244 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



fascinating to those whose love for natural history 

 tends in that direction. 



I well remember some fifteen or sixteen years ago 

 hearing Mr. George Woodyatt Hastings, president 

 of the Natural History Society, to whom this museum 

 then belonged, describing his visits to the bone caves 

 of the Wye ; and how he roused the enthusiasm of 

 his hearers by his accounts of the wonders which those 

 caves revealed. Those no doubt were good old times, 

 times of refreshing and instruction when the society 

 assembled from time to time to hear of discoveries, 

 and of fresh facts being brought to light, by the men 

 the results of whose labours surround us to-day. 

 Giants there were in those days, and herculean 

 labours were performed by them ; but there are 

 problems which still await solution, and the means 

 for solving them are to be found in this district 

 to-day. 



Most of you no doubt must be aware that the 

 Worcester Natural History Society came into exis- 

 tence in 1833. Dr. Hastings (afterwards Sir Charles) 



Fig. 134. — Lingula Lewisii. 



Figs. 135 and 136. — Stroplwmena depressa, showing exterior 

 and interior of valves. (From Taylor's " Common British 

 Fossils.") 



became its first president, and delivered an inaugural 

 address at the opening of this Institution as the 

 Museum of the Society in 1836. For upwards of 

 thirty years he held that position, and was the guiding 

 spirit in all the transactions of the Society. In 1886 

 Sir Charles Hastings was succeeded by his son, Mr. 

 G. W. Hastings, now M.P. for the eastern division 

 of this county. There were men among the members 

 of that Society who yearned to see this institution 

 doing an extended work, and in the year 1879, after 

 the adoption of the Public Libraries Act by the 

 citizens of Worcester, the proprietors of the Natural 

 History Museum resolved "To give up and make 

 over to the corporation (without any valuable con- 

 sideration), the whole of the property of this Society, 

 comprising the lease of the Museum Building, some 

 shares and interests in the reversion thereof, and the 

 collection of specimens, books and pictures in the 

 said building contained, with the intent that the said 

 property may be used in perpetuity by the corpora- 

 tion for the purposes of, or in connection with, a free 



library and museum for the said city." " Simple 

 words and gracious withal," adds Mr. Downes in his 

 " Retrospect," "in which to clothe a present to the 

 city worth twice ten thousand pounds ! " Few cities 

 and towns are more highly favoured in the possession 

 of a collection so fine and, in some respects, unique, 

 than the city of Worcester ; and it must be a matter 

 of earnest wish that there may be found those capable 

 and willing to carry on and develop the good work 

 commenced with so much ardour and enthusiasm 

 rather more than half a century ago by those earnest 

 pioneers. Before passing on to the consideration of 

 our subject, I would invite your brief attention to the 

 portrait on the north side of the room. The late Mr. 

 George Reece was curator of this museum during a 

 period extending over fifty years, and the splendid 

 collection of natural history specimens here located 

 mostly obtained under his auspices, is an eloquent 



Fig. 137. — C tcnodonta contractu. 



Fig. l^Z. — Ortkonota 

 parallcla. 



Fig. 139. — Calymenene 



Blumenbachii. 



testimony to the ability and perseverance, the 

 patience and devotion to duty which always charac- 

 terised him. 



The geological features of the Midland district 

 have been described by Professor Lapworth* as con- 

 stituting a sheet of red sandstones and marls, through 

 which protrude in numerous bands and patches the older 

 palaeozoic rocks. The triassic beds have been bent 

 into several long low arches, or broad domes, whose 

 longer axes range approximately north and south. 

 The summits of many of the arches have been 

 denuded, and the underlying older rocks have again 

 been bared to-day. Four of the arches are especially 

 conspicuous, those of the Wrekin, Malvern, Dudley, 

 and Nuneaton. In each of these the underlying coal 

 measures are laid bare, forming the four coal-fields 

 of Coalbrookdale, Forest of Wyre, South Stafford, 



* " Handbook to Birmingham," p. 217. 



