THE WORCESTER NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
HERBERT D. BRAMAN. 
In 1854 some of the members of the Worcester Young Men’s 
Library Association, leading spirits among them being Thomas 
W. Higginson and Edward Everett Hale, formed a branch for the 
study of natural history. Later the association gave its books 
to the city library and became “The Worcester Lyceum and 
Natural History Association,’ whose objects were: “The 
diffusion and promotion of useful knowledge among the inhab- 
itants of the city and county of Worcester: (1) by courses of 
popular lectures; (2) by encouraging the study of natural his- 
tory, and by the collection and preservation of specimens in the 
various departments, together with a library with a view to that 
end.” Later the present name was taken. 
Any resident of Worcester County, above the age of fourteen 
years, could become a member. The present membership is 
sixty, the fact that the privileges are free to all, keeping the 
membership small. 
The charter of the society has just been changed by the 
present legislature, limiting the managing membership to fifty 
and providing for an unlimited associate membership, the 
details not having been fixed as yet. 
Acting upon the advice of Louis Agassiz, regarding a collec- 
tion, it has been the purpose of the society to gather and pre- 
serve such specimens as shall represent the life history of each 
species of the animals and vegetables in Worcester County, 
also its rocks and minerals; further, to illustrate from outside 
localities the subkingdoms of organic and inorganic matter. 
The collection which has resulted consists in part of: 
Mammals, 63 species, 40 from Worcester County; birds, 400 
species, 234 from Worcester County, with nests and eggs of 
120 species; reptiles, 50 species, 25 from Worcester County ; 
fishes, 70 species, 12 from Worcester County; insects, includ- 
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