Edward had now been observing and collecting for about eight years. His accumulations of natural objects had therefore become considerable. By the year 1845, he had preserved nearly 2000 specimens of living creatures found in the neighbourhood of Banff. About half the number consisted of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, crustacea, starfish, zoophytes, corals, sponges, and other objects. He had also collected an immense number of plants. Some of the specimens were in bottles, but the greater number were in cases with glass fronts. He could not afford to have the cases made by a joiner; so he made the whole of them himself, with the aid of his shoemaker’s knife, a saw, and a hammer.

In order to make the smaller cases, he bought boxes from the merchants; and in breaking them up, he usually got as many nails as would serve to nail the new cases together. To make the larger cases, he bought wood from the carpenters. He papered the insides, painted the outsides, and glazed the whole of the cases himself. The thirty cases containing his shells were partitioned off,—each species having a compartment for itself. This was a difficult piece of work, but he got through it successfully. There were about 300 cases in all.

His house was now filled with stuffed birds, quadrupeds, insects, and such like objects. Every room was packed with the cases containing them, his shoemaking apartment included. What was he to do with them? He had, indeed, long had a project in his mind. In the first place, he wished to abandon the shoemaking trade. He was desirous of raising money for the purpose of commencing some other business. He also wished to have some funds in hand, in order to prosecute his investigations in Natural History. How could he raise the requisite money? He thought that he might raise a part of it by exhibiting his collection. Hence his large accumulation of specimens, and his large collection of cases.

EXHIBITS THE COLLECTION.

There was a feeing fair held twice a year at Banff, on market days,—called Brandon Fair. Young lads and lasses came in from the country to be feed, and farmers and their wives came in to fee them. It was a great day for Banff. All the shows and wild beasts, the dwarfs and giants, the spotted ladies and pig-faced women, accompanied by drums and trumpets, converged upon Banff on that day. The town, ordinarily so quiet, became filled with people—partly to hire and be hired, and partly to see what was to be seen. The principal streets were kept in a continual row until the fair was over.

Edward gave an exhibition of his collection at the Brandon Fair in May 1845. He took a room in the Trades’ Hall, and invited the public to inspect his “Collection of preserved Animals, comprising Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Insects, Shells, Eggs, and other curiosities.”

The local paper called the public attention to the rare and beautiful objects contained in Edward’s Collection—“the results of his own untiring efforts and ingenuity, without aid, and under discouraging circumstances which few would have successfully encountered. . . . Our young friends especially should visit the Collection: it will both amuse and instruct them. They will learn more from seeing them in half-an-hour, than from reading about them in half-a-year.”

Edward took the inhabitants by surprise. They had never been able to understand him. His wanderings by night had been matter of great wonderment to them. The exhibition fully explained the reason of his frequent disappearances. When his public announcement was advertised, some of the better classes called at his house in Wright’s Close, to ascertain if it was true. True, indeed! He pointed to the cases of stuffed birds and animals which nearly filled his house. Then the question came—“What made you a Naturalist?”

NATURALISTS NOT “MADE.”

“When I was first asked this question,” says he, “I was completely dumfoundered! I had no notion that a Naturalist could be made. What! make a Naturalist as you would make a tradesman! I could not believe that people became Naturalists for pecuniary motives. My answer to those who put the question invariably was, and still is, I cannot tell. I never knew of any external circumstance that had anything to do with engendering, in my mind, the never-ceasing love which I entertained for the universal works of the Almighty; so that the real cause must be looked for elsewhere.”