MUSEUM REPORT. CXXill 
On the 28th of May, 1813, the Council passed the following reso- 
lution :— There shall be a collection of organic remains arranged 
according to their forms, without reference to the bed in which they 
are found.” 
That resolution was acted upon for a number of years, somewhat 
sluggishly perhaps, but still continuously. During the administra- 
tion of Mr. Webster, as Curator in the first instance, afterwards as 
Secretary, it was neglected, not abandoned or annulled. On his re- 
tirement hopes were entertained that a collection of such obvious 
utility would have risen again to its proper level, and many interest- 
ing series of fossils, the Egyptian for example, were presented to the 
Society with the avowed intention of effecting that desirable result. 
The whole collection, however, was hastily broken up, with or with- 
out conference with the Council, in order to give greater develop- 
ment to the English and foreign series. The want of such a collec- 
tion, however, was soon evinced, though it did not take the form of 
complaint, and the hopes thus crushed at the Geological Society 
sprung up with new vigour at the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science. 
In: 1839 the following resolutions, originated in the Geological Sec- 
tion, were approved by the General Committee of that body :— 
** Resolved, That with a view to supply one of the greatest deside- 
rata at present felt by geologists in investigating the structure and 
history of the earth, as well as to advance a branch of zoology, for 
the study of which no adequate provision has hitherto been made in 
any of the public institutions of this country, application be made to 
the Trustees of the British Museum to form a conchological collec- 
tion, and which may include, if possible, under the same roof, not 
only all known species of shells, whether recent or fossil, but likewise 
the varieties of form and size which such species assume at different 
periods of their growth, or from other causes, together with a series 
of the impressions of shells which are found upon different rocks, and 
plaster casts from their impressions—and that the Marquis of North- 
ampton be requested to bring this recommendation before the Board 
of Trustees.” 
His Lordship willingly undertook to advocate the measure at the 
British Museum, but all his exertions there proved unsuccessful. 
The then Presidents of the Linnean and other learned Societies in 
London advocated the same measure, but in vain. 
In the British Collection the organic forms are intended to exhibit 
not only a chronological but also a zoological sequence. The collec- 
tion professes to inform the student not only of the geological age of 
the several species, but of the relation they bear severally to other 
organic beings; they must be considered not only as medals of crea- 
tion, but as objects of natural history ; and in that character are en- 
titled to be classed according to the rules which have been laid down 
for the classification of recent species. As there are numerous systems 
of geological formations, so are there many systems of natural history ; 
and here again the question arises, which is the best ? or rather, which 
shall be adopted? Where the objects to be arranged are so few in 
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