> 
MANCHESTER NAT. HIST. SOCIETY. 325 
from personal knowledge, a more detailed account 
of these two establishments, which refiect so much 
honour upon our northern universities, and should 
long ago have been extended to those of England. 
(229.) There are several provincial philosophical 
institutions and societies, either comprehending 
natural history as one of the sciences to be cultivated, 
or expressly devoted to it. The most important of 
these is the Natural History Society of Manchester, 
a town long and justly famed, not only for its com- 
mercial importance, but for its attachment to the 
physical sciences; an union so rare, that we know 
not where to find its parallel. The society in 
question has its periodical meetings, and is sup- 
ported by the annual contributions of a very con- 
siderable number of members residing in that part 
of Lancashire. We have had the gratification of 
seeing what has been the result of this liberality ; 
and we hesitate not to say that the zoological col- 
lection of this society, with a solitary exception, is 
second to none in the metropolis of Great Britain. 
Besides a very fine collection of native birds, it is 
rich in the ornithology of Tropical America and of 
the United States. The collection of insects is also 
extensive; but that of the Testacea yields only 
to the British Museum in the number, the rarity, 
and the interest of the specimens. The shells, in 
fact, amount to between 5000 and 6000 species ; 
very many of which are undescribed, while others 
formed the chief ornaments of the Bligh, the Angus, 
and the Swainsonian collections. This fact proves 
that commercial and manufacturing occupations are 
xy 3 
