Qft EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



moths and other insects, and in about three years he 

 had replaced his lost number. He had now been some 

 eight years collecting, and during this time — 1845 — he 

 had preserved nearly 2,000 specimens of living creatures 

 found in the neighbourhood of Banff. About half the 

 number consisted of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, 

 Crustacea, starfish, zoophytes, corals, sponges, and other 

 objects. In addition to these, he had also collected an 

 immense number of plants. His cases were entirely 

 his own making, and the papering of them inside, 

 painting outside, and glazing was also his work. His 

 collection filled no less than 300 cases, and every nook 

 and corner of his house was full of them. 



It had long been the wish of his heart to leave the 

 shoe-making trade, and give his attention wholly to 

 natural history. He had a project of exhibiting his 

 collection, and this he did at a hiring fair in Banff in 

 1845. A great many country people visited the town 

 at this fair, and there was always at it a miscellaneous 

 collection of fat women and dwarfs, and other wonderful 

 things, and he thought that surely among all these 

 curiosities there would be many who would pay the 

 small entrance sum to see the contents of his cases. A 

 room in the Trades' Hall was taken, and it was 

 advertised as a "Collection of preserved animals, com- 

 prising quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, shells, eggs, and 

 other curiosities." 



One of the local papers said of it, " that the collection 

 was the result of his own untiring efforts and ingenuity, 

 without aid, and under discouraging circumstances, 

 which few would have successfully encountered. . . . 



