507.41 



V. 



The Perth Museum of Natural History. 



ON Friday, November 29, Sir William Flower inaugurated the New 

 Museum of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. It is now 

 almost thirty years since this Society came into existence. On 

 February 28, 1867, some sixteen gentlemen met in a small room in 

 Perth for the working out of the geology, botany, and zoology of 

 Perthshire. Among the number was the late Dr. F. Buchanan 

 White. The meetings of the little Society were successful from the 

 first ; the members soon overflowed their single room, and new 

 premises were obtained in St. Ann's Lane. These new premises 

 were still of a temporary character, and the then president, Sir 

 Thomas Moncreiffe, brought forward a scheme for the building of a 

 suitable house for the Society, in which provision should be 

 made for library, lecture-hall, and museum. This scheme Sir 

 Thomas did not live to see realised, but it was pressed forward by his 

 successor. Dr. James Geikie, under whose presidency subscriptions 

 were invited and came in to the extent of about ^3,000. On 

 October i, 1881, the Society entered into possession of its new house, 

 the frontage of which, as it still exists, is shown in the photograph 

 (Fig. i). The ground-floor of the building contains the library 

 and lecture-room ; the upper storey has for fourteen years contained 

 the natural history museum. This space was still altogether 

 inadequate to contain the Society's rich and rapidly increasing 

 collections, and in the summer of 1882, on the retirement of Dr. 

 Buchanan White from the presidency, Mr. Henry Coates, the new 

 president, proposed that the labours of his predecessor should be 

 crowned by the erection of a new museum. Sir Robert Pullar headed 

 a subscription list with a donation of ^1,000, and other friends of the 

 Society contributed some ;^2, 000 more. Thisnewaddition, which stands 

 immediately behind the old buildings, is that which Sir Wm. Flower 

 came down to open the other day, and with it the present paper has 

 to deal. The main object of the Society was from the first to obtain 

 a separate museum, to be devoted to the fauna, flora, and geology of the 

 county. The architects, Messrs. J. & G. Young, have taken extreme 

 pains to produce a building in all respects suitable for the purpose, 

 and we believe that we possess a museum that will compare favourably 

 with any provincial museum in the country for adaptation to 



