May 4, 191 1] 



NATURE 



329 



Museum at South Kensington and Geological Museum in 

 Jermyn Street. In particular the committee are asked to 

 advise (fl) as to the precise educational and other purposes 

 which the collections can best serve in the national 

 interests ; [h) as to the lines on which the collections should 

 be arranged and developed, and possibly modified, so as 

 more effectively to fulfil these purposes ; and (c) as to the 

 special characteristics which should be possessed by the 

 new buildings which it is hoped will shortly be erected 

 on the South Kensington site to house these collections, so 

 as to enable the latter to be classified and exhibited in the 

 manner most fitted to accomplish the purposes they are 

 intended to fulfil." 



The members of the committee were : — Sir Hugh Bell, 

 Hart., chairman; Dr. J. J. Dobbie, F.R.S. ; Sir Archibald 

 (.iki', K.C.B., F.R.S. ; Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, C.B., 

 I'.R.S.; Mr. Andrew Laing ; the Hon. Sir Schomberg 

 McDonnell, K.C.B., C.'V.O. ; Sir WilHam Ramsav, 

 K.C.B.. F.R.S.; Prof. W. Ripper; Sir W. H. White, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S.; Mr. F. G. Ogilvie, C.B., secretary. 



; he completion of the report is deferred, as the com- 

 mittee is unable to deal in detail with that part of the terms 

 of reference which concerns the adaptation of the general 

 plan of the new buildings to the requirements of classifi- 

 (aiioii and exhibition of the collections, until the bound- 

 iri.-^ (if th.» site are determined. The committee therefore 

 reserves for later consideration and report, when definite 

 information on this point is available, those characteristics 

 .' the buildings that will be governed in large measure by 



i-cial features of the particular site. In the present re- 

 ,;.>rt the committee sets out the nature, aims, and uses of 

 t!v' collections upon which it proposes to base later recom- 

 nii-ndations as to the new buildings. 



We print below parts of the concluding sections of the 

 r 'jK^rt of particular interest. 



7//, 



(iraloi^ical Survey Offices and the Museum of 

 Practical Geology. 



The Geological Survey Offices and Library and the 

 Museum of Practical Geology are now cramped by the 

 limitations of the building in Jermyn Street. These insti- 

 tutions, which form parts of a connected whole, and must 

 ;> kept together, should be grouped, as at present, in a 

 ngle building. We are convinced that if the necessary 

 ;,ace can be allotted at South Kensington, it would be of 



•at advantage to have that building erected as part of 



■ general scheme there. The collections in the Science 

 Museum represent the general principles of geology and 

 geography by examples selected from all regions of th'' 

 world — the stratigraphical collections in the Jermyn Street 

 Museum deal specially with the geology of the British 

 Isles (see .\ppendix iv., p. 30). If these two were brought 

 together they would provide the basis of a collection that 

 would be complete as regards stratigraphical and economic 

 geology. Such a collection in the new buildings, with the 

 svstematic collection of minerals and the pal;vontological 

 collections arranged according to their natural affinities in 

 the British .Museum (Natural History), would represent at 

 a single centre the whole field of geological science. 



In the event of the removal of the Museum of Practical 

 Geologv from its present site, more extended accommoda- 

 tion mu^t be provided for the exhibited specimens. As 

 maltei-^ >iand now — to refer to one only of the activities 

 of the (iei)logical Survey — the economic collections, which 

 are arranged with special reference to the requirements jf 

 the practical man and of the technological student, cannot 

 be properly developed unless more ample galleries are 

 av.'iiiable for them. 



A, I niniiodalinn Hequirrd for the Two Museutus. 



In Healing with the question of the accommodation that 

 would l)e required in the new buildings, we must consider 

 l>otli the immediate requirements and the provision to be 

 made for probable future expansion of the collections. 



-So far as the more immediate needs are concerned, we 

 have prepared an estimate of the minimum floor space 

 which, in our judgment, is necessary I'm exhibition 



NO. 2X66, VOL. 86] 



galleries, offices, workshops, store-rooms, and demonstra- 

 tion rooms, or other meeting rooms, all properly lit. In 

 this estimate we have assumed that there would be further 

 store accommodation suitable for safe-keeping of objects, 

 although not for their examination. The figures, which 

 are given in Appendix vi. (see p. 32), bring out the follow- 

 ing totals : — 



Science Museum : Total floor space required in the 

 immediate future, exclusive of entrance halls, staircases, 

 lavatories, cloakrooms, and reserve stores, and in addition 

 to 16,500 square feet already provided in permanent build- 

 ings, 300,000 square feet. 



Museum of Practical Geology and offices of the Geo- 

 logical Survey : Total floor space required in the immediate 

 future, exclusive of entrance hall, staircases, lava- 

 tories, and cloakrooms, and reserve stores, 60,000 square 

 feet. 



Buildings on this scale would provide for such develop- 

 ments as we can now foresee ; we think it likely that 

 thev would be well utilised within the next ten years, or 

 even in the course of a shorter period, if active steps were 

 taken to make good the deficiencies of the existing collec- 

 tions. At the same time, the buildings could be designed 

 so as to facilitate arrangements for meeting the possible 

 requirements of a more distant future, and whatever space 

 mav be set free from time to time by revision of the 

 collections, the building sclieme adopted now should pro- 

 vide for ultimate extension of the floor space h.-yond the 

 area we have stated. With this matter we _ shall deal 

 further in a later report when we can discuss it with full 

 knowledge of the site available. 



General Statement. 



In most of the departments of science and its applica- 

 tions, the museums on which we have been asked to re- 

 port contain much that is of great historical interest and 

 value. They are rich in specimens, instruments, machines, 

 and models,' selected and exhibited in such a manner as 

 to repav svstematic examination by the student. They 

 have shown what skilful museum exposition can do to 

 promote an intelligent appreciation of the leading _ facts 

 and principles of science and of the ways in which inven- 

 tion has applied these to the furtherance of the industrial 

 welfare of the world. In many sections, however, the 

 collections are now far below the standard which it is 

 clear thev ought to reach in these matters, and their 

 proper organisation is impossible in the existing accom- 

 modation. When suitable buildings are provided on the 

 <,a!. we have indicated, there will be full opportunity 

 anil - luoLiragement for working up all the departments, 

 and more frequent gifts and loans will doubtless quickly 

 fill nianv of the gaps that are now obvious. Some gaps, 

 indeed, would be filled at once by objects which the 

 governors of the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 

 nologv are prepared to present to the museum. 



In other departments of knowledge, the British Museum 

 and the Victoria and Albert Museum have set a high 

 standard for the national provision of museum facilities. 

 In the domain of science, the requirements of most of the 

 branches of natural historv are already admirably pro- 

 vided for at .South Kensington in the Natural Ili-tiirv 

 Museum. In no way overlapping or duplicating ilie fun( - 

 tions of these great' institutions, but representing aspects 

 of human activitv which lie outside their scope, not less 

 ample provision "is necessary for those departments of 

 knowledge, invention; and discovery tiie needs of which 

 have b<^n brought so vividly before us in our inquiry, 

 and we are of opinion that no scheme for a national 

 science museum can be regarded as satisfactory unless it 

 provides the buildings necessary for affording to science 

 and th.' industries all the assistance a museum can give. 

 A science museum in which all branches of physical 

 science, pure and applied, and the scientific and economic 

 work of the Geological Survev, shall be adequately illus- 

 trated in close proximitv to the other great museums at 

 South Kensington will, we believe, be of incalculable 

 benefit alike to intellectual progress and to industrial 

 development, and will be re<-ognised as an institution of 

 which the country may well be oroud. 



