352 Minerals. 



continuous record of the growth of the Collection since that year. 

 In the case of the Allan-Greg collection (1860), all the specimens 

 had been numbered and catalogued before the collection became 

 the property of the Trustees, and their entry in the General 

 Register was unnecessary. 



Further, all the mineral specimens acquired before 1837 have 

 likewise been numbered and entered in the General Register, 

 unless they bear affixed labels referring to special registers or 

 other documents preserved in the Department for instance, the 

 Sloane, Cracherode, Durazzo, Beroldingen, Heuland, or Aylesford 

 Catalogues. 



The General Register of specimens preserved in the Mineral 

 Department extended on December 31, 1903, to seventeen 

 volumes of foolscap size with 86,807 entries ; but of these the 

 earlier entries (126,480) correspond, not solely to minerals, but 

 also to palseontological specimens : after the death of Mr. Konig, 

 in 1851, specimens belonging to the latter kind were entered in a 

 special register, and in 1857 assigned to a special department. 

 The number of entries in the General Register is only a rough 

 approximation to the number of specimens acquired for the 

 Museum ; for in some cases two or more specimens belonging to 

 the same species or group have been entered under a single 

 number, especially where the material is fragmental. Indeed, 

 where there is little or no individuality, as is generally the case 

 with minerals, the number assigned to the quantity of specimens 

 may be without real importance : for example, a material may be 

 studded with thousands of crystals and yet, being in one piece, it 

 is reckoned as a single specimen ; if it be diminished in size by 

 the removal of the material connecting the crystals, it may 

 become, not part of a specimen, but thousands of specimens, each 

 more or less different from the others. 



The exhibited specimens (1 903) are placed on upwards of 1 6,000 

 separate trays, each carrying one or more specimens ; further, 

 there are 2400 exhibited specimens for which no trays are 

 required. The total number of drawers, almost all containing 

 specimens, is 4276. 



Affixed to every specimen in the Mineral Department is a 

 number referring in most cases to the above-mentioned " General 

 Register," and in the remaining cases to one or other of a set of 

 Lists or Catalogues. Every specimen, exhibited or unexhibited, 

 is provided with a printed or manuscript label. 



