326 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
by no means unfavourable to the prosecution of in- 
tellectual studies. This is apparent, not only in the 
higher and more educated classes of Manchester, 
but is very general through the operative class of 
the community. We were particularly struck one 
day during our visit, at seeing two or three indi- 
viduals of the latter description attentively looking 
at some of the specimens in the museum, and com- 
paring them with others brought for the purpose. 
The superior tone and manners of these humble 
admirers of nature are very striking, and at once 
show the effect of such tastes upon the inward 
man. 
(230.) The opulent town of Liverpool, supposed by 
some to be superior in a commercial view, can bear 
no comparison with its neighbour in those intellec- 
tual pursuits of which we are speaking. There is, 
indeed, a Royal Institution, the schools of which, we 
have heard, are well conducted. We were encou- 
raged, some years ago, to devote much time and trou- 
ble in the formation of a museum attached to this 
building ; but, with the death of that illustrious 
historian to whose exertions and influence this town 
is chiefly indebted for its public institutions, ex- 
pired that zeal for following up what had been so 
well begun. The museum has remained nearly in 
the same state, and, although admired, has not been 
adequately supported ; while the taste for natural 
history, once very prevalent, has almost expired with 
the death of some, and the departure of others, 
whose intellectual superiority shed a lustre on 
the town of Liverpool. We admit, indeed, that in 
such a place, where almost every one is either en- 
