THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 OF LONDON. 



CHAPTER I. 

 1822—1826. 



ALTHOUGH the Society did not come into existence till 

 ' 1826, for some years previous various influences were at 

 work that rendered the establishment of such a body not only 

 desirable but necessary. Activity in exploration had increased 

 the sum of human knowledge with respect to the animal 

 kingdom ; collections of living beasts, birds and reptiles, skins 

 and fossils, were yearly brought to our shores, and a growing 

 desire for information with regard to them was manifested by 

 educated people generally. As a consequence, existing Societies 

 were unable to deal adequately with the zoological papers pre- 

 sented, or to allow time at their meetings for the discussion 

 of zoological subjects. And during the first quarter of the 

 nineteenth century the only collections of living animals 

 accessible to dwellers in the metropolis were the Royal 

 Menagerie in the Tower and the private one of Mr. E. Cross 

 at Exeter 'Change,"^ just east of Burleigh Street, in the Strand. 

 A visit to the Royal Menagerie near the Sandpit Gate in 

 Windsor Park was not to be lightly undertaken. 



The Royal Society, " the dignified parent of all our scientific 

 societies," had been expressly instituted " for the promotion of 

 natural knowledge " ; but, owing to the great development of 



* In 1829 this was removed to the King's Mows, the site of which is now 

 occupied by the National Gallery. In 1831 the collection was acquired by the 

 Surrey Zoological and Botanical Society, and in the August of that year Queen 

 Adelaide gave her patronage to the project of a zoological garden on the south 

 side of the Thames, provided that it was "not in opposition, but only in a true 

 spirit of rivalry to the establishment in Eegent's Park." 

 B 



