540 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



lectures for the poor people of this section of the citj^ and a primary 

 school, for children from 10 to 14 years of age, in natural history, Eng- 

 lish history, and physical geography. More is done in this direction 

 in England than in Germany, although it does not appear to me that 

 the population is thereby any more enlightened than ours. It is rather 

 the contrar^^ At all events, our school education is a better one, and 

 this can not be brought about by influencing the adults. 



All the buildings of the city are of a deep black, and this is coupled 

 with a smoke-lilled atmosphere.^ For this reason a great portion of 

 the population lives miles away about the town, and tens of thousands 

 may be seen coming into town in the morning and going out in the 

 afternoon. That the interests of museums must suffer under these 

 unfavorable conditions is obvious, so I am the more pleased to be able 

 to call attention here to some noteworth}^ features. 



22. MANCHESTER MUSEUM OF OWENS COLLEGE. 



Owens College was founded by John Owens, a Manchester mer- 

 chant, who died in 1816. Opened in 1851, it has an endowment of 

 $500,000. It is known as the University of Manchester, with 1,200 

 students of both sexes and 80 instructors, and constitutes a part of the 

 Victoria University, which embraces Manchester, Liverpool, and 

 Leeds, but has its seat in Manchester.* A million dollars was collected 

 b}^ subscription, and the aggregate property of the schools amounts 

 to $3,750,000. In 1870, A. Waterhouse began the construction of a 

 group of buildings in the Gothic style, which, as remarked under 

 the heading of Oxford, is not well adapted for museums and the like, 

 at all events, when it is not restrained. Mr. Waterhouse, who is one 

 of the most noted architects of England, also designed the new town 

 hall in Manchester, built during 1868-1877, at a cost of $4,000,000, 

 and the assize courts, built in 1864 at a cost of $500,000, both in the 

 Gothic style. In the town hall, which has 314 rooms and a tower 93 

 meters high, one is at once convinced of the unsuitability of this arch- 

 itecture when looking at the dark stairways and passages where artifi- 

 cial lights must be employed even on bright summer days. The 

 present museum building was constructed during 1886-88. I do not 

 give an exterior view of the structure, which is in the same style as the 

 other buildings. Quite recently a large hall (Whitworth Hall) has 

 been erected adjoining this, at a cost of $225,000, for which, however, 

 the Gothic style is in every way well suited. 



The Natural Science Museum of Owens College (the university), 

 under the curatorship of W. E. Hoyles, embraces mineralogy, paleon- 



« Mr. Horsfall also speaks, in a paper published in 1903, of the horrible filthiness 

 of the air. 



^A movement is now on foot to establish separate universities in the three cities 

 named. 



