ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS. 23. 



evidently those which afterwards figured in the Royal Society's 

 Museum. 



As soon as the Society thus acquired the nucleus of a collec- 

 tion, donations flowed in rapidly, including many objects of a 

 rather curious character. Sir Robert Moray, for instance, 

 presented " a bottle full of stag's tears" — reputed at that time 

 to possess much medicinal value. We have not, I believe, yet 

 procured for our Museum a similar specimen as a relic of the 

 red deer of Epping Forest. 



When Boyle died in 1691 it was found that he had 

 bequeathed to the Society his mineral collection, or as he 

 described it, " all my raw and unprepared minerals as ores, 

 marchasites, earths, stones (excepting jewels), etc., to be kept 

 among their collections of the like kind, as a testimony of my 

 great respect for the illustrious Society." 24 



But before the time of the Boyle bequest the collections had 

 grown so large that it was felt necessary to have a catalogue. 

 Accordingly, at a meeting on July 18, 1678, it was ordered " Tiiat 

 Dr. Grew be desired at his leasnre (sic) to make a Catalogue and 

 Description of the Rarities belonging to this Society." At that 

 time the Repository, as it was called, contained, we are told, 

 ?' several thousand specimens of zoological subjects and foreign 

 curiosities." Nehemiah Grew, who was commissioned to 

 compile the catalogue, was a very learned, versatile, and 

 industrious man, especially distinguished for his researches in 

 vegetable physiology. He seems to have completed his catalogue 

 within a year, though it was not published until 1681, when it 

 appeared as a folio of 388 pagss. with an anatomical supplement 

 of 43 pages. It was dedicated to Daniel Colwall, a wealthy 

 citizen, described as Founder of the Museum, and his portrait 

 forms the frontispiece.' 24 * 



The catalogue is in many places very quaint and amusing 

 reading, and offers an insight into the state of natural history 

 two centuries ago. In 1682 Grew was appointed to take charge 

 of the Repository under the title of " Praefectus Musei Regalis 

 Societatis," and he was requested to " make a short catalogue of 



24 The quotations are from A History of the Royal Society. By Charles Richard Weld. 

 London : 1848. 



24*Musceum Regalis Societatis, or a Catalogue and Description of the Natmal and Artificial 

 Rarities belonging to the Royal Society, and preserved at Gresham College. Made by 

 Nehemiah Grew, M.D. Whereunto Is Subjoined the Comparative Anatomy of Stomachs aiui 

 Guts. By the same Author. London : 1681. 



