286 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHAIR OF 



geology) for the M.A. degree. Professor Alleyne Nicholson 

 and others thought that the inclusion of natural history in 

 the M.A. curriculum was not felt by the students of Aberdeen 

 as a grievance. This Chair has likewise passed through 

 various vicissitudes, for it once embraced botany and civil 

 history, and, at a still earlier period, the professor also taught 

 Latin and other subjects. Now the class is optional except 

 for medical students, but large numbers (often a hundred) of 

 arts' students still attend, and in their case the practical class 

 is obligatory. Advanced and ordinary courses in zoology 

 are given as well as a medical course. Besides, there is a 

 lectureship on embryology, which in future will not be con- 

 nected with any Chair. In addition, the following courses are 

 mainly associated with the Chair of Natural History, viz. a 

 Fishery Course of twelve meetings, a Parasitology Course of 

 twelve meetings, and a Statistical Methods' Course of twelve 

 meetings. The students of the advanced course of zoology 

 must take at least one of the three last-named special courses. 

 An excellent museum of natural history exists in connection 

 with the Chair. 



In the University of Oxford the modern Chair of Natural 

 History sprang from the Linacre Professorship of Physiology, 

 which was founded in 1854 at the expense of Merton College, 

 but the first appointment was not made till 1860, when 

 Professor Rolleston was elected, and at this time the new 

 Museum was built. To this museum were transferred the old 

 Ashmolean collections and those belonging to the Lees 

 Reader of Anatomy of Christ Church. The professor was 

 responsible for the teaching of human and comparative 

 anatomy and physiology, and it is no wonder Rolleston 

 pleaded for a division of the subjects. But though the 

 University Commissioners in 1877 provided that the subjects 

 should be restricted, this restriction did not take effect till 

 Professor Rolleston's death in 1881. The Chair was now 

 termed the Linacre Professorship of Human and Comparative 



