ACCOUNTS, &C. OF BRITISH MUSEUM, 



Sect. II., § 1 c. The collection of works of English American Literature has been the object of especial 



attention, and is now brought to a satisfactory point. 



g. From the stock of a bookseller at Cracow a selection has been made of some hundred 



volumes of Polish literature. 



». Upwards of 100 Oriental works, recently printed at Constantinople, have been added to 



those printed at Bulak, purchased two years ago ; and the acquisition of more than 300 

 volumes, forming about 20 works in the Manchou and Mongol languages, supply a deficiency 

 in the collection, now one of the best known with respect to Chinese. 



By the liberality of several of the States of America, more particularly by that of the 

 State of Vermont, additions of such importance have been made to the collections of Pubhc 

 Documents and Acts of those Governments, as to deserve special mention as an acknow- 

 ledgment to the donors. 



The most remarkable addition to the Library is, however, that of the collection of Hebrew 

 works, formed by the late H. J. Michael, of Hamburg. This collection, well known and 

 highly praised by critics, among others by Zunz, consisted, according to the printed cata- 

 logue, of 5,400 volumes, of which, after the rejection of duplicates or of copies otherwise 

 objectionable, 4,420, forming 3,970 distinct works, were purchased for the Museum. Among 

 them are about 400 Bibles and Commentaries on the Scriptures ; 2,020 Theological Works; 

 380 Liturgical Works ; 230 works on the Cabbalah ; 860 on Science. Among the Theological 

 works is included a very valuable and nearly complete series of decisions, throwing great 

 light on the history, manners and customs of the Jews before and after their expulsion 

 from Spain. This collection offers a large proportion of the works printed in Turkey 

 and Poland during the sixteenth century, many editions unknown to bibliographers, and 

 several fine early specimens of printing from the presses of Lisbon, Soncino and Naples. 

 Among the former may be noticed the " Tur Orach Chayim " (The Path of Life), printed 

 in 1485, and perhaps the first book printed in Portugal. Among the latter the " Avicenna," 

 printed at Naples in 1492. The volumes are enriched by the manuscript notes of 

 several distinguished Hebrew scholars ; such_ as Azariah de Rossi and Bezaleel, of 

 the sixteenth century; SchifF and Heller, of the seventeenth; Emden, of the eighteenth; 

 and Heidenheim and A. Eger of the present century. The manuscript notes of tlie collector 

 himself, the learned Dr. Michael, deserve special mention. To the moment of his death, in 

 1846, at the age of 54, he was indefatigable in collating his printed books with manuscripts, 

 and marking the variations. Owing to these circumstances, his collection, the pride and 

 labour of his life, may well be designated as unique. The collection of this class of works 

 now in the British Museum cannot be called perfect, but it is not inferior to any in exist- 

 ence ; and we may now hope, that, with proper attention, it will become in a few years the 

 first in the world : ten years ago it was lamentably deficient and small. 



Department of Natural History. 

 Mineralogieal Branch. 



The Keeper reports, with reference to the arrangements and other proceedings in his 

 branch of the department of Natural History during the past year, that the former have 

 been regularly proceeded with, and that due attention has been given to the best means of 

 reconciling with the narrowness of accommodation in the Gallery containing the Collections 

 the still increasing influx of new objects, some of them of considerable dimensions. 



Although many of the acquisitions lately made remain unarranged, and partly uncata- 

 logued, it may yet be said that considerable progress has been made in this respect, upwards 

 of 5,000 specimens having been registered and partly incorporated with the Collections. 



The preparation of Major Cautley's collection of Himalayan Osseous Remains having 

 come to a close during the past year, the principal specimens composing it, and more 

 especially those of the Proboscidea described and figured in Dr. Falconer's yet unfinished 

 Fauna antiqua Sivalensis, have been further arranged in wall cases, and temporarily on 

 shelves elevated above those cases, in the room set apart for that order of Pachydermata. 

 That portion of this assemblage of specimens which, after close examination, was laid aside as 

 duplicates, has, by order of the Trustees, been divided into 14 distinct lots of equal value, to 

 be presented to so many Museums of scientific bodies in the provinces. 



Among the additions to the Mammalian Fossil Remains from the same quarter, and other 

 parts of India, may be particularized various interesting specimens of portions of the crania 

 and other parts of Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Ruminants, &c., presented, in addition to those 

 heretofore mentioned, by Charles Eraser, Esq. ; some very interesting portions of the crania of 

 Sivatheriura and of two species of Equus ; a portion of the vertebral column of a large Bird, 

 &c., presented by Colonel Colvin ; also some osseous remains of Perira Island, in the Gulf 

 of Cambay, presented by Dr. Beust. 



Other desirable accessions to this branch of the department are the following entire 

 Collections : — 



A series of upwards of 3,000 specimens collected in Auvergne by M. I'Abbe Croizet, 

 consisting chiefly of mammalian remains, referable to, perhaps, 100 distinct species of 

 quadrupeds, chiefly from the, Eocene and Miocene, and Upper tertiary formations of that 

 region. This Collection, moreover, contains various specimens of fossil Fishes, and some 

 vegetable remains. 



A very 



