The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-21 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

BRITISH MUSEUM.—(No. 116, March 14, 1844).—The
accounts, estimate, number of persons admitted, and
progress of arrangement, are classed, this year, under
nine separate heads. No. lis a general account of all
receipts from Christmas, 1842, to Christmas, 1843,
showing an aggregate of 37,3141 9s. Bd. Of this amount,
3,231/. was balance in hand at December, 1842; 7,584/.,
the fourth instalment of Parliamentary grant for
1842-43 ; three (out of four) instalments for: the year
1843.44 (that for the quarter ending this month not yet
received), 24,4321.; :cash for sale of copies of the Syno -
sis, 338/ ; ditto for sales of casts of marbles, &c., 884;
rent of houses lately purchased in Great Russell-
street, 1571 Under head No. 2, estimated—and
actual—expenditure from Christmas, 1842, to same
period 1843 (A), and estimated charge from Lady-
day, 1844, to Lady-day, 1845, we find some items
of interest and importance. In the first place,
the amount of (A) estimated expenditure to Christmas,
1843, was 37,526/ 17s. 9d., but the (B) actual expendi-
ture for that period was only 35,488/. 10s. 9d, In the
latter account we find the actual payments were fur
salaries ofnffieers of the ordinary establishment 5,8454;
ditto of sssistants, 3,0084 113 s. 4d. ; ditto and wages of
attendants and servants, 4,985/. 10s. 9d. Then there
were paid salaries of librarians for the King's
library, 2001.;' of officers for the Banksian collection,
5431. ; attendants on stores and labourers, 4021
None of these allowances, considering the extent, re-
sponsibility, and continuance of the duties, to be per-
formed in return; appear to be excessive. But we hope
the " stores,, will be better looked after, particularly if
they be deposited in the cellars and vaults of the esta-
blishment, with a better management and more forecast
for their preservation than have heretofore been bestowed
on preserved zoological specimens and other collections,
which were remitted to the same destructive cemeteries for
an unlimited period. We well remember the utter destruc-
tion which had been permitted to overtake .the matchless
gift of stuffed mammalia, &c., from Southern Africa,
presented some years ago to this institution by our friend
Mr. Burchell, the traveller. It was sufficient to burst
with indignation the impracticable hides of the poetythr-
mata themselves, which he little dreamed he was con-
signing to mere " oubliettes," from whence they were
never to be brought forth to the gale of "an admiring
public," until moths and earwigs, spiders and ants,
had devoured the parded skins of his cameleopards,
made barracks of the interior of his hippopotamus,
carried'off a whole rhinoceros in the minute but destruc-
tive rations appropriated to the sustenance of the insect
devourers, and gnawed into mincemeat the interior in-
teguments,.and hay-substituted entrails of a Kaffir-land
elephant.
The supernumeraries employed in different departments
appear to have been paid respectively as follows :
Employed in the MS. department, 56/. ; in the printed
book ditte, 6781 ; in preparing the (interminable) new
catalogue. of printed books, 1,283/. ; repayment of ex-
penses incurred by .the Admiralty in removing the
Xanthian marbleS, 357/. (on account-357/. for
the current year, also) ; purchase of MSS., 1,000/.;
ditto, of printed books, 4,003/.; paid for bookbinding,
2,968/ ; purchase of minerals and fossil remains, 986/ ;
of zoological specimens, 681/.; expense .ofpreparing and
preserving objects Of natural history, 9661.; purchase of
antiquities and coins, 1,6911.; ditto, prints and
engravings, 8461.; drawings from ancient mar-
bles, 147/.; engravings from ditto, 330/; publishing
historical papyri in nieretic characters, 5781.;
for balance of receipts, 37,314/.; payments
35,489/.; surplus (in hand), 1,8251. No. 3is an account
of the administration of the Bridgewater Fund (divi-
dends at 12,903/. in the Three per Cents., bequeathed
by the late Earl, and rental of a small estate bequeathed
by the same Nobleman to this institution). No. 4, a si-
milar account of the Farnborough Fund. No. 5, a ge--
neral account of Funds for year ending Lady-day, 1825.
