in anatomy. See ANATOMY, p. 192.

natural history. See MYTULUS.

MUSEUM, a name which originally signified a part of the palace of Alexandria, which took up at least one fourth of that city. This quarter was called the Museum, from its being set apart for the muses and the study of the sciences. Here were lodged and entertained the men of learning; who were divided into many companies or colleges, according to the sciences of which they were the professors; and to each of these houses or colleges was allotted a handsome revenue. The foundation of this establishment is attributed to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who here placed his library. Hence the word Museum is now applied to any place set apart as a repository for things that have an immediate relation to the arts.

The Museum at Oxford, called the Ashmolean Museum, is a noble pile of building, erected at the expense of the university, at the west end of the theatre, at which side it has a magnificent portal, sustained by pillars of the Corinthian order. The front, which is to the street, extends about sixty feet, where there is this inscription over the entrance, in gilt characters, Museum Ashmoleanum, schola naturalis historice, officina chemica.

It was begun in 1679, and finished in 1683, when a valuable collection of curiosities was presented to the university by Elias Ashmole, Esq. which were the same day repotted there. And several accretions have been since made to the Museum; among which are hieroglyphics and other Egyptian antiquities, an entire mummy, Roman antiquities, altars, medals, lamps, &c., and a variety of natural curiosities.

The British Museum in London is a large, beautiful, and magnificent building, and the noblest cabinet of curiosities in the world. This edifice was erected in 1677, and was called Montague-house, from having been the town residence of the dukes of Montague. In the year 1753, the British parliament having passed an act for purchasing the Museum of the late Sir Hans Sloan, and the collection of manuscripts of the late lord Oxford, called the Harleian Library, for the use of the public; 26 trustees were appointed and incorporated, to provide a repository for those and some other collections, which repository was to be called the British Museum. These trustees elected fifteen other trustees; and having bought Montague-house, fitted it up for the reception of these collections; they also appointed officers to superintend the museum; and having ordained certain statutes with respect to viewing the collection contained in it, the public were admitted to view it in 1757.