The comparison of numbers shows that the twenty thousand two hundred and twenty-eight coins and medals of 1725 had grown, in 1752, to thirty-two thousand. Other antiquities had increased from eight hundred and twenty-four to two thousand six hundred and thirty-five. The minerals and fossils had increased from about three thousand to five thousand eight hundred and twenty-two specimens. The botanical collection which, in 1725, had numbered eight thousand two hundred and twenty-six specimens, together with a Hortus Siccus of two hundred volumes, had become in 1752 twelve thousand five hundred specimens, with a Hortus Siccus of three hundred and thirty-four volumes. The other natural history collections had increased on the average by more than one half. The details are as follows:—
| Volumes in 1725. | Volumes in 1753. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,686 | 1. | Manuscripts | 3,516 |
| 136 | 2. | Drawings | 347 |
| 3. | Printed Books | about 40,000 | |
| 200 | 4. | Hortus Siccus | 334 |
| Specimens in 1725. | Specimens in 1753. | ||
| 20,228 | 5. | Medals and Coins | 32,000 |
| 302 | 6. | Antiquities | 1,125 |
| 81* | 7. | Seals, &c. | 268 |
| 441* | 8. | Cameos and Intaglios | about 700 |
| 1,394 | 9. | Precious Stones | 2,256 |
| [*See under No. 8.] | 10. | Vessels of Agate, Jasper, &c. | 542 |
| 1,025 | 11. | Crystals, Spars, &c. | 1,864 |
| 730 | 12. | Fossils, &c. | 1,275 |
| 1,394 | 13. | Metals and Mineral Ores | 2,725 |
| 536 | 14. | Earths, Sands, Salts, &c. | 1,035 |
| 249 | 15. | Bitumens, Sulphurs, &c. | 399 |
| 169 | 16. | Talcs, Micæ, &c. | 388 |
| 3,753 | 17. | Shells | 5,843 |
| 804 | 18. | Corals, Sponges, &c. | 1,421 |
| 486 | 19. | Echini, Echinites, &c. | 659 |
| 183 | 20. | Asteriæ, Trochi, &c. | 241 |
| 263 | 21. | Crustacea | 363 |
| 22. | Stellæ Marinæ | 173 | |
| 1,007 | 23. | Fishes, and their parts | 1,555 |
| 753 | 24. | Birds, and their parts | 1,172 |
| 345 | 25. | Vipers, &c. | 521 |
| 1,194 | 26. | Quadrupeds | 1,886 |
| 3,824 | 27. | Insects | 5,439 |
| 507 | 28. | Anatomical Preparations, &c. | 756 |
| 8,226 | 29. | Vegetables | 12,506 |
| 1,169 | 30. | Miscellaneous things | 2,098 |
| 319 | 31. | Pictures and Drawings, framed | 310 |
| 54 | 32. | Mathematical Instruments | 55 |
On the 27th January—sixteen days after Sir Hans’ death—about forty of the Trustees named in the Will met at Chelsea, to confer with the Executors. Lord Cadogan produced the Will and its Codicils. By these, should the bequest and its additions be accepted, the manor house and land, together with the collection in its existing state and arrangement, would be given to the Public. This, said Lord Cadogan, will save the hazard and expense of removal. Mr. William Sloane then informed the Trustees that the Executors had thought it prudent temporarily to remove the medals of gold and silver, the precious stones, gems, and vases, to the Bank of England, in order to ensure their present safety.
The Earl of Macclesfield was then placed in the chair. A synopsis of the contents of the Museum was read by Mr. James Empson, who had acted as its curator for many years. Mr. Empson was appointed to act as Secretary to the Trustees, and a form of Memorial to be addressed to the King, in order to the carrying out of the trusts of the Will, was agreed upon.
The Memorial had—eventually—the desired effect. |The Act for Establishing the British Museum.| It led, in the course of the year 1753, to the passing of an Act of Parliament—26 George II, chapter 22—which is entitled An Act for the purchase of the Museum or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts, and for providing one General Repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said Collections, and of the Cottonian Library, and of the additions thereto.
The Act recites the tenour of the testamentary dispositions made by Sir Hans Sloane. It also recites that a provisional assent had been given by his Trustees to the removal of his Museum from the Manor House of Chelsea ‘to any proper place within the Cities of London and Westminster, or the suburbs thereof, if such removal shall be judged most advantageous to the Public.’
The Act then proceeds to declare that, ‘Whereas, all arts and sciences have a connexion with each other, and discoveries in natural philosophy and other branches of speculative knowledge,’ for the advancement whereof the Museum was intended, may, in many instances, give help to useful experiments and inventions, ‘therefore, to the end that the said Museum may be preserved and maintained, not only for the inspection and entertainment of the learned and the curious, but for the general use and benefit of the Public,’ it is enacted by Parliament that the sum of twenty thousand pounds shall be paid to the Executors of Sir Hans Sloane, in full satisfaction for his said Museum.
In this Statute, also, the preceding original Act for the public establishment of the Cottonian Library (12th and 13th of William III, c. 7), together with the subsequent Act on that subject (5th Anne, c. 30), are severally recited, and it is declared as follows:—
Further Provisions of the Act of Incorporation.
First, ‘Although the public faith hath been thus engaged to provide for the better reception and more convenient use of the Cottonian Library, a proper repository for that purpose hath not yet been prepared, for the want of which the said Library did ... suffer by a fire;’