INTRODUCTION. 
11 
activities. As early as 1889, the need for extended accommo¬ 
dation for work and study rooms in the zoological and 
archaeological sections made itself keenly felt. A proposal 
to construct rooms on the roof of the main building was 
pronounced impracticable. Consequently, in 1891 the Board 
of Trustees pressed upon the Government of Bengal to 
fulfill their pledge to build an additional wing to the Museum, 
as it had agreed to do six years earlier. 
Three years later, the local Government consented to 
provide for the accommodation of the offices, studies, 
laboratories, and store-rooms of the Museum and of the 
Geological Survey of India; this was accepted by the 
Trustees in satisfaction of all their outstanding claims. 
The building operations were commenced and carried on 
with a rapidity unknown in the annals of the Indian Museum, 
and in the following year the magnificent new east wing was 
completed and was available for use as soon as the internal 
fittings could be provided. 
The pressure upon the public galleries meanwhile con¬ 
tinued steadily to increase, and in 1904 a fresh scheme for the 
extension of the Museum building on the Chowringhee Road, 
which had been under prolonged consideration, took definite 
shape. The scheme was warmly welcomed by the govern¬ 
ment of Lord Curzon, and a handsome grant was generously 
provided to meet the cost of this extension. In 1911, this 
new wing of the Museum was practically completed, and its 
two lower floors were fitted up as public galleries ; the top 
floor of the recently erected range is utilized for the offices of 
the art and the archaeological sections, while that of the 
old building is arranged for use as laboratories, as offices of 
the zoological section, and, finally as a lecture hall for the 
whole institution. 
It is impossible within the time at my disposal to lay 
before the audience even a meagre account of the vast 
collections in the Indian Museum. But I must attempt a 
rapid survey of the various sources from which our collec¬ 
tions have been derived. The zoological collections have 
been derived mainly from five different sources. In the first 
place, we have the original specimens collected by the 
