436 TlMEHRI. 
3. — " COLLECTING OLD AND NEW, AS CONNECTED WITH SCIENTIFIC 
PROGRESS" 
Delivered on Tuesday, ijth July, by James Rodway, F.L.S., 
Librarian and Assistant Secretary to the Society. 
The lecturer gave a sketch of the progress of collecting 
from early times to the present. Without collecting 
and collections, science could not verify its dedu6tions 
The history of collecting manias coincides with the 
development of all the sciences. First came the dark 
age when everything was copied from some musty 
old manuscripts, and the only question was, who 
is your authority ? The collector had not yet come 
to the front, except in the shape of the book lover. 
The antiquary and virtuoso arose and dragged science up 
to a higher level, by bringing facts to bear on the dicta 
of Aristotle and Pliny. With the discovery of new 
regions came specimens of which no description could 
be found in the classics. Then rose the universal col- 
lector who published the results of his researches in 
ponderous folios under such names as " Natural Histories" 
and " Great Wonders." Finally came the age of the 
specialist when the facts and materials of science became 
too great for one man to do more than glean a small 
portion in his life-time; he therefore took up a particular 
section, or even a small portion of one. This last period 
is that in which we are living, but it has had a stage 
which may be termed that of the closet naturalists, which 
is being gradually replaced by that of the worker in the 
field. The last generation examined dry bones, the present 
aims at the discovery of the way in which organic beings 
live. Scientists are all collectors, every specimen is a 
fact ; from facts systems are built up, and theories dis- 
