198 Geology. 



History Museum at South Kensington then afforded the much- 

 needed space for expansion. In 1881 Mr. Robert Etheridge 

 was transferred from the Geological Survey to fill the newly- 

 established office of Assistant-Keeper of Geology, and the staff 

 assumed its present number, namely, a Keeper, an Assistant- 

 Keeper, and four Assistants. Mr. Etheridge retired in 1891 

 after accomplishing much work on the collection of British fossil 

 Invertebrata, and was succeeded as Assistant-Keeper by Dr. 

 Arthur Smith Woodward, who had been an Assistant since 

 1882, occupied with the arrangement of the fossil Vertebrata in 

 general and the cataloguing of the fossil Fishes in particular. 

 Dr. Henry Woodward retained the Keepership until the end of 

 the century, installed the collection in the new Galleries, and 

 arranged for the publication of a long series of Catalogues, 

 especially of the fossil Vertebrata, which added greatly to the 

 value and usefulness of the Department. 



Naturally the collection of fossils increased slowly at first, 

 but during recent years its growth has amply kept pace with 

 the more rapid progress of discovery and research. The first 

 important addition to the original Sloane cabinet was Brander's 

 collection of Upper Eocene shells from the Hampshire cliffs 

 received in 1766. In 1813 it was enriched by the fossil man 

 from Guadaloupe, which was deemed one of the most startling 

 discoveries of the time. In 1818 to 1822 Cuvier made some 

 donations to illustrate his work on fossil bones, which was then 

 attracting universal attention. Mantell similarly presented 

 specimens to explain his pioneer discoveries in Sussex, until his 

 whole Museum was purchased by the Trustees in 1839. The 

 unexpected discovery of a hyaena den at Kirkdale, Yorkshire, 

 made classic by Buckland's description, was illustrated imme- 

 diately by a donation from Messrs. Salmond and Gibson in 1823. 

 The equally remarkable discoveries of marine reptiles in the Lias 

 of Dorsetshire and Somersetshire were to be best appreciated 

 by a study of the collection of Thomas Hawkins, which was 

 purchased in 1834 and 1840. An Irish Deer was first mounted 

 in the Museum in 1844, and the American Mastodon was 

 acquired in the same year. At this period, indeed, the exhibition 

 of extinct animals was beginning to be imposing, as may be 

 realised by a reference to the early popular writings of Mantell. 



At the same time, stratigraphical geology and fossil Inverte- 

 brata were by no means neglected. In 1816 the Museum was 

 fortunate enough to obtain the original collection of fossils made 



