332 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



(233.) From such an example of scientific pa- 

 tronage, emanating from a company of merchants, 

 we turn with sorrow and regret to the next subject 

 of discussion, namely, the support which zoology 

 receives from the government of this country, — the 

 most powerful and wealthy nation in Europe, whose 

 pecuniary resources surpass all others, and whose 

 profuse liberality, on almost all other subjects but 

 those connected with science and art, nearly amounts 

 to prodigality. We might, indeed, spare ourselves 

 and our readers the humiliating detail which our 

 present object imperatively demands, by summing 

 up the whole with the confession that, excepting the 

 British Museum, there is no national institution of 

 any sort or kind for the teaching of natural history, 

 for its prosecution or encouragement, or for the 

 reward of its professors. Whether this indifference, 

 or rather apathy, to a science so intimately con- 

 nected as this is with religion, is expedient or 

 politic, may be worth enquiry; but that it is un- 

 exampled among civilised nations, is a fact too 

 notorious to be questioned. Before, however, we 

 look further into this evil, let us take a general 

 survey of the institution which forms the solitary 

 exception above alluded to. 



(234.) The British Museum is the repository 

 for the national collections of books, manuscripts, 

 sculptures, and natural productions. It owes its 

 foundation to the purchase, made by parliament, of 

 the entire collections of Sir Hans Sloane, President 

 of the Royal Society for many years, and one of 

 the most eminent physicians and patrons of learning 

 of the age in which he lived. There is a curious 



