300 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



explored by his orders, was expressly reserved. Experience has shown 

 thai this plan was practical and very advantageous to the public collec- 

 tions, and especially since it is generally known in Denmark that the 

 finder will obtain from the State (the agents of which examine and ap- 

 praise the articles found) not only a higher price than private persons 

 would pay, but that the care taken in collecting and preserving the ob- 

 jects will be recompensed by an honorarium added to the price of the 

 metal. Moreover, in recent times, England, in modifying the ancient 

 rigorous laws regarding treasure-trove, has taken very particularly into 

 account the Danish legislation and experience acquired in this matter. 



With the exception of penalties provided against the unlawful detainers 

 of danefce, the law had no provision concerning the bestowal of the ob- 

 jects, nor prohibition against selling them in the country or to foreigners. 



At the commencement of this century Professor li. Nyerup, with a 

 view to prevent the increasing destruction of national antiquities, com- 

 menced to make a special collection of them, and the people everywhere 

 having been invited to "lay their offerings upon the altar of their coun- 

 try,"' in order to exhibit the progress of civilization in Denmark from the 

 most ancient times to bur day, the government took the affair in hand, 

 and established a royal commission for the preservation of antiquities 

 (1807), charging them to look to the preservation of monuments as well 

 as of antiquities throughout the realm. This commission was replaced 

 in 1849 by a committee of two directors, the curator of the Museum of 

 Northern Antiquities, (M. Thomsen,) and the inspector of ancient monu- 

 ments, (M. Worsaae,) who were to act in concert in preserving the an- 

 tiquities of the kingdom in general. In 1866 the two offices were united, 

 together with the historic and ethnographic collections, under the control 

 of one man, Professor Worsaae, in order that the regulations concerning 

 the matter might be applied with more uniformity and efficiency. This 

 organization is still in existence. 



The first commission founded the collection which has become the 

 Royal Museum of Northern Antiquities, but it was only after 1815, and 

 under the direction of Thomsen, that it acquired any importance; when, 

 having been made a national institution, under the jurisdiction of the 

 minister of education, it figured annually in the financial report. Be- 

 sides its regular appropriation, it has, as before, a special fund for the 

 purchase of danefce, and may obtain, when necessary, large sums of money 

 to purchase collections, or to make extraordinary explorations. At rel- 

 atively little expense the museum has been elevated to great importance. 

 It has acquired successively the national antiquities preserved formerly 

 in the Cabinet of Arts, the Cabinet of Medals, and other collections; 

 moreover, it has been enriched by donations and by the results of dig- 

 gings in different parts of the kingdom, until it contains between 40,000 

 and 50,000 articles actually on exhibition in the Prince's palace. The 

 number of relics coming in from all parts of the kingdom is increasing 

 to such an extent that the idea of erecting a grand museum for the 



