CHAPTER II. 



CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



§ I. CURSORY VIEW OF THE WHOLE. 



In the historical notice which forms the first 

 part of this work, we have related how the 

 cabinet of natural history became remarkable 

 from the improvements completed or begun by 

 Buffon, and afterwards continued ; observing 

 that it was necessary to increase it one third in 

 1808, although the anatomical and botanical col- 

 lections had been separated from it, and galleries 

 expressly constructed for them. It is therefore 

 useless to recur to those details , and we will 

 confine ourselves to its present state and the dis- 

 tribution of the objects it contains. 



The building which bears the name of Cabinet 

 or Gallery of natural history, and of which one 

 room is devoted to the library, is 390 feet (or 

 60 toises) long. It is exposed to the east on the 

 side of the garden, from which it is separated by a 

 court and an iron railing. The front, which has 



