219 
HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL 
HISTORY) COLLECTIONS.* 
Tue Trustees of the British Museum and the staff at Cromwell 
Road are to be congratulated upon the preparation of a valuable 
History of the Collections, two volumes of which have already 
appeared. The first deals with the libraries and the departments 
of Botany, Geology, and Minerals; and the second is devoted to 
the special accounts of the several collections of Zoology, written 
respective assistant keepers and assistants. The general by the 
History of the Zoological Department will be issued as a 
third volume shortly. 
Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of 
placing upon record particulars of the origin and growth, not 
only of our national collections, but of all those in the museums 
throughout the country. As it is, a perusal of the volumes 
under notice proves that anything like a reliable record of even 
our national treasures is exceedingly difficult to obtain; in 
many instances the history of an important specimen: is lost, 
and thus much of its value is also gone. Difficult as it un- 
doubtedly has been to prepare the present history, there is no 
doubt that had it been longer delayed it would have been 
impossible to have got the information together. 
The history of the British Museum dates from 1753, in 
which year an Act of Parliament was passed for the purpose of 
purchasing the well-known collection of Sir Hans Sloane. We 
observe no mention is made in this official guide of the sub- 
sequent Act which was passed authorising the raising of the 
funds required by means of a lottery!+ As time went on the 
collections grew, and in 1860 it was decided that the Natural 
History Series be removed from the British Museum, and three 
years later the site of the International Exhibition at South 
Kensington was purchased for these collections. The volumes 
under notice chronicle the various changes that have taken 
place in the staff, arrangement, etc., of the Natural History 
Museum, as well as the yearly acquisitions. This last-named 
item is a very important one, and when it is remembered that in 
one department in one year no fewer than 116,000 additions were 
made, whilst most of the departments acquire thousands, or tens 
of thousands per annum, it will be seen that the question of 
* Vol. I., 442 pp., 1904, sold at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell 
Road, 15/-. Vol. II., 782 pp., 1906, 30/- 
+ See ‘ Naturalist,’ 1905, p. 120. 
ago7 June 1, 