No. 8, amount of grant required for service of said
year—viz.,. 37,987/. No. 7, account 'of expenditure of
a special grant made during the year ending Christ-
mas, IB43—that is to say, of 5,270/, whereof
were paid on account of printed books, coins, and
MSS., from the collection at Strawberry-hill,
1,0181. ; antique vases from collection of the late
Prince of Casino, 1,3001 ; botanical specimens from
ditto, of late A. B. Lambert, Esq., 384/. ; Syriac MSS.,
purchased in Egypt by the Rev. H. Tattum, 1,000/. ;
and a collection of -engravings, the work of Raphael
Morghem, 1,5751 No. 8,, number of persons admitted to
visit the British Museum—in 1841, 319,374 ; in 1842,
547,718 ; in 1843, 517,440: number of visits made to
reading-room, for purposes of study and research:in
same years, respectively-69,303, 71,706, and 70,931 :
number of visits by artists and students to galleries of
sculpture;'for purposes of study, &c., in same years-
-5,655; 5,627; and 4,907 : ditto to the print-room, in
same years-7,744, 8,781, and 8,162.
The decrease of visitors in all these departments in
18.3, as compared with 1842, is very remarkable.
No. 9 is a statement of the " progress made in the
cataloguing and arrangement of the collections, and
account of objects added in year ending 25th December,
1843." 48 Arabic MSS. have been described for the
general catalogue of Orienial MSS. The additional
MSS., including the Wellesley Papers, have been ar-
ranged. A schedule has been compiled of the collec-
tion of Wellesley Papers, comprised in 1,337 vols. (!)
exclusive of maps. To the " General Collection" have
been added 805 MSS. and 35 original charters, besides
102 MSS. to•the Egerton Collection.
" Among the manuscripts acquired may be specified—
Three hundred and twenty volumes of Syriac Manu-
scripts, on vellum and paper, of great Biblical and Theo-
logical importance, the greater portion of which were
written between the sixth and ninth centuries.—Fifty
volumes of Papers from the late Lord Kingsborough's
library, chiefly illustrative of the history of the Spanish
Indies.—A considerable fragment of the Old Testament,
from. Proverbs to Ecclesiasticus, inclusive, partly of the
Latin version of Jerome, and partly of an earlier tran-
slation, written on. vellum, in an Hiberno7Saxon charac-
ter, not later than the middle of the eighth century.—A
copy of Ranulph de Glanville's Treatise De Legibus An-
glia, not later than the reign of King John.—An exten-
sive collection of works relative to Astronomy and
Arithmetic of the Hindoos, and to the Statistics of In-
dia.—About forty volumes relating to English and Fo-
reign Geology and Heraldry, from the library of the late
Lord Berwick.—An original Writ, signed by King Ed-
ward the Fifth, and countersigned by Richard. Duke of
Gloucester. .
" The number of deliveries of manuscripts to readers
in the reading-room (exclusive of those volumes con-
sulted in the rooms of the department), amounts, during
the last twelvemonth, to 22,207.
" Reading-room Service.—l. The number of books
returned to the shelves of the general library from the
reading-room is 137,613 ; to the Royal library, 21,134;
to the closets, where they are kept for the use of the
readers from day to day, 77,270 ; to the shelves of the
reading-rooms. about 117,000 ;_ altogether 353 017 vo-
lumes ; on an average 1,196 a day."
The collections in mineralogy, and in zoology, bo-
tany, and antiquities have received addenda of such a
variety, and so numerous, that we must refer the reader
to the Parliamentary paper itself for any adequate idea
of theni. • •

BLASTING WITH THE AID OF ELECTRICITY.---The
first experiment, on a large scale,, made in this country to
blast with the, aid of electricity, was tried on Saturday. last,.
at Xnockroaroon Hill, in the rficenix Park, Dublin. The spot,
selected for the interesting operation (which, notwithstanding
the unfavoulaiele stateof the weather, attracted a great crowd)
consisted of au,immensebank of earth, about a quarter of a
mile in superficial surface; 45,0001b5. weight of powder was
consumed. • The necessary arrangements having been made,
the immense hill rose slowly, as. if .by magic, with a•runa-
bling noise, and shortly after the entire mound removed it-
self into the hollow beneath, amidst the plaudits of the
'crowd, who cheered. Captain Larceltn, the engineer under
whose superintendence the experiment was conducted. • The
place where the hill had been is completely. level, so perfect
was the success of, the experiment. •
The Royal establishments at Windsor Castle and
Buekingham Palace are:undergoing a total revision and ar-
rangement, to come into operation. on and after the 30th
instant. The, rota .of `.` the waits" of the lords and ladies of
the bedchamber, maids .of honour, grooms, equerries, '&c.,
is to he more strictly observed than has hitherto been
the case. Both the state pages are placed on the retired list ;
four or five of the other pages- have been discharged ; and
the duty of the remainder rendered permanent, instead -of
having alternate • months of close waiting. The number of
the, gentlemen,poders has been reduced, and many of the
male and klinkle. &Pleitice pf Ike, Royal lialtsehold *dis—
charged.