A New Irish Museum: The Patterson Museum, People's Palace, Belfast
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Transcript of A New Irish Museum: The Patterson Museum, People's Palace, Belfast
A New Irish Museum: The Patterson Museum, People's Palace, BelfastAuthor(s): Robert WelchSource: The Irish Naturalist, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Apr., 1905), pp. 73-78Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25522704 .
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IRIS1 si N 1 xr1 1AU AT )L. X I V . | LATE 2.
. '. : : . , '?. N. .':.... THE PATTERSON MUUSEUM, PEOPLE'S PALACE, BELFAST.
To face rage 731
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April, I905. The Irish Naturalist. 73
A NEW IRISH MUSEUM:
THE PATTERSON MUSEUNM, PROPLEIS PALACE, BELFAST.
BY ROBERT WELCH AND OTHERS.
[Plates 2-3.]
ON 6th December, i9o4, their Excellencies the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of Dudley visited Belfast, in order that the latter might open a new Belfast institution-the People's
Palace. There is a special Cripples' Home attached, a depart ment for the care of children during their parents' working
hours; and Great and Minor halls will provide, by means of illustrated lectures, concerts, &c., wholesome entertainment for the young folk of the district in the winter evenings,
especially on Saturday nights. The Palace buildings form
two quadrangles, the Great hall dividing the enclosed area.
They are situated in a densely populated working-class district, and will adjoin one of the proposed Carnegie Branch Libraries of the city. In such a place one would hardly expect to find a Natural History Museum, but there is one, specially designed and fitted for the purpose-surely a sign of increasing interest in the study of nature. This Museum has been named "The
Patterson Museum " after the late Robert Patterson, F.R.S.,
who, over fifty years ago, did so much to popularise natural science in Belfast. It includes a fine lofty room, to which the public are admitted free; this is 75 feet long by 25 feet wide,
with an open-timbered roof, as shown in Plate 2; and, in
addition, a curator's store and workroom at one end: both rooms are thoroughly heated by hot water. The Museum
portion is particularly well lighted, having ample windows along the north side, as well as continuous roof-lights. The
wall, central, and window cases are made of well seasoned
pine, stained a mahogany colour. A simple system of
tightening the doors and lids with long screws renders them A
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74 The Irish Naturalist. April,
as dust-proof as many in much more pretentious museunms.
The main collections-mammals, birds, &c -are arranged
along the blank wall of the room, while special subjects are
illustrated in sloping cases at each windcow and show-tables
down the centre of the room
The task of planning, as well as collecting for, and filling
the cases was entrusted by the managers of the Palace to Mr.
Robert Patterson, F.Z.S., M.R.I.A., who accepted the post of
Hon. Curator. He was assisted by a staff of willing helpers
from the local Field Club, who, as far as possible, undertook
some branch they had specially studied. The work was entirely
a labour of love, and the material obtained was generously
given by a large number of friends. Space prohibits
maore than the mention of the more important donations:
The Department of Agriculture, per Dr. Scharff, National
Museum, Dublin, I50 animals, mounted or preserved in
spirits; Sir R, Lloyd Patterson, 47 mounted birds and mammals;
Messrs, Williams & Son) Dublin, 25 mounted birds; Robert Patterson, 5a mounted birds, 3 mammals, 28 nests, foreign
shells, &c.; D. C. Campbell, Indian butterflies, life-history and mimicry cases; Rev. W. F. Johnson, Irish beetles and butter
flies; W. A. Green, large collection of Irish land and fresh
water shells; R. Welch, shells, shell deposits and photographs; Messrs. C. E. Wnrght, N. H. Foster, W. Keatley, J. Cottney,
and Miss C. Patterson, large collections of birds' eggs; George
Donaldson, North American butterflies; Ven. Archdeacon
Bristow, a cabinet of eggs, butterflies, and beetles, &c.; P. F.
Guibransen, a herbarium of over 8co local plants, &c. 3'. W.
Taylor, Leeds, collection of foreign land and fresh-water shells; W. Gray, ancient Irish implements, local rocks, &c.
