SECOND ELOOK. 
59 
specimens for examination and comparison was made. In the 
special guide it is shown how evidence of the actual fall of such 
bodies at length became irresistible, and a description is given 
of the striking circumstances attending their fall, of their general 
characters, and of their chemical composition : illustrative speci- 
mens, collected together for easy reference, will be found in one 
of the cases. It is also shown that meteorites are closely related, 
not only to the ordinary shooting stars, but also to comets, and 
probably to the nebulae and fixed stars. 
Second Flook. 
The upper floor of the East wing is devoted entirely to the 
Department of Botany. 
The Collections of this Department consist of two portions. Botanical 
the one open to the public and consisting of specimens suit- ^^^^^ry. 
able for exhibition, and intended to illustrate the various 
groups of the Vegetable Kingdom, and the broad facts on 
which the Natural System of the classification of plants is 
based ; the other set apart for the use of persons engaged in the 
scientific study of plants. 
The arrangement of the collections in the public gallery is Public Gallery, 
still in progress, but is not sufficiently advanced to permit the 
preparation of a guide to the cases. A general account of the 
plan being followed in this arrangement, and of the principal 
specimens, is all that can now be attempted. 
The natural system of classification is followed in the exhibi- System of _ 
tion cases in the public gallery. The series of specimens begins 
with the Natural Order Banunculacede, and the principal Orders 
are represented in this and the following cases by dried 
specimens of the plants themselves, coloured drawings, fruits, 
and prepared sections of the woods. Diagrams are employed 
to indicate the characters in the flowers on which the 
grouping is based. The use of the same colour for homologous 
structures throughout the diagrams readily conveys to the eye 
the points of agreement or difference on which the classification 
rests. The geological history of each Natural Order is indicated 
on a table of the earth's strata ; and its present distribution on 
