INTRODUCTION. 
XXV 
3>—DONATIONS BY TRUSTEES . 
In enumerating the multitude of additions 
made to this repository by private donations, it 
is but just to distinguish those benefactors, who 
besides gratuitously bestowing much of their time 
and attention to the concerns of the Museum as 
Trustees, have likewise enriched it by repeated 
and valuable gifts, which they have, from time to 
time, presented, either singly, or in collective, and 
in some instances, in considerable numbers. 
The Rev. Thomas Birch, D. D. many years 
Secretary to the Royal Society, and one of the 
fifteen elected Trustees of the first nomination, 
after having rendered great services to the Insti¬ 
tution, while in its infancy, by his unwearied 
assiduity and exertions, closed a meritorious life 
in the year 1766, bequeathing his whole, not 
indeed very numerous, but yet truly valuable 
library, to the Museum ; and the annual pro¬ 
duce of all his property in the funds, amount¬ 
ing to ^ 522 . 18 s. New South Sea Annuities, 
to be equally shared among the three Under 
Librarians for the time being. This learned 
divine having chiefly distinguished himself as 
a biographical writer, his library excels par- 
e ticularly 
Dr. Birch’s 
Library, 
