BRITISH MUSEUM. 217 



object. With respect to official trustees connected with the govern- 

 ment, we 'quite agree that a much smaller number would suffice ; 

 and official trustees should be no more than trustees not managers. 

 Those distinguished personages are too much involved in public busi- 

 ness to allow of their proper attendance to the Museum affairs. 

 With respect to the elected trustees, the mode of their election should 

 be wholly different. So long as the trustees have the election of their 

 own body among themselves, private interest will often prevail for the 

 election of improper persons. The king's government are the only 

 proper electors of these trustees ; and the desirable men for such an 

 office are scholars and highly distinguished scientific persons. 



6. " Resolved That the extension of the collections which has taken place, 

 and the still greater extension which may be looked for, render a further 

 division of departments necessary, and that at the head of each department 

 there be placed a keeper, who shall be responsible for the arrangement, 

 proper condition, and safe custody of the collection committed to his care." 



The suggestion of a further division of the departments is very good ; 

 and we trust that the council will act upon it. All the departments 

 need division, and none more so than that under Mr. Konig, one of the 

 most efficient officers of the place. The evidence of Dr. Grant, Mr. 

 Vigors, and other naturalists, is quite conclusive as to the inefficiency 

 of the arrangement in the Natural History department. 



7. " Resolved That it is desirable that the heads of each department shall 

 meet once in three months, for the purpose of consulting with reference to 

 any matters of detail relating to the internal arrangements of the Museum, 

 which they may desire jointly to submit to the trustees in writing." 



The heads of departments ought to sit at the board and act with 

 the trustees, having a vote on all subjects but expenditure. Accord- 

 ing to the present system, the officers go into the council-room only 

 when called, and stand during their brief conferences with the trustees. 



8. " Resolved That whenever there may be a vacancy in the office of 

 principal librarian, or in that of secretary, it is desirable that the distribution 

 of the duties now discharged by those officers respectively, including the 

 expenditorship, be reconsidered, and that the office of Secretary be not com- 

 bined with the keepership of any department." 



An immediate separation of these offices should have been recom- 

 mended. Sir Henry Ellis is only fifty and Mr. Forshall forty-two. 

 This is indeed waiting for dead men's shoes. Mr. Forshall is a highly 

 respectable man; but human nature is not inaccessible to the evil 

 temptations of official influence. The possibility of evil should be 

 removed out of mere charity to that excellent clergyman. 



9. Resolved That it is desirable that the hours during which the Museum 

 shall be open on public days be hereafter from ten o'clock until seven 



