The Cuvierian Society of Cork was founded as a committee of the

Royal Cork Institution Royal Cork Institution was an Irish cultural institution in the city of Cork from 1803 to 1885. It consisted of a library of scientific works, a museum with old Irish manuscripts and stones with ogham inscriptions, and lecture and reading rooms. ...

in October 1835. The meetings were held on the first Wednesday of the Autumn and Winter months in the Library of the Royal Cork Institution. The Society was named after the noted French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

. In its early years, it concentrated on the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

but by the mid 19th century, it had evolved to be mainly

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. In 1845, The society published the "Contributions towards a fauna and Flora of the

County of Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are Mallow, Macroom, Mid ...

" of which the authors were J.R Harvey, J.D. Humphreys and T. Power. This was prepared for the meeting of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

held in Cork in 1843. The book contains a list of the officers of the Society for 1845. An occasional meeting is reported in the ''

Natural History Review ''The Natural History Review'' was a short-lived, quarterly journal devoted to natural history. It was published in Dublin and London between 1854 and 1865. The ''Natural History Review'' included the transactions of the Belfast Natural History ...

'' (1 229, 2 6).

Notable members

Among the members were: * Abraham Abell (1789–1851) *

George Boole George Boole ( ; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ireland. H ...

* Richard Caulfield (1823–1887) * Robert Day (1836–1914) *

Thomas Crofton Croker Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) was an Irish antiquary, best known for his ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'' (1825–1828), and who also showed considerable interest in Irish song and music ...

(1798–1854) * Thomas P. Lane * John Lindsay * Matthew Horgan * Richard Sainthill * John Willes *

John Windele John Windele (1801 – 28 August 1865) was an Irish antiquarian, particularly interested in early Irish literature and Ogham inscriptions. Life Windele was born in Cork in 1801. From early in life he was interested in antiquities, and in particula ...

(1801–1865) In the years of its existence its membership contained many professional people, academics, and antiquarians.

References

*
Contributions towards a fauna and flora of the county of Cork, read at the meeting of the British association held at Cork in the year 1843
{{authority control Learned societies of Ireland Organizations established in 1835 1835 establishments in Ireland