170 OSTEOLOCIICAL MUSEUM. 



are delivered, one of these being specially fitted up for the exhibi- 

 tion of specimens by the microscope ; but the crowning glory of 

 all is the unrivalled Hunterian Museum, in which are deposited 

 those vast treasures which have contributed more to the advance- 

 ment of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology in this country 

 than any other scientific collection. 



The Museum, as it now stands, consists of three rooms, the 

 largest of which, containing the recent Osteological collection and 

 the Physiological series in spirit, is depicted in the accompanying 

 plate. Of the other two, it may briefly be stated that of the larger 

 (91 feet in length, 39 in breadth, and 35 feet in height) the floor 

 is devoted to the exhibition of the hard and more durable parts of 

 plants and invertebrate animals, to the skeleton of man, the crania 

 of the different races of men, to the illustration of those parts 

 of the skeleton affected with injury and disease, to vascular prepa- 

 rations, and lastly, to the several modes employed in past and pre- 

 sent times for the preservation of the dead. The galleries are occu- 

 pied by morbid parts displayed in spirit. The smaller room contains 

 the fossils, of which are arranged a wonderful series, collected by 

 John Hunter, and only lately exhibited to the public in the wall- 

 cases ; whilst on the floor are the gigantic Megatherium, Mylodon, 

 and Dinornis, which have been so ably restored and described by 

 our British Cuvier, Professor Owen. These two rooms for se- 

 veral years contained not only the Hunterian Collection, but all 

 the additions made to it both by donation and purchase since it 

 was entrusted to the College of Surgeons ; but becoming so 

 crowded, and a favourable opportunity occurring for securing 

 some adjoining premises, these were purchased at the cost of 

 16,000, and on the spot where once stood the theatre of D'Ave- 

 nant, in w r hich Betterton and Garrick nightly performed before 

 crowded audiences, was erected the large room represented in our 

 stereograph, in which are deposited the greater part of the trea- 

 sures accumulated through a long and anxious career by the im- 

 mortal Hunter. This room is 100 feet in length, 40 in breadth, and 

 45 feet high. On the floor are arranged in zoological order the ske- 

 letons of some of the larger mammalia, amongst which, in the fore- 

 ground on the left, may be readily seen the Walrus, with his bold 

 forehead and dependent tusks j then follow the Horse, Hippopo- 



