INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



We have endeavoured in the following sketch, in some 

 measure, to supply the want which has hitherto been 

 felt by those (and they are by far the most numerous) 

 who visit the British Museum more for amusement than 

 for study, — to gratify curiosity more than for laborious 

 investigation. Its apartments are so numerous and so 

 extensive ; so filled with objects, curious and in- 

 teresting, so capable of conveying information and af- 

 fording entertainment, of gratifying the scientific taste 

 of the few and satisfying the curiosity of all; that 

 although its contents may be systematically arranged 

 and properly classified, it no doubt often happens that 

 they who come unaccompanied by a catalogue to take 

 a rapid and casual survey of such a multitude of objects, 

 collected from all parts of the world, and produced at 

 various times in the world's history, feel more often be- 

 wildered than amused, perplexed rather than instructed, 

 and wearied when they should be excited ; for, com- 

 prising as it does such a variety in almost every depart- 

 ment of natural history and the fine arts, of which a 

 mere catalogue would be quite cumbersome in size and 

 expensive in price, seem to require weeks of methodical 

 study rather than hours of hasty inspection. Even the 

 synopsis, which, from repeated additions and alterations 



