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F. W. Hope, including the fine series of Chelonida collected by Mr. Bell: Dr. Gunther has examined a considerable number of the Batrachians, Lacertians, Ophidians, and Crocodilians-very many specimens being preserved in spirits. In the central aisle of the Court are cabinets containing a general collection of the shells of Mollusca, mostly presented by Admiral Sir T. Wilson and Lady Wilson. These are arranged in natural groups, numbered and catalogued.

There is a distinct collection of British Vertebrata, including fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammalia, in the upper north corridor, which also contains a very valuable collection of Arctic birds presented by John Barrow, Esq. Among the British birds are especially to be noticed many groups of young birds. Large and valuable collections of British shells, presented by Sir Walter Trevelyan and the late Mr. Barlee, are placed in a room on the north side of the building. Special collections, including eggs of British birds, shells of Madeira, and shells of the vicinity of Oxford, are arranged in glazed drawers under the general collection of shells.

In a distinct cabinet, Echinodermata appear in two main groups-Echinida and Asterida—and the series is closed by a collection of Corals, Gorgoniæ, and Spongidæ, labelled and catalogued.

The collections of articulated animals of the Entomological Library are placed in rooms in the South Upper Corridor of the Museum. The collection of insects, both British and foreign, also presented to the University by the Rev. F. W. Hope, is one of the largest in existence, and in some of the groups is unsurpassed by any other museum. The collection of Economic Entomology, formed by the present Professor of Zoology, is of very large extent; portions of it are exhibited in glazed cases in the large Insect-room and in the Corridor.

The rich collection of Crustacea formed by Professor Bell is also here preserved, having been presented to the University by the Professor of Zoology on his appointment to that office. Large collections of Crustacea, Arachnida, and Insecta in spirits are preserved in the wall cases of the Insect-room and Corridor.

The Entomological Library of the Rev. F. W. Hope is very extensive, and is open to students on application to the Professor.

8. DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY.

The way in which a beginner is introduced in the Anatomical Department of the University Museum to the study of Biology as recognized in the School of Natural Science, may be given in the following words :-'The first requisite for a commencing student in this department of knowledge is that he should be taught how much there is to be observed and described in a natural object, and it has been found that such a person can have this lesson impressed upon his mind in an excellent yet easy way, by addressing himself with osteological specimens actually before him to the task of verifying the statements made relatively to them in some work specially devoted to the description of them. The vertebral column and the bones of the cranium are the specimens selected, and recourse is taken to human rather than to other osteologies, inasmuch as the descriptions they contain are at once more intelligible to beginners, as being couched in less technical language, and more full and precise, and therefore more valuable for the purpose in question, than most of the ordinarily accessible descriptions of the bones of the lower animals.

'When this portion of the preliminary course is completed, a similar study of the principal organs of animal and vegetable life, such as the brain, the heart, the digestive tract, the hepatic, and the renal organs, is entered upon; preparations of these structures preserved so as to be accessible to manipulation, and also microscopic specimens, being available for comparison with such descriptions as the ordinary works on Anthropotomy give in their chapters on Visceral Anatomy.'

As soon as the student has obtained a sufficient familiarity with these natural objects, he enters upon the study of a series of dissections prepared and designed so as to introduce him to a natural classification of the Animal Kingdom based upon the variations in relative arrangement which those organs and systems of organs exhibit from one class to another. He is, in the first instance, provided with specimens already dissected, and available, as in the case of the various organs already specified, for manipulation; and, subsequently, he proceeds to the dissection of similar specimens for himself, reference being in each case made to

printed accounts of such dissections. The details given in these printed accounts are to be verified, and then reproduced by the student in his own dissection by the aid of reference to a series of preparations known as the 'Zoological Series with Dissections in illustration.' This series consists of fifty preparations, and is, for convenience in the way of reference, provided in duplicate within the precincts of the department. After going through

this amount of work, the Biological student proceeds to study the Anatomical and Physiological series arranged in the Court and in other parts of the Museum. A very large part of these series is arranged upon a Physiological rather than upon a Morphological basis, and corresponding, as it does, in general outline with the Physiological series in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, it secures to the student the advantage of easy and systematized reference to the valuable volumes of the Physiological Catalogue of that Museum arranged by Professor Owen. In other series again, as in the case already referred to of the Zoological Series with Dissections in illustration,' regard is held primarily to the Morphological aspects of Biology. Amongst these series may be mentioned those illustrating the variations presented to us by the Teeth, by the Brain, and by the Skeleton in different divisions and subdivisions of the Subkingdom Vertebrata.

