326 NOTICE OF THE LIFE OF JOSHUA ALDER, ESQ., 



In February, 1815, he became a member of the Literary and 

 Philosophical Society of Newcastle, which was then located in 

 the Groat Market. He attended, and delighted in, the lectures 

 which were then being delivered before that Society, by the late 

 Eev. W. Turner, on chemistry, electricity, and other branches of 

 physical science, and it was some time after he began to attend 

 those lectures that he was attracted by the charms of Natural 

 History. 



By degrees he commenced excursions into the country around, 

 in company with Mr. T. Hancock and Mr. W. Robertson, an 

 excellent botanist, and collected, first of all, mineralogical and 

 geological, and then botanical specimens. Afterwards these ex- 

 cursions were extended to lengthened pedestrian tours through 

 the lake and mountain districts of Cumberland, Westmorland, 

 and Scotland. During these, conchological specimens were super- 

 added to his already varied stores of treasures. At length he 

 appears to have devoted himself almost exclusively to the study 

 of British Conchology, working at it for about forty years, and 

 in the latter part of his life to have joined, to this absorbing 

 pursuit, the study also of the Zoophytes of Great Britain. 



During this long period he visited from year to year, during 

 the summer months, various parts of England, Wales, and Scot- 

 land, and the Bay of Dublin. On the east coast of England he 

 frequented Berwick, Warkworth, Cullercoats, and Scarborough ; 

 and on the south coast, Torquay, Plymouth, and Ealmouth — also 

 Ilfracombe ; in Wales, Swansea, Fowey, Tenby, and Beaumaris ; 

 in Scotland, Rothesay, Arran, Oban, and other localities on the 

 western coast ; and also the Isle of Man. At each of these 

 places he stationed himself for a week or two, or at least a few 

 days, when, free from care and business, and apart from the 

 world, he quietly occupied himself in collecting, observing, and 

 describing the objects of his pursuit, and in taking sketches, in 

 pencil and chalk, of the beautiful scenery amid which he loved 

 to sojourn. 



On his return home he always had a portfolio of new sketches, 

 as well as a valuable gathering of new objects of Natural History, 

 to exhibit, and invariably spent a fortnight in autumn, at his 



