16 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 1814-1914. 
contradiction, that all the research work not only in zoology 
and geology but also in meteorology and archaeology, now 
undertaken by different Government Departments, owes its 
origin in the activities of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and 
for many years the Museum in the rooms of the Society was 
the chief centre of such work in this country The study 
and investigation of Applied Science, more particularly 
Botany and Chemistry^ also had a similar origin. 
The history of the development of the different sections 
of the Museum, since they came under our control, has, 
however, been so varied that it is only in zoology that it is 
possible to establish a claim for anything approaching a 
monopoly for the Indian Museum. The geological section, 
from the time of the foundation of the Geological Survey, has 
been incorporated therewith; the economic or industrial 
section has always been associated with the office of the 
Reporter on Economic Products to the Government of India, 
or, as he is now designated, the Economic Botanist to the 
Botanical Survey ; the archaeological collections have been 
lent to the Director General of Archaeology in India. 
The zoological section, on the other hand, has never been 
amalgamated at any time with an Imperial Survey Depart¬ 
ment, though we are now within measurable distance of the 
official recognition of the undoubted claims of zoology as a 
science pre-eminently useful and important, and of the 
foundation at no distant date of an Imperial Zoological 
Survey. The result of the position thus accidentally held in 
the past by the zoological section has been that the 
research work accomplished by our officers in this depart¬ 
ment is embodied in the long series of monographs and in 
the periodical publications issued by the Trustees of the 
Indian Museum. The Records of the Indian Museum,” 
which constitutes a Journal of Indian Zoology, has now 
reached its ninth volume, while the “ Memoirs,” of which four 
volumes have been hitherto published, include many original 
papers of first-rate importance, embodying the result of 
much patient and laborious investigation. The highly tech¬ 
nical nature of these publications has served effectually to 
conceal their contents from the public, who are apt to judge 
