u 
This apartment contains the united collec¬ 
tions of minerals of the Museum, the greater 
part of which formerly constituted the collection 
of the late Right Hon. Charles Grevilie. These 
consolidated collections are arranged in cabinets 
containing upwards of 550 drawers, indepen¬ 
dently of the specimens exhibited in the glazed 
compartments above, which form a suite for 
study, and respectively indicate the contents 
of the drawers below. In the arrangement of 
this collection a natural order founded on ex¬ 
ternal characters has been followed; not, how¬ 
ever, without consulting the chemical composi¬ 
tion of the substances, so far as convenience 
w’ould admit. In order to facilitate the distinc¬ 
tion of the specimens in the glazed compart¬ 
ments, the separations of their different genera 
and species are marked by lines of various co¬ 
lours, corresponding to those on the tickets 
which bear their respective names and syno¬ 
nyms. As, besides these, almost every specimen 
has its habitat (or place where it is found) writ¬ 
ten upon it, to which is annexed a ticket in¬ 
dicating the externa! character for th.e illustration 
of which the specimen is deposited, it would be 
unnecessary to repeat the same in this synopsis, 
which can be intended only to give a summary 
view of the contents of the different compart¬ 
ments. 
SALOON. 
Nat. Hist* 