Catechetical instruction in Microscopical Anatomy is given to the student whilst carrying on the above-mentioned lines of work, and he has from time to time opportunities for making himself familiar by means of demonstrations with the rudiments of Animal Chemistry.

Lectures of a catechetical kind are given upon all the subjects recognized in the Biological Department of the School of Natural Science; and at the conclusion of each Term, as also at other times, papers of questions to be answered in writing are given to students.

The Anatomical collections have placed in relation with them manuscript catalogues, which explain their uses and applications; and in these catalogues references are constantly given to printed works treating in greater detail of the subjects which the specimens illustrate. The Radcliffe Trustees, by an arrangement which greatly increases the value of these collections, allow the

scientific works contained in their now very extensive library` to be brought into the Court where the larger part of these collections are arranged; so that the student can compare the actual natural objects with descriptions and explanations of them given by the scientific writers of all civilized nations.

The courses of lectures and of practical instruction are open to the student during Term-time on the payment (except in the cases of members of Christ Church and Merton College) of a terminal fee of £2 25.

There are two Demonstrators of Anatomy.

9. DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE.

Although the University has not at present undertaken to develop teaching in the technical applications of the Natural Sciences, and has not therefore a practical Medical School, any more than a practical Engineering School, yet it has been thought desirable to form in the Museum for certain purposes a Medical Department, as being necessary for a philosophical view of Biological Science. These purposes include generally the study-(1) of the ways in which the healthy structures of living beings become unhealthy; (2) of the modes of preventing the tendencies to ill-health, or death; (3) of the principles by which injuries may be repaired; and (4) of the several ways in which life is brought to a close.

The arrangements for these ends, though for the reason just stated much smaller than those of a Medical School, include

1. A small Sanitary Laboratory.-In this are made Sanitary Analyses for either public or for private purposes, at an average fee of £1 15. for a Qualitative, and £2 25. for a Quantitative analysis. Pupils are taken in this department. Demonstrations on Adulterated Food are given, and the chemical and microscopic methods for detecting the adulterations explained by the Professor or his Deputy.

2. A Pathological Museum, consisting of about 1000 specimens, and comprising the collection of Schroeder van der Kolk, that of the present Regius Professor, and others.

This is divided into two parts, arranged according to the divisions of the Hunterian Collection. The first part illustrates

the general forms of disease, and the second local diseases. It aims at showing these processes in animals generally as well as in man, and so is to be counted a continuation of the Biological series in the Court, also arranged on the plan of the Hunterian Collection.

The collection is catalogued, and may be studied by leave of the Professor. Pathological Books are to be found either in the Pathological Museum itself, or in the Radcliffe Library.

3. An Instrument Room.—In this apartment are being collected instruments of Diagnosis, Ophthalmoscopes, Optometers, the Phacoidoscope, Laryngoscopes, Sphygmographs, &c.

The room can be darkened for the use of these reflecting instruments. Members of the University desiring to use them are to apply to the Professor or to his Deputy.

In this room the Radcliffe Artist may be consulted as to instruction in Anatomical Drawing, Natural History Drawing, or the mode of drawing Diagrams.

4. The Office of the Regius Professor of Medicine.-The Regius Professor attends on certain days, which are announced in the University Gazette, to advise members of the University on subjects connected with the department.

5. From time to time the Professor takes members of the University to inspect localities in town or country, for instruction in Sanitary defects and remedies. He also, in his capacity of Clinical Professor, gives Clinical Instruction at the Infirmary on two days in the week during Term..

§ 6. The Botanic Garden.

The Botanic Garden, formerly known as the Physic Garden, was founded in the year 1622 through the munificence of Lord Danvers. It was the first piece of public ground set apart in this country for the scientific study of plants.

The material now existing in it for instruction or research may be described under the three following heads:

1. The Garden, containing collections of living plants.

2. The Herbarium, containing collections of dried plants. 3. The Museum, containing collections of such parts of plants as cannot conveniently be incorporated with the Herbarium.

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