INTEODUCTION. 253 



XV. — A series of jive lectures given in the Museum of the Natural 

 History Society on Saturday evenings, commencing Feb. I^th, 

 1893, by D. Embleton, Esq., M.D., Prof. M. C. Pottek, M.A., 

 Dr. "Wm. SoMERViLLE, B.Sc, F.L.S., etc., Prof. G. S. Bkady, 

 E.R.S., etc., and H. De Haviland, Esq., M.A. The second 

 lecture, given extempore by the Eev. Canon Tristram, on the 

 Migration of Birds, cannot unfortunately be included. 



Inteodtjction by D. Embletoi^, Esq., M.D. 



With an earnest desire to encourage the study of Natural History 

 in [N'ewcastle and neighbourhood, and at the same time to utilize 

 the stores treasured in our Museum, it has been thought by the 

 Committee of the Natural History Society advisable to offer to 

 the members of their society, to those of the Tyneside Naturalists' 

 Field Club, and to the juvenile public, a few popular lectures 

 descriptive of objects in the Museum. The first of these lectures 

 it is my privilege to deliver this evening. Had the financial posi- 

 tion of the Natural History Society been equal to it, we might 

 have had a professor of natural history of our own who would 

 give regular yearly courses of lectures. Let us truly hope that 

 some future committee may be enabled to offer such an advan- 

 tage to the community. 



At the commencement of this, the first of a course of lectures, 

 chiefly intended for the young, a few words of introduction may 

 not be out of place. The study of natural history is one of the 

 best and most agreeable educational exercises for the youthful 

 mind ; it awakens new interests, enlarges and strengthens the 

 faculties ; it is healthful and productive of many advantages and 

 of the purest pleasure. It is, like every other study, at first some- 

 what arduous, but gradually the difficulties lessen, the pleasures 

 augment, and a habit of study, of correct observation, judgment, 

 and memory is eventually established, and the brain becomes a 

 store of varied knowledge which is experience. 



The question is still sometimes asked — what is natui'al history ? 

 To this it may be answered it is the history of nature, or natural 



