lo4 HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM. 



expences of the menagerie were curtailed; all 

 correspondence with foreign countries was in- 

 terrupted, and the number of students was dimi- 

 nished by the calls of the army. Nevertheless the 

 most essential operations were regularly con- 

 tinued, and if no new acquisitions were made, 

 means were found to preserve what we already 

 possessed. 



In 1814, when the allied troops entered Paris, 

 a body of Prussians were about taking up their 

 quarters in the garden : the moment was critical, 

 and the professors had no means of approaching 

 the competent authorities : the commander con- 

 sented to wait two hours, and this interval vvas 

 so employed as to relieve them from all further 

 apprehension. An illustrious son of science, 

 whose name does honour to the country which 

 gave him birth, and to that which he has chosen 

 for the publication of his works, obtained from 

 the Prussian general a safeguard for the Museum, 

 and an exemption from all military requisitions ; 

 and though no person was refused admittance it 

 sustained not the slightest injury. The Emperors 

 of Austria and Russia, and the King of Prussia, 

 visited it to admire its riches, and to request 

 duplicates of objects in exchange, and information 

 for the founding of similar institutions in their 

 own dominions. 



