278 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



nearest to hirn would be treated to a discourse, or asked for informa- 

 tion on the subject. The whole line would be kept waiting, but 

 those at a distance were the only ones who were bored by the inter- 

 ruption. If a bird or a rabbit exhibited unusual signs when shot, it 

 had to be kept apart and examined post mortem, to see what portion 

 of brain or other part was affected. On one occasion a rabbit which 

 fell dead in a somewhat curious way was found to have no shot 

 wound in it anywhere, and was diagnosed as having died of " heart 

 failure." The shooting was a means to an end* with Sir Jonathan, 

 not the only end in view for the day, as with most sportsmen. 



The Haslemere Museum began in quite a small way in the old 

 barns at Inval, Sir Jonathan's home, and there he was delighted to 

 see his friends and the members of the Natural History Society 

 on Sundays, and to discourse to them on a great variety of subjects. 

 In 1896 the present Museum was built, and the home collections 

 transferred there. A curator was engaged, and with his usual 

 intuition Sir Jonathan found in Mr. E. W. Swanton exactly the man 

 he wanted. Under Mr. Swanton's care the Museum has grown and 

 prospered wonderfully, and from attendances of three or four hundred 

 per annum the numbers have run into seven and eight thousand. 

 Sir Jonathan was an inveterate frequenter of Stevens's Sale Eooms, 

 whence came many of the exhibits in his Museums both at Hasle- 

 mere and Selby. Rarities did not interest him to any extent unless 

 there was something special to learn from them. He did not worry 

 about having a complete collection of local insects, animals, or plants. 

 If they came along, well and good, and many a splendid donation of 

 this kind has been made to the Haslemere collections. But some- 

 thing to learn from, and to teach from, was considered of far more 

 importance than some unique specimen or first record. It will be of 

 interest to quote from the programme of Sunday lectures two of the 

 lists of subjects on which Sir Jonathan would address his hearers at 

 a single sitting (or more probably standing, for they would be led 

 from one department to another as the subject changed) : — " Sunday, 

 June 7th. The Thickness of the Earth's Crust. The Moa and the 

 iEpiornis. Elephants. John Wesley. July 19th. The Earliest 

 Traces of Man. Indian Corn. Seaside Objects. Cowper and his 

 Poetry." Curious mixtures, one thinks! But this was the idea: — 

 "To travel with his audience for a short distance along four of the 

 great pathways of knowledge ; for instance, (1) Geology, as repre- 

 senting the inorganic earth which we inhabit ; (2) organic life, such 

 as Botany or Anatomy ; (3) to turn over a leaf of the great book of 



