lOO HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM. 



Indeed the importance of such a repository is 

 so generally felt, that many botanists have en- 

 riched it with the plants which they had them- 

 selves discovered or described : to the generosity 

 of M. de Humboldt we owe the most consider- 

 able present of this kind , viz. the herbarium of 

 his travels in the equinoctial regions of America , 

 consisting of 5,6oo species, 3,ooo of which were 

 new. Among them, are the specimens which 

 served for the engravings of his history of tro- 

 pical plants. 



The formation of separate cabinets of anatomy - 

 and botany, left the whole of the former galle- 

 ries for zoology and mineralogy ; but the space 

 was still too confined, and the building no 

 longer corresponded with the more modern edi- 

 fices, when the government resolved to perfect 

 the design, and give it at once the requisite 

 extension. 



To evince the importance of this service , and 

 complete the history of a monument, which is 

 now the most beautiful of its kind in Europe, it 

 may be proper to enter into more particular de- 

 tails, and to resume the narrative a little further 

 back. 



We have seen that in 1 766, the cabinet consist- 

 ed of only two saloons, and that Buflon doubled 

 its extent, by giving up his own dwelling : after 



