28 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM; 1814—1914. 
this gift is of peculiar interest. Mr. Stewart Gulin, who is 
making a study of the Japanese court ceremonies, tells us 
that the set, although clearly made for the purpose of pre¬ 
sentation, includes a copy of at least one very archaic type 
of stringed instrument. 
It is not possible to claim for either the ethnographical 
or the strictly anthropological collections that they have ever 
formed the basis of research in the same manner or to the 
same extent as the zoological collections have done. Never¬ 
theless, many of the specimens were presented in the old 
days on being ^ described in the Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal; it is greatly to be hoped that the utili¬ 
zation of the Abor collection in connection with Sir George 
Dunbar’s paper may initiate a revival of the practice. 
Many of the skulls were sent to Scotland some years ago 
and described by Sir William Turner in his ‘‘Contributions 
to the Craniology of the People of the Empire of India,” 
published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh, vols. XXXIX, XL and XLV; while a complete 
descriptive catalogue of the collection was prepared in 1909 
in Calcutta by Mr. B. A. Gupte and issued by the Ethno¬ 
graphical Survey of India, which placed a large number of 
copies at the disposal of the Trustees for distribution to their 
regular correspondents. 
The first requisite for increase in the utility of the 
ethnological gallery is the preparation of careful descriptive 
catalogues, which will teach not only ethnologists abroad, 
but also those connected with the Museum, something about 
the specimens. Proposals for the compilation of an account 
of the musical instruments have long been under considera¬ 
tion, but, so far, the difficulty of obtaining the services 
of an editor with both the necessary expert knowledge and 
the necessary leisure has proved insuperable. Until a special 
scientific officer who can devote his whole time to anthro¬ 
pology is appointed in charge of the gallery, there seems 
to be little hope of any great advance. 
