INTRODUCTION. XXvii 
who, after his return from his circumnaviga¬ 
tion, deposited at different times in the Mu¬ 
seum numerous collections of natural and arti¬ 
ficial curiosities from the newly discovered islands 
in the South Seas, which, with considerable 
additions since made by the Admiralty, Captain 
Cook, and other officers who had performed 
similar distant and perilous voyages, forms now 
a very conspicuous part of the Museum. Among 
the many donations of various kinds which 
Sir Joseph Banks has since bestowed, and still 
continues to confer upon the Establishment, we 
must not omit to mention a large set of Icelandic 
books, both printed and manuscript, which he 
collected in a voyage he made in the year IffS, 
to that island. Nor can the public be uninformed 
of the indefatigable zeal he has ever displayed in 
his endeavours, as a Trustee, to advance the 
honour and advantage of this Institution, which, 
together with his many other exertions for the 
benefit of science, must ever rank him among her 
best friends and strenuous promoters. 
Lastly, the mineralogical collection has of late 
received a valuable accession by the munificence 
of the Right Honorable Lord Grenville, who 
was pleased to present the Museum with a series 
E 2 of 
