1839.] " Report on the Museum of the Asiatic Society." 425 



confusion. The cases were dirty, and falling to pieces, with wooden 

 doors ; the rooms damp ; and the specimens decaying. All this was 

 reduced to order. In the words of my first annual report — " The first 

 step was to divide the Museum into two distinct parts ; one consisting 

 of the works of art ; the other, of the productions of nature. The nu- 

 merous valuable specimens of the former being lost in the rooms be- 

 low, were removed into the entrance hall, staircase, and gallery, where 

 they now are, and where they are seen, as we all know, to the greatest 

 advantage ; and their removal allowed of the apartments they oc- 

 cupied being entirely devoted to the Natural History portion of the 

 Museum. 



" On examination, the specimens of Natural History were found, for 

 the most part, in a very neglected state. In Osteology they were nu- 

 merous, and some of these very valuable ; but many were more or less 

 mutilated, and the teeth of the skulls lost, while no catalogue, nor even 

 memorandum of the greater portion could be found. The first care 

 was to remedy this : the broken specimens were repaired, so far as they 

 could be repaired ; and a catalogue was made which includes every 

 thing concerning them that can be gleaned from the Researches and 

 other quarters, whether as to the specimens themselves, or the names 

 of the donors. In making this catalogue some difficulty was experi- 

 enced from the want of any notices of the specimens, and from there 

 being no objects of comparison, by which to discover the species of an 

 animal, of which we had perhaps but a horn, or a single bone. 



" While this was going on, attention was also directed to the forma- 

 tion of a cabinet of reference to compare the fossil remains in which 

 the Museum is so rich with the living congeners of the animals to 

 which they belonged. This is in its very nature a tedious and labori- 

 ous work ; but already there have been articulated, and set up, skele- 

 tons of a Monkey, Weasel, Cat, Rat, Musk-deer, Horse, Parrot, and 

 Tortoise. The Rhinoceros, which was before but badly put together, 

 has been made the most of that its condition would allow ; and an 

 ElephanTs skeleton,* and those of another Horse and Tortoise are 

 being prepared. As this branch of the Museum is of the greatest im- 

 portance, I am anxious to render it as complete as possible ; and with 

 this view have written to various individuals likely to further our ob- 

 ject, who have promised the bones of the Camel, wild Buffalo, large 

 Deer of various kinds, the large Bullock of Upper India, the Tapir, and 

 the Alligator ; and we may expect soon to receive them." 



But for full information I beg to refer to the report, which was pub- 



* This was al'ter wards found unfit for articulation, and I procured another. 



