382 drtists^ Lecture Room. 



Belfast Society propose to offer exchanges of objects of Na- 

 tural History with similar societies in this country and else- 

 wtere, and their secretary, Mr. James M'Adam, thus writes 

 to the editor of this Journal, under date of August 31st, 1824 : 

 " The Belfast Natural History Society is not long establish- 

 ed, but the members have a wish to obtain as much informa- 

 tion as possible of the science they profess io cultivate j and 

 in order to further their views, they are making a collection of 

 the various objects of Na'ural History. A connexion with 

 other societies will tend greatly to advance their undertaking, 

 and they propose exchanging the duplicate specimens of 

 their museum, for those of any other society that is willing 

 to accede to their proposal. A correspondence may thus be 

 opened, which may serve the interests of both. 



" The specimens sent you by Mr. Maclure* were collected 

 in the country to the north of Belfast, and are all connected 

 with a secondary, or, as some would call it, a volcanic forma- 

 tion He said that such formations were of rare occurrence 

 in the United States, and that specimens of their mineral pro- 

 ductions would be acceptable to the cultivators of Natural 

 History there. It is in the power of the Society in Belfast 

 to furnish specimens, not only from the basaltic district which 

 is in their immediate neighbourhood, but also from other 

 parts of Ireland, and occasionally from Scotland." 



19. trusts' Lecture Room.\ — Going into our gasworks 

 one day lately, I was surprised to find a small lecture room 

 and laboratory, in which a committee of the workmen lec- 

 ture and experiment in turns. They have several articles 

 of philosophical apparatus, and the external aspect of things 

 (for I saw no more) is abundantly scientific. I obtained a 

 copy of their printed regulations, which I thought would gra- 

 tify you, and which I have enclosed. 



The education of the working classes is at present occupy- 

 ing a large share of the philanthropists of this country. The 

 workmen of the Glasgow works have for nearly two years 

 been lecturing to each other on mechanical philosophy and 



* A box of Irish specimens forwarded by Mr. Maclure, to the Ameri- 

 can Geological Society. 



fExtracted from two letters to the Editor,, dated Glasgow, Not. 9th, 

 1824, and March 22, 1825. 



