OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY. 5t 



seen. Sucli collections, when they are properly arranged, 

 become schools of science, where the student may find 

 means of instruction to which he could no otherwise have 

 had access. The Society, when it regards the progress 

 which its cabinets have already made, cannot but indulge 

 the anticipation, that ere long the elements of many branches 

 of knowledge may be learned within the walls of its Museum; 

 that in this repository the Naturalist may form his first 

 acquaintance with the works of creation, the Geologist 

 trace his science to its Fossils, and the Antiquary his 

 erudition to its Coins. 



But, whilst it embraces these general views, the Society feels 

 that the service particularly demanded at its hands, is of a 

 more limited and local description. A full and exact account 

 of the Natural History of the Earth, can only be obtained by 

 a division of scientific labour. The County of York is the 

 partition of that labour which falls within the Society's pro- 

 vince, and to THIS field of research it especially directs the at- 

 tention of its members ; a field of sufficient extent and variety 

 to excite interest, and at the same time sufficiently bounded 

 to admit of being accurately explored. The materials will 

 thus, it is hoped, be gradually collected, for a complete philo- 

 sophical history of Yorkshire ; specimens of all the natural 

 productions of the County, its native quadrupeds, birds, and 

 reptiles, its fishes,* insects, shells, plants, and minerals, will 



* The natural history of Fishes admits of much new illustration. Their 

 Osteology might be exhibited with least trouble by boiling the specimens, and 

 either reuniting the bones, where loosened, by glue, or arranging them separately 

 according to their order. The best method of preserving the natural appearance 

 of Fishes, is, to take a plaster cast of half the fish, and then remoTingthe skin, 

 to fasten it upon the cast, and varnish it. 



