Miscellaneous. 317 



love to many, as his ' Thesaurus ' has been to him ; and whether 

 reflecting, however dimly, the processes of evolution, or the results 

 of direct creation, this hoped-for reproduction of Silurian life in all 

 its bearings, in both an analytic and a synthetic form, will be a work 

 worth any man's labour, adding to useful knowledge, and enlarging 

 our conceptions of the ways and means of Nature and of the grandeur 

 and perfection of her Creator. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 Birds in the Philadelphia Museum. By Dr. J. E. Geay. 



The collection of stuffed birds formed by Mr. Wilson, and pre- 

 sented to the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, is a very large one. Dr. Harvey, the algologist, in his letters 

 just published in his ' Life,' which give the most lifelike and interest- 

 ing account of the country, and especially the great centres, and of 

 the scientific and literary men of the United States that I have read, 

 observes, Dr. Leidy " accompanied me over the museum, the collec- 

 tion of birds in which is said to be the first in the world. Agassiz 

 and the Prince Canino, both good authorities, say there is no such 

 single cabinet in Europe" (p. 195). 



Having purchased the collection that formed the basis of the 

 Museum in Philadelphia, for Mr. Wilson, I may give an account of 

 how it was procured, more especially as it will show at what a 

 moderate rate a large and beautiful collection may be obtained, and 

 the manner in which such things are managed in France. 



Mr. Wilson called on me as a stranger, saying that he wished to 

 make a collection of birds, and that he had received an offer from a 

 dealer who had mentioned my name, and he wished to know if I 

 considered the price fair, and if the vendor was likely to carry out 

 his engagements. The price proposed was a progressive one — three 

 shillings per specimen for the first two hundred skins, four shillings 

 for the next two hundred, the price increasing with each succeeding 

 hundred, making the rarer birds very high. After some conversa- 

 tion, and finding that he wanted it for the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, of which I am a member, I said, if he 

 wanted to form a museum, why did he not try to purchase a collec- 

 tion, as there were several in the market? I mentioned two or 

 three, among the others Prince Massena's collection in Paris. I said 

 that it had been long for sale, and that I believed it could be pur- 

 chased for a very moderate price — probably four francs (about 3s. 6d.) 

 each specimen, which is the price that birds cost to be stuffed only. 

 He said he had inquired about that collection, but it was not to be 

 obtained for twenty times that sum, and indeed he doubted if it was 

 to be purchased at all. A printed catalogue of the collection having 

 been circulated, it was easily known what the amount would be at 

 the price I named. I said that I intended to go to Paris in a very 

 short time, and that, if he liked it, I would see what could be done. 



