1876.] The Origin and Development of Museums. 89 
ing. Not the least prominent object of the museum is an obelisk, 
made in the Egyptian fashion, to celebrate the memory of the 
conversion of the Swedish Queen Christina, the daughter of the 
most prominent king in the Thirty Years’ War, Gustavus Adol- 
phus, the fact of the conversion being expressed on the obelisk in 
thirty-three different languages. 
Just at this time a curious historical essay on the origin and 
development of museums, and the best arrangement of them, 
was published, the author of which was probably a certain Ma- 
jor, and this very rare pamphlet, first published in 1674, has 
been reprinted later in Valentyn’s Museum Museorum. - Accord- 
ing to the fashion of the time the author begins with the enu- 
meration of the different names for such exhibitions, and out of 
forty of these, seventeen are Greek. I think it would be rather 
hard to remember them all, and even tedious to hear them re- 
peated. The number of collections from the time of King Sol- 
omon to the author's time is computed to be one hundred and 
forty, twenty-two of which belonged to prominent princes; many 
of them are’ spoken of more in detail, but mixed with fabulous 
stories. The author believes it very probable that King Solomon 
possessed a collection, and is sure about King Hizkiah of Jerusa- 
lem, and Ptolomeeus Philadelphus of Alexandria. He speaks 
about the museum of the Greek emperor in Constantinople, said 
to have contained the whole poetry of Homer written on the 
skin of a dragon, a fact which ‘he concludes to be somewhat 
doubtful, as according to his calculation this skin must have been 
one hundred and twenty yards long. 
At some length are given details about the collections of the 
Great Mogul in Agra, of the Inca in Peru, and of Montezuma in 
Mexico, the last two being real marvels of richness and value. 
All the animals, trees, and plants of the country were manufactured 
in pure gold or silver, in life size, and smaller ones in jewels, and 
placed in the gardens of the court. Montezuma is said to have 
possessed a zodlogical garden with all the living animals of the 
country, the ditches for marine animals being filled with salt 
water. Most of the facts given in this essay are partly exagger- 
ated, partly erroneous; nevertheless some of the chapters, sug- 
gesting the best rules for arranging a museum, are quite inter- 
esting, 
i (To be concluded.) 
