18 ON MUSEUMS, &c., 



and Chemistry, he would only be expected to have a good general 

 knowledge. Under Mechanical Philosophy, it may be proper to add, 

 are included Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Acoustics, Light, 

 Heat, Electricity and Magnetism. In Chemistry great stress is laid in 

 the fiual examination on Analysis. A knowledge of some part of 

 .Organic Chemistry is required, as, e.g. the Alcohol series. When 

 Mineralogy is offered as a subject, some special branch, such as the 

 optical properties of crystals, must be studied. Classmen in Physiology 

 are required to exhibit skill in dissection. Special instruction on this 

 subject is given by a professor or lecturer in the University, styled 

 Lee's Reader in Anatomy. The present occupant of this important 

 lectureship is Mr. Barclay Thompson, a brilliant alumnus and graduate 

 of the University of Toronto. Special subjects that are taken up for 

 examination under the head of Physiology are, as has been already 

 said. Osteology or Odontology; one of the functions, as circulation; 

 the functions of any group of animals, as, e.g. fish or molluscs; the 

 nerves; Ethnology also. Botany, G-eology and Palasontology. 



Another famous museum at Oxford is the Ashmolean, built in 1679. 

 The portion. of its contents really useful for scientific illustration has 

 been removed to the new museum just now described. The remaining 

 objects constitute simply a collection of mixed curiosities. In the base- 

 ment of the Ashmolean are deposited the celebrated Arundel Marbles. 

 The inscription over what was originally the principal entrance of 

 the building is " Museum Ashmoleanum : Schola Naturalis Historiae : 

 Officina Chymica." The term "Naturalis Historia," as used by Elias 

 Ashmole, included of course, what we now understand by Natural 

 Science, just as the renowned Natural History, so-called, of Pliny is 

 in fact a cyclopsedia of the Natural Science of Pliny's age. 



In the University of Cambridge since 1848 there have been, as at 

 Oxford, instituted special examinations for honours in Natural Science. 

 The system of study pursued previously at Cambridge involved the 

 necessity of attention to many branches of Physics. The examination 

 for honours in the Natural Science Tripos at Cambridge requires an 

 acquaintance with the following subjects : — Human or Comparative 

 Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Mineralogy (excluding the Mathe- 

 matical part of Crystallography), Botany and Geology. In a calendar 

 that happens to be at hand I observe valuable papers set at the Natural 

 Science Tripos Examinations by the Professors of Chemistry, Minera- 

 logy, Botany, Anatomy and Geology, and the Regius Professor of Medi- 



