XXV111 LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK. 



at C rag-side, and those at Jesmond Dene, Newcastle, were 

 quite triumphs as showing what landscape gardening ought 

 to be. It was John Hancock who was instrumental in raising- 

 through his many friends 39,000 with which to build that 

 Museum which holds among other treasures his own col- 

 lections, and which was opened by the Prince and Princess 

 of Wales in July, 1884. John Hancock died on the llth of 

 October, 1890, in his 83rd year. 



After the deaths of both Albany and John Hancock it was 

 resolved that the Museum, which owed so much to the two 

 brothers, should be named after them, and it is now known 

 as the " Hancock Museum." 



A " Hancock Prize " has also been instituted by which a 

 small sum of money is given each year to the writer of the 

 best paper giving an account of a day's Natural Histoiy 

 excursion. Those only are allowed to compete who have not 

 previously written anything of importance for the press, and 

 the prize has done much to stimulate a love of Natural 

 History amongst young men and young women in the two 

 northern counties of Northumberland and Durham. 



Alder and Hancock were Naturalists of a by-gone time. 

 With only very moderate advantages as regards early educa- 

 tion, they progressed greatly in knowledge by private study 

 as years went by. An intense love of Nature absorbed them, 

 and they realized that everything else must be sacrificed to 

 allow them to find out Nature's secrets. They were not well 

 off; with the little they had they were content; thought of 

 marriage had to be given up, for Nature must be their spouse. 

 Through the earlier part of the last century there were no 

 University Science Schools, and few Professors of Natural 

 History. Now a young man who has a taste for science can 

 go through a thorough course of training in any branch of it 

 he may desire, and after taking his degree may ultimately 

 become a Professor. But this position is not without its dis- 

 advantages ; the duties of the Professorial Chair take up so 

 much time that little is left for special work. It is impossible 

 to give anything like the years of study which Hancock 

 devoted to the elucidation of the minute structure of some 

 lower animals. On the other hand it is true that the modern 

 physiologist can do much more in these days in a short time 

 through the facilities which the use of chemical reagents 

 and of the section-knife afford him. 



A. M. NORMAN. 



