190 Natural History ifi the English Counties. 



Art. III. Natural History in the English Counties. 



Hampshiee. 



The Portsmouth Philosophical Society owes its existence to the meetings 

 of a few scientific individuals, for the purposes of experimental philosophy, 

 in the year 1815, whose numbers being increased m 1818, they formed a 

 Society, published a code of laws, and elected a president; and in 1821 

 published their first annual report. Their roOms are in Pembroke Street, 

 where they have a theatre for the delivery of public lectures, capable of 

 accommodating three hundred persons, and a spacious museum. This col- 

 lection was commenced in 1822, but it was not till 1824 that the addition 

 of nearly two thousand specimens, and the introduction of lectures on 

 natural history directed the particular attention of the members to this 

 department, from which period it has continued rapidly to increase, and 

 now contains more than nine thousand specimens in natural history, con- 

 sisting of a few quadrupeds, about two hundred birds, reptiles dried and in 

 spirits, fishes, insects more than one thousand, a series of Crustacea, moL- 

 lusca dried and in spirits, shells about three thousand, a variety of zoophyta, 

 several hundred minerals and geological specimens, about one thousand 

 five hundred foesil organic remains, amongst them a complete series of the 

 Hordwell fossils figured by Branden. In botany a Flora A'rctica, a Hortus 

 Siccus of Mont Blanc, the Filices of Jamaica, a Cryptogamia of Newfound- 

 land, the British Cryptogamia of the late Mr. Hay, collected during a long 

 life, with particular attention to the subjeft, the rudiments of a British and 

 General Herbarium, &c. A considerable number of coins, and a great 

 variety of miscellaneous objects of curiosity ; the whole arranged in glass 

 cases, well suited for preservation and display. In the same room is the 

 Society's extensive and valuable philosophical apparatus. 



In this museum the following points are particularly attended to : the 

 preparation and preservation of every specimen in the best possible condi- 

 tion ; the systematic classification of the subjects, so as to present every aid 

 to the student which the smallness of the collection will admit. The 

 acquirements of all local specimens, affording to the scientific tourist, at one 

 view, the productions of the district. The present arrangement is mostly 

 Linnean. Lectures on natural history form a part of the proceedings of 

 the Society, and the following courses have been delivered since the esta- 

 blishment of the museum : — On the Study of Natural History; the Classi- 

 fication of the Animal Kingdom ; Ornithology; Entomology; Conchology; 

 the Mollusca ; the Zoophyta ; the burrowing and boring Marine Testacea ; 

 Habits, &c. of certain :Testacea ; the Vegetable Kingdom ; Anatomy and 

 Physiology of Plants ; Mineralogy ; Oryctology {oryktos, fossil, logos, dis- 

 course); Geology of the Island of Portsea ; the Chalk Formation ; Animal, 

 Vegetable, and Mineral Poisons, &c.; besides a variety of illustrations of 

 donations, short papers, notices, and discussions on subjects connected with 

 natural history. 



The freest admission is at all times obtainable to view the museum ; the 

 curator is always ready to give every information relative to the collection, 

 and impart to friends going to foreign parts the best methods of collecting 

 and preparing objects in every department. By far the greater portion of 

 the specimens have been presented by the members and their friends, and 

 the great interest taken by them in its prosperity, together with its local 

 advantages, present every prospect of its becoming both creditable to the 

 institution and respectable as a provincial collection. Accompanying this 

 communication is a copy of the laws and regulations of the Society, and a. 

 report of its state for 1826-7. — J. H. D. June, 1828. 



The Philosophical Institution of Newport, Isle of Wight, is an old esta- 

 blished Society, holding stated meetings for the delivery of lectures, and 



