud conversations on the natural history ar antiquities of the district, and in this mode be available for coi tributions in furtherance of the special objects of local societie and likely thus to add to the general stock of knowledge. An happily this is now being regularly ventilated and popularized i i many useful periodical publications. When will the Times, lookin i beyond the dense and sterile mists of the Education Boards, discovt the fair and fertile field of instruction in the Provincial Museum now lying waste for want of culture ? As to such young persons as may show a taste for natur; science, it is plainly our duty to give them fair opportunities ( 1 learning how and what to observe; and for this purpose judiciousl ■ conducted Provincial Museums would be eminently fitted. Bi ; attempts to cram or force the tender mind will not be successfu i- And for this reason we might question the sanguine expectation of the good effects of teaching in provincial or branch schools sue curious specialties as animal physiology, light, heat, acoustict i magnetism, and electricity. Yet these were the very subject) according to a report in the Folkestone Express, October 14th, 187] so strongly recommended by the itinerant lecturer or inspector o the Kensington Science and Art Department, after he had warml eulogized the generosity of the Government in furtherance of suci views. But it is remarkable that there is nothing in the report o his lecture as to how that knowledge of anatomy is to be acquired which is the very foundation of physiology; nor of the use in thi and so many other respects that might be derived from Provincis Museums. Indeed, he seemed to ignore them altogether! Am thus, at least, he has taught us what we have to expect from officia and expensive Inspectors of Science and Art. A reference to the “ Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne,’ originally published in 1788, by the Rev. Gilbert White, will sho\ how much even a single individual might achieve for a rural village and indeed for all time and every place. We cannot expect to mak< many Gilbert Whites; but with the local Museum properlymanaged all its contents plainly marked, and the whole systematical!} described in the catalogue, we should at least diffuse a taste for anc knowledge of natural science. In a collection made thus readily available, and ever before us, the masters and tutors of schools, and other teachers, would be induced by the facilities afforded to bring and help their pupils to the enjoyment of that banquet of free and easy instruction. To many competent persons again it would be a pure labour of love to explain or give lectures on the various departments thereof, and to enrich them by suitable donations Thus these Museums would be rescued from their degraded nositinr