Ixxvili PROCEEDINGS. 



museum, which grew until 1860 when it came to a standstill 

 owing to the dormant state into which that society had passed. 

 Its curators were: (1) Robert Lawson, 1831; (2) John Fair- 

 banks, about 1833; (3) John McDonald, 1835-46; (4) Andrew 

 Downs, 1846-47; and its last and best remembered curator, 

 Errol Boyd, (elected in May, 1847), a man, however, not 

 well fitted for the position by education or native talent- 

 The museum remained in Dalhousie College, but was going 

 to pieces from lack of care. 



The establishment of a provincial museum was first 

 proposed in 1862, when collections were being made for the 

 London International Exhibition. The Rev. J. Ambrose 

 and J. M. Jones had (about 1861) suggested to J. R. Willis 

 the propriety of taking some steps in the matter, and the 

 first-named gentleman had written a communication upon the 

 subject, to "tune" the newspapers, as he termed it. (Trans., 

 vii, 409, foot-note). Nothing resulted immediately from 

 this agitation. In 1865 Rev. D. Honeyman and J. R. Willis 

 presented a memorial to the government strongly advocating 

 the establishment of such an institution, and Willis appeared 

 before a committee which was to report upon the matter. 

 At the time of the preparation for an exhibit at the Paris 

 International Exhibition which opened in April 1867, Honey 

 man being secretary of the Nova Scotia Commission, the 

 project was vigorously pushed, with a successful issue. 

 In the beginning of 1866 Dr. Honeyman had proposed to 

 A. MacKinlay, trustee of the Mechanics' Institute, to take the 

 museum of that defunct institution, whose collections were 

 becoming ruinous, and to make it the beginning of a pro- 

 vincial museum. MacKinlay and the other trustee, James 

 Forman, agreed to the proposal. Honeyman then applied 

 to the Provincial Government for accommodation for a 

 museum in the new building (now the post office) which 

 was then in course of erection, and the government agreed to 

 set side a rou^n there for the purpose. The foundation of 



