Obituary. 631 
attention to the Museum of Zoology, another object of devo- 
tion in addition to his Egg-collection. During the last forty 
years the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge has been greatly 
expanded, and no one worked more assiduously in his own 
line than the Professor. Some men are born collectors, and 
Newton was one of them. He not only collected himself, 
but he induced others to collect, so that, in consequence of 
his world-wide correspondence, there has been a constant 
flow of treasures into the Cambridge Museum. 
But Newton did not confine his attention solely to objects 
of Natural History, for he possessed the collector’s knack 
of acquiring old books, old MSS., old maps, &c., mostly 
bearing on his favourite subjects. It seems that in the 
ninth edition of the ‘ Encyclopzedia Britannica’ there is no 
article on Museums, and consequently he prepared a paper 
for the special delectation of the “ Museums Association,” 
which was duly read at one of their meetings. 
There are some amusing incidents narrated in this essay, 
and amongst others the fate of the Leverian Museum, which 
seems to have been refused by the trustees of the British 
Museum when offered in 1775. Ultimately, about 1806, the 
collection was sold piecemeal, the sale lasting, off and on, 
for 62 days. As a curiosity, Newton was able to exhibit a 
copy of the sale-catalogue. Another instance may be given, 
viz., when Dr. Bowdler Sharpe was writing the ‘ History of 
the Collection of Birds in the British Museum,’ Newton was 
able to lend him a copy of the sale-catalogue of Bullock’s 
Collection, of which only two copies are known. The same 
authority also informs us that the naturalists visiting 
Cambridge at the time of the International Ornithological 
Congress of 1905, greatly enjoyed an inspection of his 
literary curiosities, including his library of rare and choice 
ornithological works. These with many other treasures 
have been bequeathed to the University of Cambridge. 
As the author of an article entitled “The Karly Days of 
Darwinism ” (Macmillan’s Magazine, 1888), Prof. Newton’s 
views on the subject of “ Organic Evolution” are not 
without interest. He is said to have been an early con- 
vert, but in point of fact he was in a condition ready for 
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