SYNOPSIS 
OF THE 
CONTENTS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
The Foundation of the BRITISH MUSEUM 
originated with the will of Sir Hans Sloane, who 
during a long period of practice as a physician had 
accumulated, in addition to a considerable Library 
of Books and Manuscripts, the largest collection of 
objects of Natural History and Works of Art of his 
time. These he directed should be offered after his 
death, which took place in 1753, to Parliament. 
The offer was accepted : and the Act of 26 Geo. II., 
which directed the purchase, also directed the pur¬ 
chase of the Harleian Library of Manuscripts; and 
enacted that the Cottonian Library, which had been 
given to the Government for public use in the reign 
of Will. III., should, with these, form one General 
Collection. 
In the spring of 1754 the mansion in Great Rus¬ 
sell Street, then known as Montagu House, was 
purchased as a repository for the whole. Between 
1755 and 1759 the different Collections were re¬ 
moved into it, and it was determined that the new 
Institution should bear the name of the British 
Museum. 
Till the arrival of the Egyptian Antiquities from 
Alexandria in 1801, Montagu House was compe¬ 
tent to the reception of all its acquisitions. The 
Egyptian Monuments, most of them of too massive 
a character for the floors of a private dwelling, first 
B 
