CHAPTER VI 



THE SCHOOL OF MINES AND MUSEUM, JERMYN STREET 



THE scheme which De la Beche had so patiently 

 worked at for some twenty years was now at last 

 brought to its consummation. He had succeeded in 

 inducing the Government to build a spacious edifice, 

 extending from Piccadilly to Jermyn Street, which 

 was to be entirely devoted to the purposes of Geology 

 and its allied sciences. The main portion of the 

 building was arranged for the display of specimens of 

 minerals, rocks, and fossils, especially to illustrate the 

 geological formations and mineral products of the 

 British Isles. A large series of admirable specimens had 

 been obtained from the mines of Cornwall and Devon, 

 showing the characters of metalliferous veins and their 

 accompaniments. Another series represented various 

 mineral substances employed in manufactures or arts, 

 with examples of their successive stages of treatment 

 from the raw material to the finished article. A third 

 series consisted of various stones employed in building 

 or for decorative purposes. There were likewise 

 numerous specimens of mining tools and machinery 

 and models of mines and pit- workings. In every way 

 that could be devised the contents were so chosen and 

 arranged as to justify the name given to the building, 

 ' The Museum of Practical Geology.' The old collec- 



