THE GREAT MUSEUMS OF BRITAIN. 69 



Transactions various papers in different departments of 

 natural history. 



By his will, Sir Hans Sloan e bequeathed the whole of 

 his vast collections to the nation, upon the single condi- 

 tion that parliament should pay to his family the sum of 

 twenty thousand pounds. Large as this sum was, it was 

 much less than half of what the collections had cost 

 Sloane in actual money, and was believed to be ' not more 

 than the intrinsic value of the gold and silver medals, ores, 

 and precious stones' in the collection. To this offer 

 parliament agreed ; and in 1753 an Act was passed for the 

 purchase of Sir Hans Sloane's museum on the above terms. 

 A body of forty-eight trustees was incorporated ; Montague 

 House was purchased for the reception of the collections; 

 and the museum was opened to the public on the i5th of 

 January 1759. In this way originated the enormous and 

 wonderful collection of natural objects which is now 

 contained in the magnificent new buildings in Cromwell 

 Road. 



JOHN HUNTER, 



John Hunter, though best known to the public at large 

 as an eminent surgeon and a great anatomist, possesses 

 claims to immortality of a different kind, but of at least 

 equal validity. He was the first to apply the method of 

 comparative anatomy in a systematic manner to the 

 study of natural history. Indeed, he may almost be said 

 to have been the founder of the science of comparative 

 anatomy, which was afterwards so greatly extended by 

 the labours of the illustrious Cuvier. He was also the 

 founder of the ' Hunterian Museum,' which in its present 



