1894. ADDRESS TO THE MUSEUMS' ASSOCIATION. 37 



In 1880 the question of the site for the new Museum was under 

 discussion, and the opposition to the proposed site on Leinster 

 Lawn, principally by certain inhabitants of Merrion Square, led 

 to its abandonment in favour of the other (west) side of Leinster 

 House. 



In this year the Ethnographical collection, to which some 

 important additions had then recently been made, was taken in 

 charge by the Art Department of the Museum, and was re-arranged 

 and labelled. Already it formed a nucleus around which the 

 considerable acquisitions of the last fourteen years have since l^een 

 added, and it now constitutes a very important section in the new 

 Museum building. 



In the year 1881 a number of architects submitted designs for 

 the new Museum, and some of them were selected to make detailed 

 plans for the final competition. 



In this year Dr. Alexander Carte died. For thirty years he had 

 controlled the Natural History Museum. Among other original 

 devices of his for the better exhibition of specimens was the beautiful 

 arrangement of the birds, which is still in operation as he left it. It 

 possesses manifold advantages over the shelf system, adopted in 

 most Museums. He was succeeded by Mr. A. G. More, his senior 

 assistant. 



In 1882 unavoidable delays arose to postpone the first steps being 

 taken towards the erection of the new Museum ; but by the close 

 of the year the temporary gallery for the reception of the Art 

 collections was nearly completed, and it was opened to the public 

 about six months later. 



Among other acquisitions which were received was an important 

 addition to the Ethnographical collection, consisting of a portion of 

 Captain Cook's original collection of South Sea Island weapons, 

 dresses, etc., presented by Trinity College. A valuable donation of 

 Sevres China was also received from the French Government. In 

 the Natural History Department the invertebrate collections were re- 

 arranged, and their educational value increased by the addition of 

 glass (Blatschka) models, geological charts, etc. 



In May, 1883, the Director of the Museum, Dr. William Edward 

 Steele, died, having devoted nearly six years of anxious and untiring 

 service to the foundation of the Art Department of the Museum, and 

 to the many intricate questions connected with the transfer from the 

 Society to the Science and Art Department, of the Museum and the 

 other institutions with which the office of the Director is connected. 



In September of the same year, being at the time Professor of 

 Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Dublin, I was appointed 

 to succeed the late Director, and here, perhaps, I may be permitted 

 to refer to a fragment of personal biography. For reasons I need not 

 enter into, the position of Director of the Museum, with the numerous 

 extra responsibilities connected with three other institutions, namely, 



