ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. Joseph Banks became adept at shaping the courses of discovery to take advantage of such opportunities, but he also engaged in a wider quest for knowledge that led him to promote learning more or less for its own sake. The British Museum had been greatly enriched by the generation from which Banks came, but Banks's bequest was different in kind from some of the other collections of his day. Eminent writers on the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, London, have generally agreed that Banks was a remarkable benefactor and a dutiful and even 'sagacious' trustee. Banks was willing to contribute to all branches of natural history, but not necessarily to collect from them himself. Such eclecticism was more typical of Sir Ashton Lever, and should be contrasted with Banks's approach.
