644 REPORT OF l^ATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



The Manchester Museum of Owcn.s College is among the leading 

 museums of England, and has apparently a great development before 

 it. In this insufficiently lighted Gothic building, however, it will 

 hardly develop fully. It is now an excellently arranged stud}" collec- 

 tion, and in its present quarters can remain only such. 



This museum also is open daily from 11 a. m. to 5 p. m. (to students 

 from 10 a. m. on) and on Sundays from 2.30 to 4.80 p.m., besides each 

 first Wednesday of the month from 7 to 9 p. m. when it is lighted by 

 electric arc lights reflected from the ceiling. It is closed only on 

 Good Friday and on Christmas Eve. 



While no attention has been paid in the Museum building to venti- 

 lation, a very notable method of ventilation has been installed in the 

 new physical laboratory of Owens College," by which no air is admitted 

 through the windows, but is brought in from the outside through 

 tubes over an oil bed, which clears it of dust. This may be well 

 thought out theoretically, but does not appear to hold good in prac- 

 tice, and, besides, the windows do not close tightly, so that air carr^-^- 

 ing dust and soot comes in through the crevices. These windows are 

 also arranged for opening and are opened at times. The installation 

 is therefore imperfect. There is, however, always a thick crust of 

 dirt on the oil, the air passing through the tubes over it with force 

 before it enters the room. I shall revert later on to the question of 

 air cleansing. 



23. PEEL PARK MUSEUM IN SALFORD. 



Manchester is divided into two parts b}^ the river Irwell, the west- 

 ern portion being called Salford, with its own separate incorporation. 

 High above a park is a good sized museum building in the Kenaissance 

 style, "for all," and a library (Ro3^al Museum and Libraries). This 

 was established in l.S-lu and was extended in 1853, 1857, and 1878. 

 The whole is so blackened and soiled with smoke that I was neces- 

 sarily most unfavorably impressed. There are a number of hand- 

 books for sale (Art, Mineralog3% Geolog3% 27 pp. ; Fine Arts Sec- 

 tion: Marble Sculptures, Casts, Paintings, 32 pp.; Ethnography, 49 

 pp.) and a Popular Guide (8 pp.)- All is done with the best inten- 

 tions, but, owing to the lack of means, is of little avail. It is much more 

 difficult in a manufacturing. and commercial city like Manchester than 

 elsewhere to impress the people in authorit}'^ with the usefulness and 

 value of good museums, so that they will grant the necessary funds for 

 their maintenance. 



a Described in Nature, October 27, 1898, p. 621. 



