Vfatural History in London, 257 



members and their friends in referring to the works it contains, will prove 

 of real value to scientific and literary men, and must greatly increase the 

 desire of belonging to this Society. 



May 25. At the anniversary dinner some very interesting speeches 

 were delivered, especially by Mr. Duncan of St. John's College, Oxford, on 

 the influence of the study of botany and natural history in general on human 

 character and happiness. No study was so likely to guard young minds 

 from falling into that train of thinking which led to superstition and fanati- 

 cism, and by dividing those who ought to be as one brotherhood into sects 

 and parties, produced enmity instead of love and friendship. We had the 

 evidence of the present state of France and Germany, as contrasted with 

 the present state of Spain*, to prove that science could break down a reli- 

 gious despotism,; and of all sciences the fittest for this purpose, because the 

 fittest for universal application, is the study of the objects of nature. Pro- 

 fessor Henslow, we understand, took a similar view of the same subject at 

 the commemoration dinner of Ray ; and it is highly gratifying to us to add 

 that we have heard the same sentiments from various clergymen. It seems 

 generally agreed on, in all countries, that the surest way of neutralising the 

 exclusive spirit, generated by artificial religion or sectarian principles, is 

 to study the religion of nature. Since these lines were in type, Mr. Dun- 

 can favoured us with the substance of what he delivered, and his ex- 

 cellent letter shall appear in next Number. 



June 2. Read. — A very interesting paper, by Mr. Yarrel, on the throats 

 of birds. 



Geological Society. Feb. 6. — A paper was read, " On the discovery of 

 a new species of Pterodactyle ; and also of the Faeces of the Ichthyosaurus ; 

 and of a black substance resembling Sepia, or Indian Ink, in the Lias at 

 Lyme Regis;" by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. F.R.S. Professor of Mine- 

 ralogy and Geology in the University of Oxford. 



1 . This specimen of Pterodactyle was discovered, in December last, by 

 Miss Mary Anning, and was found to belong to a new species of that 

 extinct genus, hitherto recognised only in the lithographic Jura limestone 

 of Sollenhofen, — which the author considers as nearly coeval with the 

 English chalk. 



The head of this new species is wanting, but the rest of the skeleton, 

 though dislocated, is nearly entire ; and the length of the claws so much 

 exceeds that of the claws of the Pterodactylus longirostris and brevirostris, 

 of which the only two known specimens are minutely described by Cuvier, 

 as to show that it belongs to another species, for which the name of 

 Pterodactylus macronyx is proposed. A drawing of this fossil by Mr. 

 Clift accompanies the paper. The author had for some time past con- 

 jectured, that certain small bones found in the lias at Lyme Regis, and 

 referred to birds, belong rather to the genus Pterodactyle. This con- 

 jecture is now verified. It was also suggested to him, in 1825, by Mr. 

 J. S. Miller of Bristol, that the bones in the Stonesfield^slate, which have 



* It is a remarkable fact, that there are more universities, colleges, and 

 schools in Spain, in proportion to the population than in any country in 

 Europe. There is a school in every parish, and in every hamlet, as in 

 Germany, Scotland, and Sweden, and yet all the lower class are in com- 

 plete ignorance, and no farther advanced in the useful arts than they were 

 five centuries ago. To what can this be owing ? To the total exclusion 

 of useful science from the schools, and to a law by which no person is al- 

 lowed to study at a college, who is not destined for the church, the law, or 

 medicine. All that is gained at school in Spain is reading, writing, a little 

 arithmetic, and the love of church and king. (See the Manual ^ Science 

 and Literature, vol, i.) — Cond. 



