A meeting of the above Society took laco'on Tuesday evening at their rooms in nen-ming-yuen Road, to hear a paper on by Mr. EH, H. Parker, of H. M.'s Consular ihe Rapids of the Upper, Yangtsz," Service at Chungking.
Mr. G. J. Mornisox, President of the Society, ocoupied the Chair, and there'were about twenty-five members and visitors present.
The Cuarruay, after a few introductory remarks referring to the fact of his ocoupying the Chair for the first time since his election as President of the Society, went on to express the hope that the attendance its meetings would increase. He thought that this might be accomplished if the subjédts' selected for pipers to be read weta of more interest to" the public large than' those generally chosen. For ingtainco, the "subject of Chinese banking was one about which he thought very little was known, and'on which' information would" be welcome: to many.' During the great famine, silver had been sent up to. Shansialong with the grain for which it was to pay, and that such a thing' should happion must, he thought, be due to defects in the system. Ho intended to make efforts itiereasé the interest of the public in the trusted that the meetings would be larger.
ty. in the way he ad indicated, and The Cxxarmraw then proceeded to read a report by Mr. D, O. Jansen, the Curator of. From this it appeared that 300 visitors had inspected specimens in the Museum during the fear under, review, but it was explained that this number was greatly below the mark, as miavy people came who did not Write their, names. in the visitor's book., Mr, Jansen acknowledged the indebtedness. of the Society to those who had presented specimens of various kinds during the year, mentioning the name of Dr. Guppy, of H.M.S. Hornet, more particularly, as. having enhanced the value of the gifts he had presented, by attaching thereto the scientific names of the" specimens.. He thought it would be well for the Council to acknowledge the receipt of everything presented to them in a separate letter, and also to inform the donor of the scientific name of the object he had given, incase ho should not be aware of it, With regard to the Museum, great opportunity for expansion had been afforded by the mn of another room placed at the disposal of the Society by the removal of the its Library consequent on its transfer to the custody of the Shanghai Library. He had, however, refrained from making use of space afforded until it should be known whether the state of the finances would permit of the necessary expenditure for converting some of the old show-cases and buying new ones. By the re-arrangement and enlargement that the Society are now in a position to commence, the Curator thinks that new spirit might be infused and a greater impetus given to the affairs of the Museum by the assumption of the functions of Curator by several members in place of one individual as heretofore each taking that province with which he is most familiar, or in which he is most interested. Let, for example, zoology and botany be undertaken by one, geology by another and technology by a third. such an arrangement a kind of committee would be constituted, each member of which would be able to call upon his friends for assistance in procuring speci mens and information relating to his particular department, which would consequently be benefited by the closer and more competent attention he could devote to its interests, and that, too, without any great tax on his leisure. Mr, Jansen would also strongly urge the value a good technological collection would possess, and the easy and inexpensive manner in which it might be acquired. Specimens of all the products of Chinese labour, whether in agriculture, arts, or manufactures, would form a most interesting and suggestive collection, and there could be little doubt, that these could be procured through the medium of the several Consuls and especially the Custom House officials in the different open ports; and that the Society might confidently rely—if proper application were made to him—on the cordial ce-operation of the Inspector-General of Customs, whose love of science and interest in the advancement of Chinese affairs would enlist his sympathies in the scheme. The formation of such a collection would impart now life to the institution, and give interest and variety to its now somewhat monotonous exhibit composed mostly of ens of the zoology of this province. labour of arranging the specimens in cases would be but a small part, of the work required in collecting such an exhibit. The history, description, uses; and methods of preparation of its many interesting _protugs should be gleaned—study and examination made—and the result given to the public to enable it to benefit by the undertaking. The collection would embrace the direct pro: ducts of Chinese labour in their marketable state; that is, as they are produced and offered for sale by the farmer, artisan, or manufacturer. In arranging such a collection a classification should be adopted, simple, and at the same time comprehensive, and as the Society is limited in means and in space, it might be welf perhaps at first to confine exertions to obtaining specimens of—first, all food substances; second, substances used in arts and manufactures third, natural history in relation to the production of the abore. For instance, the first department would include cereals and legumes, fruits and vegetables, farinaceous substances, sugar, beverages, liquors, narcotics, spices, and condiments.
inder the second heading would come all animal and vegetable fibres, paper materials, dyes, colouring and painting materials, fanning materials, gums and resins, fats, oils and wax. 'The third department would embrace natural history in relation to, or in any way connected with, the production of the above, such as farm animals, those found upon the farm in a wild state, those denominated "farm pests" ~or useful' as furnishing food. or by Aestroying insects; domestic poultry, game birds, hybrids, ' birds—beneficial or injurious—insects injurious to _vegetation, arranged in regard to the plants on which they feed, together with artificial means "of destruction, ete. ete. The Curator was aware that the utilitarian character of such a collection would probably strike some of the members as foreign to the original design of the Museum. Still he hoped that before the suggestion was thrown would receive due consideration., Tls. 500 were received yearly from the Ratepayers of Shanyhai under the idea of the Museum being a public benefit, but the accumulated contributions of the fow years it had been in existence were nearly. all #0 purely scientific that while presenting points of interest to lovers of science, they possessed. but little else to recommend them to the general public. The technological depart= ment suggested would, however, be of a By more practical ature, and while but slightly interfering with the present routine of the institution, it would be a benefit to the public at large, and while interesting all, it would be an honour to the Museum' to possess it.
'The Cxamwaw thought the suggestions contained in the report were valuable, but he was inclined to doubt whether' the exhibits ast referred to would be as interesting to the public as Mr. Jansen seemed to think. He then proceeded to read the following report for the year 1880, by the Secretary At the annual meeting, held on the 8th of March, 1880, the following gentlemen were elected Office Bearors for the year:—President, the Very Rev. Dean Butcher, D.D.; Vices Presidents, A. 1. Little, Esq., anda, EH. Hippisloy, Esq.; Secretory, Chins, D, Whitty, Esq.; Treasurer, Max Slevogt, Esq,; Librarian, Josepir Haas, Bsq,; Curator of the Musou, D.C. Jo 'Esq.; Members of Council, John' Pryer, Baq., BW. Kingsmil J. Macgowan, Bsq., M-D., J n, Esq, Early in th the Vert Rov.
Schmidt, Eaq., and' A. B. Stripling, Eq. Dean Butcher, President, loft Shanghai, and the Council have since to Mr. A. E. Hippisley, Vice:
led in his place. Five meet: ings have been held during the year, and the following papers have been read:—1, 27th January, "On Siamese Coiuage," by Esq, 2, 8th. Starch; Legation, Peking. 4, Naturalistic Philosophy of H. Balfour, Eag., 5, On the Geology of Takow, Formos," the Imperi 5 ie Legation, Peking. 6, "On the Geology of the Pescador: "On the "Hydrology of ti Yellow ver, and the Peiho," by H. B, Guppy, Eeq., M.D., Surgeon to H. M.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.