Olift commenced, in the year 1793, the formation of the folio 

 catalogue, which constitutes the fourth of the manuscript ex- 

 planatory documents of the present department of the Hunterian 

 Collection, and which served for the use of visitors until the 

 publication of the present catalogue. In reference to the nota- 

 tion of the specimens in the folio catalogue, Mr. Clift has sub- 

 joined the following note, prefixed to the list of the different 

 numbers : " No runniny number existed during Mr. Hunter's 

 " lifetime, on account of the additions continually making to the 

 " Collection. Immediately after his death, a running number, 

 " from 1 to 3745, was painted upon them by the Conservator, in 

 " order to construct a catalogue from materials left by Mr. 

 "Hunter. This was done between the years 1793 and 1800 by 

 " William Clift, under the superintendence of Mr. Home, and 

 "afterwards written fair into the folio volume above mentioned, 

 " after the Collection had come into the hands of the College. 

 " A slight inspection of that volume will show that the pre- 

 " parations were not in a sufficient state of arrangement for a 

 " permanent catalogue ; the whole contents of the Gallery were 

 " therefore re-arranged, and brought into their present relative 

 "situations in the year 1817, and the whole re-numbered, as in 

 ^ the first column of this book, under the direction of Sir Everard 

 " Home. But a further more careful revision is still necessary 

 " before a satisfactory catalogue can be made. 1823. WILLIAM 



Before placing on the specimens the new series of numbers of 

 1817, Mr. Clift copied off all the memoranda which had been 

 written in paint on the tops of the bottles; to these he has 

 added notes, elucidating the history of many of the preparations ; 

 and the three manuscript Fasciculi, containing the original 

 memoranda attached to the specimens, and these additions, con- 

 stitute the fifth explanatory document, and one that has proved 

 of material use in the determination of many of the unnamed 

 specimens. Of the descriptions to which the new system of 

 numbers was designed to refer, those relating to the first series 

 alone were completed, so that the rest of the Collection could 

 only be studied by the folio catalogue of 1793 1800, through 



