16 A NOTICE OF THE 



in its exterior design and finish. It extends forty-five feet on 

 Broad, and one hundred and fifteen feet on George Streets, with 

 an elevation of fifty feet. When built, in the year 1839, the 

 George Street front was eighty-five feet ; but, in 1847, the edifice 

 was enlarged to its present dimensions, to accommodate the 

 Wilson collection of birds. The hall is divided into a basement 

 and a single story above. 



It is accessible by two doors ; the George Street door opens to 

 the Library only ; the front or Broad Street entrance is used, 

 almost exclusively, by visitors to the Museum. 



The principal story consists of a single apartment or saloon. 

 It is one hundred and ten feet long, and forty-two feet wide, and 

 is lighted from the roof and the east and west extremities. On 

 the north and south sides are three galleries, which, with the 

 exception of the lowest, are supported by graceful iron columns ; 

 four ranges of vertical cases are placed against the walls, and a 

 range of foot-cases, at the outer edge of the second and third 

 galleries. Shallow cases are suspended horizontally on the rail 

 of the lowest or flying gallery. On the west side are three gal- 

 leries and four ranges of vertical cases. The floor is occupied 

 by three ranges of broad horizontal cases, extending the length 

 of the hall ; and each is surmounted in the centre line by a 

 series of vertical cases, two feet and a half high, glazed on both 

 sides. 



At the eastern, or Broad Street extremity, on each side, is a 

 strong vertical case, containing the skeletons of large fossil 

 saurians, imbedded in massive slabs of lias limestone. Above 

 the case on the south side are suspended the portraits of William 

 Maclure, William Hembel, and Samuel George Morton ; and 

 above that of the north side, those of Thomas Say, George Ord, 

 and Gerard Troost, all distinguished members, and, during many 

 years of their lives, official servants of the Institution. 



The basement is divided into five apartments ; two on the west, 

 two on the east, and one on the north of the hall, or vestibule 

 connected with the George Street entrance. 



The north-east basement room is nine feet by sixteen, and has 

 a gallery with two ranges of vertical cases on three sides of it. 



The east basement room is forty-one feet in length by forty 

 in breadth, with a gallery and two ranges of vertical cases on 

 four sides. Vertical cases form a central partition, which has a 



