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Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

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MODERN YORK. 129<br />

entablature is continued along the entire front, having<br />

attached antae at the angles. In the portions unoccupied<br />

by the portico, are three lintelled windows.<br />

The Museum comprises a spacious hall, theatre, or<br />

lecture room, council room, library, <strong>and</strong> a suite of apart<br />

ments, containing a variety of specimens illustrating the<br />

several branches of Natural History; <strong>and</strong> some lower<br />

rooms, in which are preserved several beautiful sculptures<br />

<strong>and</strong> other remains of St. Mary's Abbey.<br />

The geological <strong>and</strong> mineralogical departments are de<br />

serving of especial attention. The museum contains up<br />

wards of ten thous<strong>and</strong> specimens of the organic remains of<br />

Engl<strong>and</strong>, Scotl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> Irel<strong>and</strong>, classified according to their<br />

position in the earth; <strong>and</strong> no museum in the kingdom<br />

possesses a more complete set of geological specimens.<br />

The minerals, which are upwards of two thous<strong>and</strong> in num<br />

ber, are arranged according to their chemical relations.<br />

The collections of British <strong>and</strong> foreign quadrupeds, birds,<br />

reptiles, fishes, shells, insects, Crustacea <strong>and</strong> corallines are<br />

extremely interesting. The department of ornithology is<br />

well worthy of examination ; <strong>and</strong> perhaps one of the most<br />

remarkable features in this museum is its collection of the<br />

osteology of birds, which, for extent <strong>and</strong> beauty, is unrivalled.<br />

The zoological department too, comprises a complete skeleton<br />

of the ancient Irish Elk, now extinct, the bones of which<br />

were dug up in 1836, near Waterford. In the size of the<br />

bones of the body <strong>and</strong> extremities, this specimen agrees<br />

with the skeletons in the royal Dublin Museum, <strong>and</strong> Col<br />

lege Museum, Edinburgh, but its horns are longer; mea<br />

suring 12ft. 8in. from tip to tip. The vertibral column has<br />

been intentionally placed 6 inches lower than the Dublin<br />

specimen; the animal thus st<strong>and</strong>ing is 6ft. over the<br />

shoulders, its horns rising 10ft. from the floor! The<br />

institution is also enriched with a very valuable collection<br />

of comparative anatomy. The Museum contains a great<br />

number <strong>and</strong> variety of Roman remains, found in <strong>and</strong> near<br />

<strong>York</strong>; the bare enumeration of which, would occupy no

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