REMARKS ON MUSEUMS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 275 



otherwise be admitted. I stated my occupation, and observed that 

 I had visited most of the British and Continental museums, and had 

 never been refused admission ; I therefore did not imagine an order 

 would be requisite. He assured me it was indispensable, and kindly- 

 offered to give me and my friends a personal introduction. Even 

 with these preliminaries, I must say that I was not prepared to see 

 the following inscription painted in large letters on a black board, 

 hanging from the door ; on reading which the complaints of my 

 Manchester visitors immediately occurred to my memory ; it runs 

 thus : — 



" I. — No gentleman residing within three miles of Manchester, 

 not being a subscriber, can be admitted. 



M II. — No visitor can be admitted without a personal introduc- 

 tion by a proprietor, or by a written order, with the name of the 

 party to be introduced. 



" III. — No servants or young children can be admitted." 



I had the pleasure of meeting one of the leading members of the 

 society in the building, and had some conversation with him on the 

 subject of the board, when he informed me that it was considered ne- 

 cessary to make such regulations, otherwise they would not be able 

 to support the institution, as many persons who are now subscribers 

 would come as visitors. I must say that I doubt the policy, and 

 regret the feeling which should dictate such regulations, especially 

 the last, as I should have thought the admission of children, 

 with a view of imparting a taste for the beauties of Nature in the 

 rising generation, would have been one of the most ardent wishes of 

 the subscribers. I took a copy of the board, being desirous of col- 

 lecting information relative to the regulations of local institutions, 

 in the expectation of being again examined before the Committee of 

 the House of Commons on the British Museum. This document 

 was laid on one side, with other papers on the subject, when, a 

 short time ago, I accidently saw the following remarks on this insti- 

 tution, in Mr. Swainson's Preliminary Discourse on the Study of 

 Natural History, (published in Dr. Lardner's Encyclopedia), which 

 certainly conveys to me a very erroneous impression of the regu- 

 lations of the institution. Indeed, one would almost have thought 

 that the author had the regulations of the Newcastle Society in his 

 mind, when he w^rote the beginning and latter part of the account, 

 rather than that of the institution to which he refers. Speaking of 

 provincial societies, this author observes : — n The most important 

 of these is the Natural History Society of Manchester, a town long 

 and justly famed, not only for its commercial importance, but for its 