All the specimens are donations, not one has been purchased
so far, some diagrams on the walls representing the entire
amount spent by the Hon. Curator. The collections could
not be-so early in the history of the Museum-equally repre
sentative; there are, however, several features in the display
of them that are admirable, and that promise well for the
future. In the first place the labelling is more extensive than
is usual in provincial museums. An effort has been made to
give some account of every specimen in plain English. The
lgbels (nearly 8oo in number) are printed, or typewritten in
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IRISH NATURALIST, VOL. X1X'. PLAT S.
FIRST Two WALL CASES OF THiE
L-OCAL FAUNA SECTION, PATTERSON MUSEUMI.
To Jace page 75]
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I90$ WEICH.-A New friskh fuseum.
permanenit ink, and are placed so as to be easily read. (See
Plate 3.) Another point that deserves mention is the fact that the pv-eparations are largely local. Prominence is giveY to Irish collections , and while specimens from other countrie* are used to illustrate classification or peculiarities of speci4 interest, they are carefully distinguished from the Irish typps
A short statement as to the principal contents of the Museuzp
may be of interest.
I -ZOOLOGICAL EXHIBITS.
These form the greater part of the collections. the various classes of invertebrates are illustrated by a few speci mens, many local forms being lent by the Ulster F-isheri?s Association, while the vertebrates, and especialty the birds, are more fully exemplified.
One window-case is devoted to the Irish land and fresh. water mollusca. The shells are all mounted in glass-to'ppe6 boxes, and carefully named. They are not classified in theii
natural order, but in groups, such as sand-hill and matitime
species, shells of the marsh, of lakes and rivers, of ponds and ditches, &c., and each group has a photograph ot *
typical habitat. A few of the tiny species, such as Verti,go,j have enlarged photographs mounted in the boxes witfifthe actual shells; some of the slugs are represented by drawings. English species which do not occur in Ireland, at present find a place also in the case, with such exhibits as a picture of a
' thrush altar," showing the bird breaking a Helix nemoralis, some coloured drawings of Helices in their natural habitats
feeding, &c., &c. A second case contains such miscellanieotus exhibits as shell money, shells as ornaments, curious &rd
valuable shells, &c., these being accompanied, also, wlth
suitable photographs. There are several cases of insects, arranlged in centralidks't
cases by J. N. Milnie, ulainly lepidoptera and coleoptera. The local butterflies and moths are fairly well shown, and Will be
added to: the beetles are carefully set and arranged. 'Forti,gn insects are represented by collections from Iudia and Ndrth
and South America, and the Donaldson collection of %IAXh
Americga lepidoptera is set in, a way rarely seen in tW1 A 2
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76 The Irsh Naturalist. April,
country. A few cases show protective mimicry, and there are
others showing life histories. Additions to these are now in preparation, and will be of local interest as far as possible.
Tlhe cases for the above, as well as many others, were made
by H. L. Orr.
Of the 290 species of birds admitted to the Irish list, the
Museum contains representatives of 98, but, as in many cases
both male and female, and adult and immature, are shown, the collection of Irish birds is wonderfully large. Each bird
has attached to it a label, giving its English name as well as
its scientific one, and is accompanied by a mnp showing the winter and summer distribution of the species, and a note
specially describing its occurrence in Ireland. As would neturally be expected in a gift-collection, the commoner Irish birds are entirely absent, and rarer birds are 'well represented. Thuls we find the Thrush, Robin, Sparrow, Rook, Wren, &c., are missing; while, on the other hand, there are good
examples of Tree Sparrow, Chough, Great Spotted Wood pecker, Roller, Snowy Owl, Hen-Harrier, Common Buzzard (2), Golden Eagle, Peregrine (3), Goosander, Smew (2), Turtle
Dove, and Little Auk (2). As well as the birds in the wall
cases, there are several small well-mounted cases displayed in
different parts of the room, and in the foreign section there are iiboUt 20 birds to be seen, each with its descriptive label.
The cabinet devoted to the eggs of birds which breed, or
have bred, during the last century in Ireland, contains eggs
of zoo species out of a total of 134 known, while 34 spaces
have been left labelled for those which have yet to be pre
sented. The eggs are not arranged in clutches, but for each
species a separate tray is provided, bearing a label with the
scentific and common name, as well as a note of the usual
number of eggs in a clutch. The remaining drawers contain
the eggs of 26 species of birds not known to breed in Ireland,
labelled in a similar way. Of Irish birds' nests, 34 are shown
in one of the window-cases, each mounted in a glass-topped
box, and all but two containing eggs.
