ix OWEN'S PROPOSAL 131 



fore accepted the position. So far as his place as 

 Superintendent went his influence did not greatly 

 alter the management within the Museum. But his 

 position gave him the power of addressing the 

 Trustees, and through them the Government. 



He used this to bring about the separation of the 

 Natural History Museum from the collections at 

 Bloomsbury, and its establishment on its present 

 basis at South Kensington. Two years before 

 Owen's appointment, Dr. Gray, Keeper of Zoology, 

 had requested that more accommodation should be 

 given for his department, which resulted in a small 

 extension of the galleries. In 1859 Owen, after care- 

 fully studying the subject, laid before the Trustees 

 all the facts as to the overcrowding, the numbers of 

 objects stowed away out of sight, and the probable 

 rate at which these would increase, and stated that 

 a space of ten acres ought to be acquired at once. 

 More than this, he drew up a plan, which he sent 

 in with the report, which showed how carefully he 

 had thought out the form which the building of a 

 Zoological Museum should take. His plan was 

 comprehensive and logical, and far better than that 

 devised by the architect later when effect was being 

 given to his suggestions, of which only one, the 

 Central Hall, is retained. 



Owen's idea was to have a central hall, to contain 

 what he termed an Index Museum, to show the 

 type characters of the principal groups of animals. 



This Central Hall did find expression in the 



