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chell Honorary Members of the Society and ex-officio Members of the Council, and it is concluded that there can be but one opinion of their eminent fitness for these appointments.-Mr. Holl has undertaken to act as Secretary, jointly with Mr. Harry Chester, until further arrangements can be made by the Council. The Council are convinced that the real value of the Society, its usefulness, and means of permanent popularity, will depend mainly on the early acquisition of a valuable museum and library, and they strongly recommend that great efforts should be made to secure this important point: they, therefore, propose that a separate fund should be created for the express purpose of furnishing books, cabinets, and specimens of stuffed birds, skins, nests, eggs, skeletons, and anatomical parts and preparations to illustrate the habits and the internal and external structure of birds; that a book should be opened for "Subscriptions to the Museum and Library Fund," and that the property acquired by these subscriptions should remain vested in the names of the subscribers until the general funds of the Society be sufficient to repay to the Subscribers the sums which might be advanced for this purpose. The Council confidently appeal to the liberality of the friends of the Society, to furnish in this manner the means of establishing it at once upon an honorable and advantageous footing. -In conclusion, the Council are anxious to impress upon the minds of the members that the popularity of the Society will be greater or less in proportion to the extension or contraction of its basis; that, by a judicious combination of the scientific, the attractive, and the practical, not only good will be effected, but the means of effecting it will be increased, and the support of all parties may be counted upon, from those who look to the improvement of the breeds of domestic poultry, to those who delight in the loftiest speculations of Science.-Books are opened at the Society's rooms for subscriptions to the museum and library fund, and for donations to the general funds, to the library, to the museum, and to the collection of living birds."

The reading of the Report was followed by a very interesting discussion of the various modes in which the institution might be made to work for the public good: for our own part it appears to us that all its objects are admirable. It proposes to unite all classes of ornithologists for the attainment of their common objects; and it has already united Mr. Vigors, Swainson, Macleay, Lord Derby, Stanley, Gray, Horsfield, Yarrell, Mudie, Sykes, Gould, Burchell, Richardson, Selby-why prolong the list? We have stated that the Earl of Derby and Dr. Burchell have been elected

honorary members: such appointments reflect equal honour upon the two parties. We hope that Dr. Burchell, in this well-deserved compliment, will perceive that he is not yet forgotten in the scientific world, which (alas for the interests of science!) he has of late too much deserted; and we hail his acceptance of this honour as a pledge that he will thrust his sickle into the harvest of knowledge which he possesses in his close-sealed collections; that he will do tardy justice to science, to his friends who are anxious for his fame, and (though last, not least) to himself.

The free exhibition of living birds in the public parks would alone stamp this Society with the mark of pre-eminent liberality. Our country friends can have little notion of the extraordinary interest which is created by the collection of aquatic birds in St. James's Park. On Sundays the banks of the lake are even inconveniently crowded with thousands upon thousands of people. It is, indeed, an attractive sight; the locale itself is particularly beautiful, and the numerous young broods that are just now upon the water add greatly to the interest of the scene. The advantages of introducing suitable foreign birds into this country are too obvious to be mentioned; they are exemplified in the Pheasant, Turkey, and Canary Bird. The publication of scientific and practically useful works on Ornithology will be a boon of incalculable value. With regard to the museum and library, we will only say we are glad that a foundation of each has been already laid, and we hope that the suggestion which Mr. Vigors made at the general meeting will be attended to, namely, that the Zoological Society should present their duplicate birds to the museum of the new institution.

The periodical meetings and lectures will be interesting, and in many ways useful; and in estimating the advantages of prize shews of birds we have only to refer to the analogous shews of the horticultural societies. You have exhibitions of fruit and flowerswhy not have exhibitions of birds? We must now take a quarter's leave of the Ornithological Society of London. May it never disappoint our expectations!

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PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES.

WORCESTERSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

WE have great pleasure in recording the increasing prosperity of this Society, and the rapid progress it has made in promoting scientific inquiry in the several branches of Natural History. During the past session, a series of highly interesting lectures have been delivered on various subjects, including one by the Rev. John Pearson, on the Influence of Natural History on the religious and moral Character of Man, of which the following is an abstract :-

After dwelling upon the frame of mind in which the study of Nature should be approached, the lecturer proceeded : "We are apt to speak of religious and moral influences as matters of course— as abstract principles which alone require to be known that they may be appreciated and adopted; we imagine that they are recommended by their own intrinsic weight and character, and that the mind necessarily prostrates itself before their consecrated shrine. Do we not deceive ourselves by the speciousness of this conclusion? Do we not too often fancy ourselves in possession of the feelings without sufficiently estimating the means by which they are to be obtained, and thus appropriate to ourselves a pharisaical conviction which deludes with the form rather than confers the substance? Do we not too often amuse ourselves with lights and shades under the impression that we grasp the reality? It is well known to the cultivator of the soil, that he can expect no produce unless he labours with a persevering and untiring hand; the mechanic, the artist, the man of science, know full well the impossibility of reaching excellence without due preparation and study. If thus it is in the ordinary attainment of perfection, may we not draw the same conclusion in relation to the influences upon the mind? Let us look to the untutored and unlettered barbarian. We are told that he

"Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind."

