312 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



directions in which Botany at the British Museum ought to develop, 

 and it existed antecedent to that Commission. This is an herbarium 

 of a special character with a corresponding value. Specimens of 

 plants found in Great Britain and Ireland are not placed in the 

 General Herbarium ; they are collected together in this British 

 Herbarium. The British Herbarium, like the General Herbarium 

 is for the purposes of research, and can only be consulted by 

 investigators, not by the general public. 



The objections which were referred to above as being urged 

 against the removal of the General Herbarium to Kew on account 

 of the distance of Kew from the centre of London, apply more 

 closely to the British Herbarium. It is this which is most 

 frequently consulted by the busy man spoken of above. But as we 

 said above we cannot attach great weight to these objections ; and 

 obviously if all the rest of the herbaria are transferred to Kew the 

 British Herbarium must go too ; it could not be left alone at the 

 British Museum. In thus recommending the transference to the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew of so large a portion of the botanic 

 collections at present at the British Museum, of all that portion in 

 fact which is used for scientific research, we are recommending a 

 course of action of a very grave nature. We are aware of the 

 gravity of the recommendation 



We have now to deal with an aspect of the botanic collections 

 of the British Museum on which w^e have not yet touched. So far 

 we have been considering those collections as an instrument of 

 scientific research ; but they have in addition, more especially 

 since the transference from Bloomsbury to Cromwell Road, served 

 another purpose. Like the Department of Zoology, the Department 

 of Botany under the guidance of the Keeper has instituted and 

 developed an exhibition of botanic objects calculated to excite 

 popular interest and to impart popular instruction in the pheno- 

 mena of the vegetable world. The exhibition so formed has also 

 been found to serve as an instrument of education to students of 

 botany and as a useful adjunct to the equi]3ment of teachers in 

 London. The botanic collections in fact consist of two distinct 

 parts — firstly, the herbarium to which the general public is not 

 admitted, w^hich is exclusively an instrument of scientific research ; 

 and secondly, the popular and illustrative collection displayed in 

 the gallery to which the general public is freely admitted ; some 

 objects serving a like purpose are also exhibited in the Central 

 Hall. 



We have already come to the conclusion that the first-named 

 botanic collections which serve for research should be transferred 

 from the British Museum to Kew. We have now to consider what 

 course should be recommended in respect to the second, the popular 

 and illustrative botanic exhibition. In doing so we may assume 

 without discussion that a national botanic collection, paid for by 

 the State, ought to serve the purpose of exciting popular interest 

 in, and of spreading among the people a knowledge of the vegetable 

 kingdom. In considering this question we have to bear in mind 

 the facts that at Kew the collection of living plants already serves 



