1898] NEWS 425 



The Select Committee appointed by the House of Coinmons to inr^uire into 

 the administration and cost of the Museums of the Science and Art Department, 

 have issued an interim report regarding the South Kensington Museum, and the 

 Geological Museum in Jermyn Street. " They are unanimousl}' of opinion that, 

 with a view to present efficient management, to economy of administration, to 

 future development of the collections, and to their full use for the purpose of 

 exhibition and of instruction, it is necessary — (1) That the whole area on the east 

 side of Exhibition Road (except that occupied by the Royal College of Science, 

 which cannot be sacrificed except at great cost) be exclusively devoted to the Art 

 Museum and the Art Library, with provision for the conduct of the business 

 connected with loans of art objects, and the art schools. They are satisfied that 

 the whole of this space is required for the art schools, the due exhibition of the 

 art collections, and the administration connected with such a museum. (2) That 

 provision for the whole of the science collection, the science library, for loans of 

 scientific objects, and for the science schools, be made on the west side of the 

 Exhibition Road. They are convinced that this concentration of art on one side 

 of the road, and of science on the other, is essential to good administration, to 

 satisfactory results from the money expended, and efficiency both in the museum 

 and in the schools. This arrangement would allow space for the future develop- 

 ment both of the art and of the science branches. They also unanimously recom- 

 mend that the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street be no longer occupied for 

 the same purposes as now ; and that the collections tliere exhibited be removed 

 to the west side of Exhibition Road, and made part of the science collections." 



The Historical Museum constructed by the Swiss Confederacy at Ztirich, 

 after many delays, will be finally inaugurated in June. . The event will be 

 celebrated by festivities for which liberal appropriations have been made. Par- 

 ticularly imposing are the plans for the historical procession organised by the 

 Ziiricli guilds. Tlie new museiim contains among other treasures the collections 

 from the Lake Dwellings, formerly scattered in j)rivate museums. 



We have received the Year-Book of the Bergen Museum for 1897. It con- 

 tains, as usual, a number of interesting articles, to many of which we refer in our 

 Notes and Comments. Whatever may be the case in English museums, it is the 

 case that visitors to the Bergen Museum are most numerous on Sundays. The 

 numbers for 1897 are as follows : — Sundays, 35,566 ; free week-days, 7438 ; 

 pay-days, 1248 ; schools, and by ticket, 2582 — which leaves a majority of over 

 24,000 in favour of Sundays. The additions to the collection Avere larger during 

 1897 than any previous year. The whole collection made by the Norwegian 

 Society for National Ethnograjihy, begun in 1892, was handed over to the Bergen 

 Museum in December 1897. A large collection of German minerals was pre- 

 sented by Mr C. Sundt. Consul Bors presented over 500 specimens of some 358 

 species of Lepidoptera from North, Central, and South America. These collec- 

 tions cannot be displayed until the new buildings are finished, which should 

 have been accomplished by the end of 1897. Mr E. Ingebrektsen, a missionary, 

 has presented 82 specimens of South American Vertebrata. During August a 

 course of lectures was given in the Museum, esj^ecially intended for teachers iu 

 the Board Schools. 



The Biological Station at Bergen has continued its useful investigations into 

 the fisheries and the general biology of the sea. Dr Appelltif has made researches 

 into the development of the lobster and salmon, from both of which practical 

 results of much value are expected, and pecuniary help lias been given by the 

 Storthing. Mr Nordgaard has taken part in expeditions to Lofoten, and results 

 of much importance have been obtained. The work in marine biology that has 

 long been carried out at Bergen i^s so valuable from both a scientific and a practi- 

 cal point of view that we sympathise strongly with the fear expressed in this 



2 G 



