Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/305

 BRITISH MUSEUM BRITTANY 299 of upward of 54,000, bequeathed in 1846, and removed to the museum in 1847 ; 1848, a col- lection of Hebrew works formed by H. J. Mi- chael of Hamburg, 4,420 volumes, purchased. Among many rare treasures of the Grenville library may be mentioned the Mentz Latin Bible, commonly called the Mazarin Bible, by Gutenberg and Faust, about 1455, 2 vols., vel- lum ; the first printed Psalter, in Latin, by Faust and Schoffer, 1457, being the first book printed with a date ; the unique copy, on vel- lum, of the first edition of Livy, by Schwein- heim and Pannartz, 1469 (purchased at Mr. Edwards's sale in 1815, for 860 guineas) ; the first edition of Ovid, by Azzoguidi ; a copy of the Aldine Virgil of 1501, the first book print- ed in Italic type, and the earliest attempt to produce cheap books ; a first Shakespeare, one of the finest known, 1623 ; and a beautiful se- ries of early editions of the Orlando furioso. The collection of antiquities consists of the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, the former including the trophies of the Egyptian expedi- tion of 1801 ; the Elgin marbles, purchased for 35,000 ; the Phigalian marbles, purchased for 19,000; the To wnley marbles, purchased for 28,200; the marbles from Halicarnassus, brought from Bndrun in Asia Minor, 1846-'58, and bass reliefs which originally belonged to the mausoleum erected by Artemisia, queen of Caria, in honor of her husband, King Mausolus ; there is also a colossal statue supposed to be that of Mausolus himself, broken into 65 pieces, which have been reunited ; a portion of the Far- nese- marbles, bought in 1864 from the ex-king of Naples for 4,000; Sir William Hamilton's collection of Greek and Etruscan vases, among which is the celebrated Portland vase, which was in 1845 broken in pieces by a lunatic, but has been wonderfully restored; Mr. Richard Payne Knight's collection of coins and medals ; and many other works of ancient and modern art. Garrick (whose collection of old English plays is in the library) bequeathed to the mu- seum a statue of Shakespeare which was exe- cuted for him by Roubiliac. The world- wide ce- lebrity of the museum is not a little due to the re- markable array of works of art. They have con- tributed powerfully in facilitating and stimulat- ing the study of the great models of antiquity, especially the Elgin marbles, which are the most perfect specimens of the art of Phidias. The most recent contributions to the department of antiquities are the collections from the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, by Mr. Layard, Col. Rawlinson, Mr. Loftus, and Mr. Rassam. The collection of natural history is inferior only to that of the museum in Paris. Among the curiosities is the stuffed skin and skeleton of a gorilla, nearly 6 ft. high, shot in Africa by Du Ohaillu, which had before been exhibited in the United States ; it is the largest known spe- cimen of the largest species of the quadrumana. There is also a foot of the dodo, a bird now known only by a few scanty fragments, and a single picture said to have been painted from life. In the department of mineralogy and geology is a fine collection of meteoric stones, arranged in chronological order; the oldest, weighing 270 Ibs., fell at Ensisheim in Alsace in 1492. There is a metallic block from Buenos Ayres, weighing 1,400 Ibs., and a meteorite from Melbourne, Australia, weighing 7,000 Ibs. The botanical collection is very large. Its nucleus was the herbarium of Sir Hans Sloane, which consisted of about 8,000 species, bound in 262 volumes ; to this in 1820 was added the magnificent herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks. It includes also the Dutch ffortue C lijfbrtianus, with descriptions by Lin- neeus, and Burmann's Ceylon plants; and in 1860 was added by purchase the herbarium of Prof. Nuttall, containing 10,000 species, es- pecially valuable from its extraordinary num- ber of typical plants. The government of the museum is vested in a board of trustees, 48 in number, of whom 1 is named directly by the crown, 23 are official, 9 are named by the rep- resentatives or executors of parties who have been donors to the institution, and 1 5 are elected. The catalogue, which is in manuscript, is drawn up on a uniform plan, and when completed will probably extend to 1,500 or 2,000 volumes. Under the galleries are book presses filled with a large library of reference for the use of readers, comprising most of the standard works on the various branches of learning, and an extensive collection of dictionaries of all languages, bio- graphical works, encyclopaadias, parliamentary histories, topographical works, &c. These books can be consulted at pleasure without the usual formalities of the ticket system. Access to the reading room may be obtained by writ- ten application to the librarian. Tickets are issued for six months, and at the expiration of this term fresh application is to be made for a renewal. No person can be admitted with- out a ticket, and the tickets are not transfer- able. All the buildings of the museum are closed between the 1st and 7th of January, the 1st and 7th of May, and the 1st and 7th of September; also on Sundays, fast days, and holidays. The whole establishment is open to public view on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 9 till 4 during November, De- cember, January, and February ; from 10 till 5 during March, April, September, and October ; and from 10 till 6 during May, June, July, and August. The reading room is open daily, with the above exceptions, seven hours in the win- ter, eight hours in the spring and autumn, and nine hours in the summer. Artists are ad- mitted to study in the galleries of sculpture between 9 A. M. and 4 P. M., every week day, except Saturdays. The print room is also closed on Saturdays. BRITONS. See CELTS. BRITTANY (Fr. Bretagne), an ancient prov- ince of France, consisting of the large trian- gular peninsula which, projecting into the Atlantic, forms the western extremity of that country. Washed on three sides, N., W., and S.,