PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 143 



and of which the majority come from neighbouring and distant 

 counties; and it must be gratifying to learn, from the Parliamentary 

 Report on Medical Education, recently published, that not a single 

 student educated at the School, during a period of eight years, has 

 heen rejected by the Royal College of Surgeons. The Museums, 

 Library, and Lec;ture-room, are completely fitted up hy means of 

 the donations presented during the last year, — and the Museum of 

 Anatomy, which has recently received many valuable additions in 

 preparations and other illustrative subjects, will now bear compari- 

 son with most of the metropolitan Schools. The Natural History 

 department has been enriched by splendid contributions of upwards 

 of two hundred rare specimens of Zoology from Australia, presented 

 by the enterprizing and scientific Major Wakefield, of the 39th 

 regiment, a native of the county, am.ongst which are specimens of 

 the Gallinaceae, Psittacl, and Tringae, not yet described; and amongst 

 the animals, specimens of the Marsupial tribe and Ornithoryncus, 

 — by many beautiful South African birds from the Rev. Mr. Gis- 

 borne — by specimens from the Brazils from Edward Armfield, Esq. 

 — and by various other objects of Natural History from the Rev. R. 

 Pearson, J. P. Wilmot, Esq., J. E. Piercy, Esq., and other gentle- 

 men. — In the Botanical department are many curious specimens of 

 dried plants from the Pyrenees and Alps, presented by that munifi- 

 cent patron to the Institution, Sir C. Throckmorton, Bart., and it 

 has been further enriched by an extensive Hortus Siccus of Austra- 

 lian Plants, the fruits of Major Wakefield's researches in that inter- 

 esting and little-explored division of the globe ; and also by a pre- 

 sent of that singular vegetable production, the Bread-fruit, from the 

 Rev. T. East, with some curious products of arts and manufactures 

 of the natives of Tahite. The Mineral ogical department is indebt- 

 ed to Edw. Bagnall, Esq., amongst other curiosities, for an enormous 

 fossil reed, belonging to the Sigellaria pachyderma, found at Pen- 

 twyn, Monmouthshire, in sand-stone, about eighteen feet from the 

 surface, above the black pin ironstone. This magnificent specimen 

 weighs nearly four hundred weight, and is about five feet in cir- 

 cumference. — Very liberal contributions towards a collection in 

 Conchology have been made in this department by the Earl of 

 Mountnorris, and Lieut. Dutton, a native of the town. The Library, 

 it seems, is the only department not entirely free from debt, and the 

 pecuniary liability, in this instance, amounts only to £67. The to- 

 tal number of volumes belonging to the School exceeds nine hun- 

 dred, amongst which are many of the most rare and valuable 

 editions of the ancient medical classics, increased during the present 

 year by contributions from Sir G. Skipwith, Bart., the Rev. Chan- 

 cellor Law, and others ; and also numerous valuable works of refer- 

 ence, with plates, purchased by the funds of the School. — An en- 

 larged course of study in Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and 

 Natural History, as well as a longer term of attendance upon Lec- 

 tures, having been required by the accredited authorities in London, 

 it has been determined to establish Professorships in these important 



