6 EEPORT 1889. 



were the two Jolm Tradescants, father and son, the latter of whom pub- 

 lished, in 1656, a little work called ' Masisnm Tradescantianum ; or, a 

 Collection of Rarities preserved at South Lambeth neer London.' The 

 wonderful variety and incongruous juxtaposition of the objects contained 

 in this collection make the catalogue very amusing reading. Under the first 

 division, devoted to ' Some Kindes of Birds, their Egges, Beaks, Feathers, 

 Clawes and Spurres,' we find ' Divers sorts of Egges from Turkic, one 

 given for a Dragon's Egge ' ; ' Easter Egges of the Patriarch of Jeru- 

 salem ' ; ' Two Feathers of the Phoenix Tayle ' ; ' The Claw of the bird Rock, 

 who, as Authors report, is able to trnsse an Elephant.' Among ' whole 

 birds ' is the famous ' Dodar from the Island Mauritius ; it is not able to 

 flie, being so big.' This is the identical specimen, the head and foot of 

 which has passed through the Ashmolean into the University Museum of 

 Oxford ; but we know not what has become of the claw of the Rock, 

 the Phoenix tayle, a,nd the Dragon's egg. Time does not allow me to 

 mention the wonderful things which occur under the head of ' Garments, 

 Vestures, Habits, and Ornaments,' or the ' Mechanick, Artificial Workes in 

 Carvings, Turnings, Sowings, and Paintings,' from Edward the Confessor's 

 knit gloves, and the famous ' Pohatan, King of Virginia's habit, all 

 embroidered with shells or Roanoke,' also still at Oxford, and lately 

 figured and described by Mr. E. B. Tylor, to the ' Cherry-stone, upon 

 one side S. George and the Dragon, perfectly cut, and on the other 

 side 88 Bmperours' faces'; or the other 'cherry-stone, holding ten 

 dozen of tortois-shell combs made by Edward Gibbons.' But before 

 leaving these private collections I cannot forbear mentioning, as an 

 example of the great aid they often were in advancing science, the 

 indebtedness of Linnjeus in his early studies to the valuable zoological 

 museums, which it was one of the ruling passions of several kings and 

 queens of Sweden to bring together. 



Upon the association of individuals together into societies to promote 

 the advancement of knowledge, these bodies in their corporate capacity 

 frequently made the formation of a museum part of their function. The 

 earliest instance of this in our country was the museum of the Royal 

 Society in Crane Court, of which an illustrated catalogue was published 

 by Dr. Grew in 1681. 



The idea that the maintenance of a museum was a portion of the 

 public duty of the State or of any municipal institution had, however, 

 nowhere entered into the mind of man at the beginning of the last 

 centuiy. Even the great teaching bodies, the Universities, were slow in 

 acquiring collections ; but it must be recollected that the subjects con- 

 sidered most essential to the education they then professed to give were 

 not those which needed illustration from the objects which can be 

 brought together in a museum. The Italian Universities, where anatomy 

 was taught as a science earlier and more thoroughly than anywhere else 

 in Europe, soon found the desirability of keeping collections of preserved 



