Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Iviii. (19 13). 3 



written invitation to their friends to inspect the treasures. 

 In 1826 a general invitation to visit the Museum was 

 given to the officers of the troops stationed in Manchester. 

 In 1837 the Governors declined by a majority of two 

 to one to adopt rules which would have allowed the general 

 public to be admitted to the Museum on payment of one 

 shilling, and gratuitously on certain occasions. In the same 

 year Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, commented 

 unfavourably on the exclusiveness of the proprietors of 

 the Manchester Museum, which stood alone among pro- 

 vincial museums in entirely excluding non-members. 



Specimens were not lent out, a reasonable precaution 

 which was taken even when men of the scientific eminence 

 of Professor Phillips and Dr. Hibbert Ware asked for 

 loans for scientific purposes, but drawings of specimens 

 were allowed to be made for Swainson's " Encyclopedia 

 of Natural History." 



In 1838 the Society relaxed its exclusiveness by ad- 

 mitting non-subscribers to the Museum on payment of 

 one shilling each, schools on payment of threepence for 

 each scholar, and members of the working classes on 

 payment of sixpence each. 



In 1^40, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's marriage, 

 some gentlemen paid £\o in order that the Museum 

 might be opened free from 1 1 to 4. Asa mark of appre- 

 ciation for their management of the crowd on the same 

 auspicious occasion the Chief of Police and his men, in 

 bands of twenty, were given free admission. The annual 

 income of the Society, including admission fees, was, in 



1831-2, £6io\ 1832-3, ^594; 1833-4, £62\; 1834-5, 

 ^492 ; 1835-6, £<^iA ; 1836-7, i^928 ; 1837-8, £1,1-^2 ; 



1838 (7 months), ^^821 ; 1838-9, ;^996 ; 1839-40, ;^847 ; 



1 840- 1, ^^784. On this income there was a charge for 

 interest on the loans out of which the Museum had been 



