GEOLOGICAL SECTION. 
57 
The collections being exposed for public benefit, it is confidently 
hoped that the public will feel the importance of carefully preserving 
what conduces to their instruction and advantage, and will therefore aid 
the Officers of the Museum in the discharge of their duty. 
Students of Geology, or persons desirous of information on any 
special point, a.re requested to apply to the Curator at the Museum on 
Tuesdays and Saturdays, between the hours of twelve and four. In 
particular cases, this aid will be afforded at any time; but as it is essen¬ 
tial that the Officers in charge of the Museum should be able to devote 
much of their attention to the arrangemeiit of the collections, to the 
examination of specimens, and to the general duties of their Office, it is 
hoped that the public will aid in these objects by not interrupting them, 
under ordinary circumstances, at other times than those fixed above. 
Gentlemen interested in geological pursuits, mines, etc., in special 
agricultural objects, or in the use of new or untried building materials, 
etc., who may desire detailed examination of any mineral substance, or 
definite information for a special object, are requested to apply by letter 
{post paid) addressed to the Director of the Museum of Geology, 1, 
Hastings Street, Calcutta, stating as clearly as possible their wishes. 
All such communications will be attended to at the earliest possible 
opportunity, and in the order of their receipt. 
Visitors and others are requested to contribute to the collections 
everything which may appear interesting, or locally peculiar. 
The servants of the Museum are prohibited, under pain of instant 
dismissal, from asking for, or receiving, any gratuity whatever, and it 
is hoped that none may be offered. 
The Museum will be open from the 1st day of January 1857. 
The inauguration of the Geological Museum rapidly led 
to the acquisition of large numbers of specimens ; in 1857 
a collection of crystal-models, which had been prepared by 
James Prinsep, was made over by the Assay Master of the 
Calcutta Mint In the same year were contributed a num¬ 
ber of geological specimens collected by officers of the Survey 
of India, and a collection of models of fossil vertebrates, 
presented by the British Museum. 
In 1858 the establishment of the Geological Museum 
was amalgamated, by order of the Government of India, 
with that of the Geological Survey, and the Museum was 
definitely incorporated into the latter Department, of which 
it has ever since remained an integral part. 
From the old registers it appears that the Hastings 
Street Museum contained about 1500 specimens of minerals 
and rocks, but these probably refer only to the specimens 
