8 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 1814-1914. 
Trustees to hold the Professorship of Comparative Anatomy 
at the Calcutta Medical College in addition to his duties in 
the Museum. 
In the work of organization of the Museum in the new 
building, Dr. Anderson was ably assisted by Mr. James 
Wood-Mason. Dr. Anderson had foreseen, as early as 1867, 
that the assistance of a competent naturalist was essential to 
enable him effectively to arrange and organize the zoological 
section, and on his representation, the Government sanctioned 
an additional post of Assistant Curator, subsequently desig¬ 
nated Deputy Superintendent. Considerable difficulty was 
at first experienced in the selection of a qualified assis¬ 
tant, but two years later, in 1889, the Trustees were fortu¬ 
nate to secure the services of Mr. James Wood-Mason, who 
had been selected for the post by Professor Huxley and 
Sir Joseph Hooker. Mr. Wood-Mason proved himself a very 
capable and devoted worker and ultimately succeeded Dr. 
Anderson as Superintendent when the latter retired in 1886. 
The exacting work of reorganization of the Museum upon 
which Dr. Anderson and Mr Wood-Mason were engaged, 
occupied them for over two years, and thus, although the 
Museum building was ready for occupation in 1875, it was 
not till the 1st April, 1878 that the gallery containing the 
collection of birds and the archaeological gallery were thrown 
open to the public ; a few' months later, in December, 1878 
the public were admitted to the mammal gallery. 
I shall not detain you with a detailed statement of the 
changes effected in the constitution of the Board of Trustees 
from time to time by the Legislature. It is sufficient to 
mention that in 1876 a new Statute was passed, by which the 
Statute of 1866 was repealed and the number of Trustees was 
increased from 13 to 16. In 1887 the number was further 
raised to 21 and opportunity was given to the Trustees to co¬ 
opt additional members. Finally, so recently as 1910, a new 
Statute was passed by which all the earlier enactments were 
repealed and the number of Trustees was fixed at 17. For 
the passing of this Act we are indebted mainly to the energy 
and scientific statesmanship of Sir Thomas Holland, Chair¬ 
man of the Trustees from 1906 to 1909. 
