548 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



one for imi.soiiiiis, and I deem it of the utmost importance that only 

 this be employed in all new museum ])uildings. In the technical 

 school, moreover, all the windows can be opened without any unclean 

 air penetrating' from the outside, since the pressure of the air 

 in the interior of the buildinj^- is always greater than that from with- 

 out. I inspected the great shafts and ventilators (see tig. 88). It is 

 here u})plied in a very elal)orate and expensive installation, such as is 

 rcijuired for sanitar}" purposes in a largely attended school, but it 

 is also to be reconuuended for museums and libraries for the same 

 purposes, and esjiecially to preserve the collections from dust and 

 other damage. In such an exceptionally smoky city as Manchester 

 this installatiou is even of greater importance than elsewhere. 



The new technical school is in the first rank in every respect. The 

 l)uilding cost the city $1,250,000. One of the highest American 

 authorities on this subject (Edward Atkinson, in Boston, of whose 

 labors I shall make mention in the continuation of my American 

 Studies) recently referred to it in the following words:" 



I may add that I found in Manchester the most complete and well-devised build- 

 ing for technical instruction in science, including special departments for the textile 

 arts, that I have yet seen. 



Before the construction of this school a commission inspected the 

 technical schools, institutions, and museums in Germany and Austria 

 and published a report in 1897, in which, among other things, the 

 following occurs (p. 16): 



There are not elsewhere in the whole world such splendid collections as are to be 

 found in the British Museum and in South Kensington; but then you can hardly go 

 into a continental, and certainly not into a German, town, even of minor importance, 

 without finding a beautifully ordered and representative museum, suited to the needs 

 of the city and its neighlxjrhocjd, and often not one merely, but another of a quite 

 special character should circumstances require it. 



I believe, however, that in our German museums there is much 

 that is capable of improvement. 



26. JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY (DEANSGATE). 



The John Rylands Li))rary was donated to the city as a free library 

 by Mrs. liylands in memory of her late husband, and opened in 1899. 

 Built of red sandstone in the Gothic style, in 1890, by B. Champneys, 

 it cost $1,500,000. It contains 70,000 volumes, valued at $1,250,000, 

 including'' perhaps the ])est collection of incunabula in existence. It 

 is the valuable library purchased by Mrs. Rylands in 1892 from the 

 Count Spencer in Althorp, comprising the Althorp Li])rary, together 

 with other treasures. The library has at its conmiand for the pur- 



« Boston Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company Circular, No. 79, Novem- 

 ber 5, 1901, p. 6. 



b Library Association Record, I, 1899, p. 567, 



