at of a circulating library; but in earlier times it was
especially a 'literary society,' and its meetings, at which lectures
were delivered or papers were read and discussed, were crowded
gatherings of the leading Europeans in the city. The original Literary
Society included scientific researches within its scope, and
scientific members used to discourse learnedly on scientific subjects
of topical interest, such as 'The Land-Crabs of Madras,' or
'Prehistoric Tombs in the Salem District,' or 'Gold in the Wynaad of
Malabar.' The name of the Society remains, but the literary and
scientific meetings are no more. The last lecture, if memory fails
not, was delivered in the nineties, and the audience was not large
enough or enthusiastic enough to denote that lectures were any longer
in demand. As a 'Literary Society and Auxiliary of the Royal Asiatic
Society,' the institution has outlived its requirement; but it has a
valuable store of more than 50,000 books, new and old, on all
subjects, and it is continually adding to the number; and, as a
circulating library of a high standard, it fulfils an excellent
literary purpose.

The Madras Museum is a magnificent institution. It is to the Madras
Literary Society that it owes its being; and the Literary Society did
Madras splendid service in the initiation thereof. This was in 1851,
when the Literary Society presented its fine collection of geological
specimens to the Madras Government as the nucleus of the rich and
varied store of treasures that the Madras Museum now displays. The
Government lodged the geological specimens in the 'Collector's
Cutcherry'--a house which forms a part--the oldest part--of the Museum
buildings of to-day. Before the Government acquired the house in 1830
for a Cutcherry, the house had been private property, and, under the
name of the 'Pantheon,' it had been for many years the predecessor of
the Old College as the 'Assembly Rooms', wherein Madras Society had
its balls, its plays, and its big dinners. The name of the old
building still survives in the Pantheon Road, in which the Museum is
situated.

A high circular building on the Marina always attracts a stranger's
attention. It has a curious and interesting history. It is commonly
called 'The Ice-House,' and the name suggests its original purpose. A
number of years ago, when ice-factories had not been started and when
in Madras the luxury of the 'cool drink' was unknown, somebody
conceived the idea of