The next room is that of the medals and coins, the number of which will
probably surprise the visitor not a little. The gold coins and the
better-preserved and more interesting specimens are shown single under
cleverly-arranged glass cases. The more ordinary results of the finds
which are almost daily being made have been consigned in promiscuous
heaps to huge glass vases, whose tops, however, are carefully sealed
down. The large collections of the _aes rude signatum_ of the consular
and of the imperial families, in bronze, in silver and in gold, together
with some mediaeval specimens, are ranged around the walls.
Then we come to the sculpture, the main scope of the new museum, which
is distributed in a large vestibule, in a noble octagonal central hall
and in a long gallery. It was an excellent idea, adding much to the
interest which every stranger in Rome will take in the museum, to place
on each specimen a placard specifying the locality in which it was
discovered and the date of the finding. And this information is
admirably supplemented by a map hung against the wall showing in detail
the relative positions of all the places which have yielded up these
long-buried treasures. The number of specimens of sculpture is in all
one hundred and thirty-three; and it is impossible, without letting this
notice run to an immoderate length, to attempt to give an adequate
account of the various objects, or even of the principal among them.
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