This appears to rest more in the inspiration of the poet than in the realities of truth. Dependance upon a superior agency is one of the qualities of the human mind; but, in a state of Nature, how does man display its character? By falling down before a stock or a stone, a Vishnu or a Juganaut; thus idolizing the creature of his own invention, and propitiating his imaginary deity as the means of support in the pursuit of his unsubdued and unhallowed passions. * * * If then it shall be admitted that we require every aid and assistance in perfecting the intentions of the Deity, that it is our duty as our interest to prepare by cultivation and by industry for the reception of those truths revealed to man, where shall we find

such able and effectual assistance as in the contemplation of the stupendous fabric which was formed by the Almighty Creator, and in reading in the book of Nature those salutary and instructive lessons before which even scepticism is baffled, and before which the highest reach of intellect in every age and under every clime has bowed with confidence and trust? Unhappily, however, the various proofs of divine power and divine beneficence are looked upon by the mass of mankind in too negative a light: yesterday, to-day, and every day they present the same unvarying phenomena, disregarded or unappreciated by the ordinary observer. The richest treasures of Nature are to him, like leaves in the Sybil's book—a charmed knowledge, as it were, hermetically sealed, because he will not open the pages and appropriate to himself the precious contents. From whence, then, this apathy to the beauties of creation? why have they not been received into the inner man in aid of that scheme of regeneration which has been offered for his acceptance? The reason is obvious: he has been untaught and unschooled in the great volume of Nature; his attention has not been directed to its instructive lessons; he has not been made acquainted with its cọntents; his eye first opened upon all its charms, and because they have exhibited an uniform and even aspect, he sees nothing wonderful in that which is so familiar." The lecturer then strongly enforced the necessity of imbuing the youthful mind with the love and knowledge of the works of God, and thus proceeds: "There is a grandeur, a beauty, and a harmony in Nature which, when rightly considered, cannot fail to direct the heart and mind to contemplations beyond this world and all its concernments. The lover of Nature treads, as it were, upon holy ground, unpolluted by the passions which usually agitate and perplex him in the more busy scenes of life: all is tranquil, serene, and composed; the tossings of the storm are still; he beholds the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, acting in one uniform system-'each has its place appointed, each its course;' he contemplates the earth and its adaptation to the uses, the conveniencies, and pleasures of existence, fraught with all comforts, nor yet one withheld;' he looks into the detail of Nature, and finds the minutest particle contributing to the mighty whole, and each formed by the Divine Artificer for the happiness of his creatures."

After further pursuing this train of thought, the lecturer proceeded to state his regret that, through our own imperfect perceptions and other causes, any apparent discrepancy should have arisen between revelation and the discoveries of modern science. These discrepancies had been satisfactorily reconciled by others, but as the objections may have been more widely spread than the refutations, he considered it his duty to examine the subject. "Indeed," he observes, "some examination of this question appears indispensable; for should the results of philosophical investigation prove essentially repugnant to the scriptural account, to me, at least, it appears most conducive to the welfare of mankind that we should distrust the

perceptions of our own limited and imperfect faculties, and relinquish a science the results of which must be regretted by every friend of social order, moral excellence, and religious truth." The difficulties to which the lecturer refers arise from the disclosures made by Geology respecting the lapse of very long periods of time before the six days creation, as recorded by Moses. After expressing his conviction that the word and works of God must, in all essentials, point in the same direction and lead to similar conclusions, the lecturer thus states his opinion that the object of the Mosaic narration was strictly religious and in no degree scientific. "Let us, for a moment, reflect: if it had pleased God to lay open the whole field of Nature and science to the view of the inspired historian, for the sake of its farther promulgation, it would have been also necessary to have imparted a similar knowledge to his hearers, or their minds would have been involved in useless speculations and scientific technicalities, instead of anxiously intent on the far more important information which the narrative conveys. We should ever bear in memory this important fact, that it was not the intention to inform mankind how the world was made, but by whomnot in what manner it pleased the Almighty to call creation into existence, but that he commanded and it was done." The lecturer then goes on to state the views taken by those who consider the material substance of our globe to be of no older date than, at first sight, the Mosaic account may imply. The first view-that the various geological phenomena may be accounted for by the convul sions that have taken place since the creation of man, and principally by the Mosaic deluge-he considers to be refuted by the vast thickness and innumerable sub-divisions of the stratified rocks, and by the numerous successions they contain of the remains of animals and vegetables; those in what may be termed the transition rocks, where organic remains are first found belonging to extinct species. It is still a matter of doubt whether a really fossil skeleton of man has ever been discovered, and certain it is that none has ever been found in any of the lower strata; consequently many successions of animals must have existed before man was first created." We are obliged to abridge the discussion upon this interesting question. The next view alluded to is entertained by those who may be said to hold a middle course upon this subject. They consider that no system existed previous to the first day of the Mosaic account, and that all difficulties may be overcome by extending the word "day" to an indefinite period, instead of a single revolution of the earth. In the opinion of the lecturer, there exist strong scientific, theological, and critical objections to this view. It appears that the remains of the most ancient marine animals occur in the same strata with the earliest remains of vegetables; so the origin of animals and plants must have been nearly cotemporaneous. The length of each day is distinctly marked by the emphatic mention of the evening and the morning as its boundaries. It is also most improbable that the sun should not have been created or made

VOL. VI.-NO. XX.

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