28 NATURAL SCIENCE. 



Jan., 



Recognising the importance of a proper appreciation of science 

 in a country so richly endowed with palaeontological treasures, 

 Dr. Moreno lost no time in impressing on the Provincial Government 

 the necessity of providing funds for the erection of a Museum which 

 should be worthy of the palatial surroundings of the enchanted city ; 

 and, fortunately for science, his efforts were ere long crowned with 

 the success they so well merited. Only two years after the inaugura- 

 tion of La Plata as a city — namely, in 1884 — Government sanction 

 was obtained for the erection of the Museum ; and in 1889 the 

 imposing edifice represented in our first illustration was practically 

 complete. The building, we may state, is situated on the Ensenada, 

 or river-side of the outskirts of the city, standing in a park, amid 

 splendid avenues and groves of tall eucalyptus and other trees, which, 

 in the course of a few years, will form a veritable forest. Since our 

 excellent illustration (for which, like the others in this notice, we are 

 indebted to Dr. Moreno) gives such a good general idea of the 

 external appearance of the Museum, it will not be necessary to say 

 much on this point ; neither shall we spend much time on a description 

 of the interior. We may mention, however, that after passing under 

 the well-proportioned Grecian portico, the visitor, on entering the 

 building, finds himself in a rotunda, with a gallery and roof supported 

 by tv;o tiers of iron columns, and lighted above by a large skylight ; 

 its walls being decorated with frescoes representing the scenery, native 

 life, and some of the wonderful extinct mammals of Argentina. From 

 this rotunda, which occupies the centre of the front of the building, 

 there diverge, on the ground floor, two galleries on opposite sides, 

 which, after running a straight course for some distance, curve round 

 so as to form a pair of apses at the two extremities, which are again 

 connected by a straight gallery running parallel to the one in front, 

 both back and front galleries being connected by cross-galleries and 

 chambers, so that the whole edifice forms a continuous block of 

 building. The upper floor, which does not extend over the two 

 terminal apses, contains the apartments of the Director and the 

 Secretariat, together with the library, the art-gallery, and some 

 portions of the ethnological section. On the ground-floor the central 

 chambers are, in the main, devoted to anthropology and ethnology ; 

 while the galleries on the right of the entrance contain the geological 

 and palaeontological exhibits, and those on the opposite side the 

 animals of the present epoch. The central hall, on the further side 

 of the building opposite the rotunda, is, however, consecrated to the 

 mastodons and sub-fossil cetaceans. 



We might, of course, elaborate to any extent the description of 

 the Museum itself, but since this is a matter of comparatively small 

 interest, we proceed at once to the consideration of its contents. 

 And here we may state at the outset that the most marvellous thing 

 connected with this wonderful institution is the circumstance that 

 nearly the whole of its unrivalled treasures have been collected within 



