INTRODUCTION, ill 
and vested the property of the Museum in Trus¬ 
tees for the use of the Public. * 
A beginning having thus been made of a pub¬ 
lic scientific Repository^ it was deemed expedient 
to enlarge its extent^andincrease its importance,by 
adding 
* From a schedule which was handed about at the time of the 
purchase, we collect the following totals of the contents of this 
Museum ; but as this document is by no means authentic, we 
must request our readers to consider these numbers rather as approxi¬ 
mations than as accurate enumerations. 
Library of printed books and manuscripts, including books 
of prints and drawings... Vols. 50,000 
Coins and medals. 23,000 
Antique idols, utensils, &c. 1,125 
Cameos, intaglios, seals, &c. 1,500 
Vessels and utensils of agate, jasper, &c... 542 
Anatomical preparations of human bodies, parts of mum¬ 
mies, calculi, &c. 756 
Quadrupeds and their parts. 8,186 
Birds and their parts, eggs and nests . 1,172 
Fishes and their parts .<. 1,555 
Amphibia..... 521 
Crustacea... 1,436 
Shells, echini, entrochi. 5,845 
Jnsects ...«... 5,439 
Corals, spunges, zoophytes. 1,421 
Stones, ores, bitumens, salts, &c. 9,942 
Volumes of dried plants. 334 
Mathematical instruments . 55 
Miscellaneous artificial curiosities . 2,098 
MS. catalogues of the whole Museum, 3§ vols. fob and 8 quarto. 
The Cottonian 
Library. 