Twelve species of Irish land mammals are shown, the
rarest being a Marten. There are a few of the more striking
foreign mammals, such as Sloth and Kangaroo, while the
Qarnivora are represented by a Wolf, Jackal, and Bear.
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i9oS. WEZCH. -A New Irish Museum. 71
II.-BOTANICAL EXHI:BITS.
The Botanical Section (arranged by Miss Helen Kidd), is
not as co'nplete as most of the others, but it is hoped-with
the assistance and co-operation of local botanists-that it will
before long possess a good representative collection of the
different divisions of the vegetable kingdom. The collection
presented by Mr. Gulbransen is of .special interest, and con
sists of about 8oo mounted specimenss; in addition to this he
also gave a large number of flowers, dried by his own method,
which preserves their natural form and colour. Most of the
latter are exhibited in the case, which also contains some very
attractive illustrationis of nature's methods of enabling certain
plants to secure the distribution of their seeds, and several
examples showing types of wind and insect fertilized flowers.
Carnivorous plants are represented by some pitcher plants
and our own common Sundew; the parasitic group by thte
Dodder and Toothwort. Various specimens of seed vessels
and fruits are shown-teazel and poppy-heads, poniegranates,
cocoa-nuts, &c., and two models, lent by Queen's College,
show the different parts of the flower-heads of Dandelion and
Daisy on a much enlarged scale. On the wall is a series
of botanical photographs lent by R. Welch; and several cases
showing the life-history of various trees, and specimeEns of
plants poisonous to cattle, have been lent by the Musewt,
Dublin. Two wall-frames presented by Canon Lett, show
peat-forming Sphagnums and illustrations of the variots
mosses obtained at different altitudes.
inI.-GOzOcGICAL EXHIBITS.
Two cases were allotted to the geological collection in the
Museum, one of which has been used for palaeontology, the
other for the minerals atnd rocks. As one would expect, a
very variable set of specimens was sent in, contribtuted by
many donors, and naturally a great nutmber of the common
fossils and minerals of the district are duplicated. With one
or two notable exceptions, the specimens sent were unnamed
and without locality, a fact which greatly added to the diffi
culty in arranging them. The fossils are arranged in their
natural orders, as it was founld inmpossible to arrange them
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Is 7he Irish Nat utalist. April,
wth any success stratigraphically. A descriptive label has
lieth typed for each of the orders, and also for most of the
&bEsls;showing, where possible, their nearest living commonly kho*n relatives. One shelf has been devoted to fossil plants.
The minerals were divided into rock-forming and other
minerals, the former being followed on the shelves by the
rcks themselves. Here again descriptive labels and defini tibns of minerals, rocks, &c., with their classification have
liea typed, and where any mineral or rock is used commer cially this has been noted, for instance, the making of rock
trystai into spectacles. Specimens of the common ores are
ulsd represented. What vacant spaces were left on the walls of the case, and on the doors where they did not interfere with
the view, were filled with local and other geological photo
graphs, mainly belonging to the British Association series.
This'section was arranged by Miss M. K. Andrews and G. C.
Gough, assisted by R. Bell.
IV.-ETHNo0oGICAI1 EX[HIBITS.
Two window-cases are devoted to stone implements and
kitchenimidden finds connected with primitive man in
Ireland; flints from various local settlements, bones from
Bnndoran, Dundrum Bay, and Sydenham, contributed and
arranged by Mr. W. H. Patterson; he also gave shells of
apeeies used for food from the shell mounds or kitchen
middens at Bundoran. Pictures, as in other sections, illustrate
the above in a popular manner. Models of a cromlech,
souterrain, dun, &c., made and lent by Mr. W. Gray, occupy
one table, while a window case contains many foreign exhibits
of interest.
A few exhibits in all the sections nave been lent, such as
some very fine cases from the circulation branch of the
Museum in Dublin, heads of cattle bred by the King, lent by $awers, Ltd., &c, &c., but as before stated, the great majority of the specimens are permanent gifts. A complete list of the
donors will be given in a special report to be issuied by the
Qotnmittee of the People's Palace.
Belfast.
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