212 RECORDS OF THK AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



From a Curatorial point of view, Dr. Ramsay's ideas were 

 for some years certainly on the conservative side. One who 

 knew liim welU'' about this time wi'ote me as follows : — 



" I came into Museum matters when they were in a transitional 

 stage, and I rememVjer the old show case heresies, i** and did 

 do something to put them away. Our friend, however, was 

 quite conservative, and the old wooden show cases, with plenty 

 of wood, often varnished, showing the wood in natural effect 

 (indeed, at one Exhibition the woods of which the cases were 

 made were advertised), the crown and sheet glass, the written 

 labels, and the old methods of mounting and classification 

 quite satisfied him. I remember in the early days how 

 grieved he was at the reforms in Museum technique, which 

 were begun by Haswell and developed to such a notable extent 

 by yourself." 



A very marked change, however, was visible as time went 

 on after Dr. flamsay's return from the Fislieries' Exhibition iu 

 methods adopted here. 



Where the Curator shone was amongst his birds a.nd bird- 

 skins, the admiration of ail Foreign visitoi's, and these will 

 always stand as a nKjnument to Ramsay's naine. During his 

 period of office approximately no less than 17,600 odd skins were 

 added to the National Collection, either by collection, by way of 

 purchase, or as gifts, and the skin-series in particular was 

 always with him an object of great solicitude. The series 

 known as " The Dobroyd Collection," made in their younger 

 days by the Ramsay Brothers, now finds a safe repository here. 



He was tlie author of numei'ous papers, too many indeed to 

 mention, but a few of the more important will be noticed 

 shortly. Readers interested will find a list of those published 

 in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.Wales" 

 between the years 1875 to 1885 in a supplementary volume of 

 the series ;^^ these number one hundred and seven, to say 

 nothing of numerous " Exhibitions." A more complete list 

 can be perused in the three volumes of the " Catalogue of 

 Scientific Papers, compiled by the Royal Society of London," 

 containing the letter R. The list in question gives a total of 

 one hundred and twenty papers, but even this cannot represent 

 a complete record of his writings. 



17 J. H. Maiden. 



1** And so do I ; those of the North Wing had been in position since 

 1856. 



1'' List of the Names of Contrilnitors to the First Series (Vols, i.-x.) 

 of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, from 

 1875 to 1885 (8vo., Sydney, 1S87.) 



