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



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



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



IRISH NATURALIST, VOL. X1X'. PLAT S.

FIRST Two WALL CASES OF THiE

L-OCAL FAUNA SECTION, PATTERSON MUSEUMI.

To Jace page 75]



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



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.



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



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.



a new irish museum: the patterson museum, people's palace, belfast

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