MANCHESTER NAT. HIST. SOCIETY. 325 



from personal knowledge, a more detailed account 

 of these two establishments, which reflect 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 

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