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LXIII. Notices 7-especti7ig New Booh. 

 A History and Descrijition of the French Museum of Natu- 

 ral Historij. 2 vols. 8vo, published at Paris, and sold by 

 George Sowerby, 33 King Street, Covent Garden. 



THIS work has just been published in Paris under the im- 

 mediate auspices, and indeed by the direction, of the learned 

 professors of tliat noble establishment. At a time when the 

 singular management of the British Museum has been so com- 

 pletely brought under the public notice, our continental neigh- 

 bours may well feel proud at the appearance of this work. It 

 commences with a history of the Jardin die Roi, which we 

 could wish that every person intrusted with the government 

 of a National Museum would carefully peruse. The reader 

 indeed will see that, notwithstanding the proud edifice France 

 has now raised for the study of Natural History, the Jardin 

 du Roi in its early days had many difficulties to contend with, 

 owing to the trustees, superintendants, or governing persons, 

 whatever may have been their titles, being men better ac- 

 quainted with the intrigues of courts than with the beauties of 

 nature. He will see, that while some who were indifferent to 

 the science, or had affairs of greater importance to attend to, 

 left the government of the infant institution to economical 

 persons not only ignorant of Natural History, but who were 

 jealous of its progress merely because they did not understand 

 it, public property never failed to suffer, and great expense in 

 the end to be incurred by the nation. He will not perhaps 

 find magnificent bequests to the French nation to have been 

 dispei'sed and sold in opposition to the manifest intentions of 

 the generous and patriotic donors ; still less will he find such 

 sales to have taken place merely because the trustees of the 

 National Museum knew little and cared less * about the value 

 of what was placed under their protection. Although indeed 

 in this respect the interest of the tale may be a little deficient, 

 we may safely say that the naturalist will derive much amuse- 

 ment from watching the rise and progress of the Jardin des 

 Plantes, the history of which is intimately interwoven with that 

 of some of the most celebrated men of France, such as Tourne- 

 fort, Jussieu, Buffon, Vicq d'Azir, Fouixroy, &c. The general 

 reader also cannot but receive pleasure from the description 

 of the contents of the Museum, which is interspersed with in- 



* As a means of infusing a portion of science into the direction of the 

 British Museum, we have heard it suggested that the Presidents of the An- 

 tiquarian, Linnaean, and Geological Societies, or some sufficient representa- 

 tives of the great scientific bodies of the Metropolis, should be added to the 

 number of Trustees. 



terestinf"- 



