NA TURE 



205 



THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1876 



A PHYSICAL SCIENCE INSTITUTE 



PROBABLY the present generation knows little of the 

 conditions under which the great exhibition of 185 1 

 was organised, or of the important results which followed 

 it. After clearing all the expenses of that enterprise, a 

 large surplut remained, to administer which a Royal 

 Charter was granted to the Commissioners who managed 

 the Exhibition. Since 1852 the Commissioners have held 

 numerous meetings, and quietly done a large amount of 

 work from which the nation has reaped great benefit. 

 Much of the success of the various departments connected 

 with the South Kensington Museum is due to the help 

 they have been able to give, and now they propose a 

 scheme whereby a large proportion of the property at 

 their disposal will be allotted for the benefit of science 

 and art. The Commissioners recently held a meeting, 

 under the presidency of the Prince of Wales, at which 

 their Special Committee reported on various schemes for 

 making use of their funds and property. 



The Commissioners started with a clear capital of 

 186,000/. They have given to the Government, for the 

 use of the South Kensington Museum, property valued at 

 14,000/., and 60,000/. in land. They have sold to the 

 Government, at half the value, land for the Natural History 

 Museum, worth 240,000/. They have given the site of the 

 Royal Albert Hall, worth 60,000/, and retain property m 

 it to the extent of 80,000/. They have invested 100,000/. 

 in the galleries lent to the India Museum and Science 

 Loan Exhibition. Notwithstanding these very consider- 

 able contributions, the Commissioners still possess out of 

 the Kensington Gore estate, which they purchased with 

 the surplus funds of the 1851 enterprise, landed property 

 of very great value. We believe that the whole of the 

 site of the International Exhibition buildings, including, 

 the Horticultural Gardens, and some adjacent properties 

 are in the trust of the Commissioners. Five schemes 

 have been thought of for the utilisation of this valuable 

 property. By one of these the Commissioners could 

 realise one million sterling, and yet retain a square of ten 

 or twelve acres in the centre of their property. But this 

 they do not think of adopting. The one which they seem 

 to regard most favourably is to lease or sell the ground 

 outside the arcades, called the East and West Annexes, 

 and retain the Horticultural Gardens and Exhibition 

 Buildings, by which means they would realise upwards 

 of 350,000/., free from all liabilities. Whichever scheme 

 is adopted — and the Commissioners seem to think the 

 time is ripe for making the best of their trust in " the 

 interests of science and art " — a very large sum will be at 

 their disposal. 



Various objects, all in accordance with the purpose for 

 which they were originally appointed, seem to have 

 suggested themselves to the Commissioners for the 

 appropriation of these funds. Scholarships in science 

 and art, it is suggested, might be founded in connection 

 with central institutions and provincial colleges of science 

 and art, such as those at Manchester, Birmingham, 

 Bristol, Leeds, and elsewhere. It would be a great 

 benefit, it is thought, to these new institutions if their 

 more promising students could be brought up to the 

 Vol. XIV,— No. 349 



laboratories of chemistry, physics, and biology, which are 

 in active work at South Kensington. A portion of the 

 funds might also, it is thought, be devoted to the promo- 

 tion of museums of science and art throughout the 

 country, and in making grants in aid of the British 

 Section at International Exhibitions ; also in supplying 

 several existing wants in connection with the South Ken- 

 sington Museum, and erecting other buildings on the 

 estate to be devoted to science and art. 



The Commissioners are naturally anxious for the wel- 

 fare of their own child, the South Kensington Museum, 

 and for the proper exhibition of the treasures it contains, 

 and the proper housing of its educational and other 

 libraries. This has engaged much of their attention, more 

 especially as the executors of the late Mr. Dyce insist on 

 the carrying out of the provisions of his will with regard to 

 the display of his bequest. Since the subject, however, 

 has been under the consideration of the Commissioners, 

 Government has made a grant of 80,000/. for the purposes 

 of Art, part of which will, no doubt, be devoted to the 

 proper location of the Dyce and other collections, and to 

 some of the other purposes concerning which the Com- 

 missioners are naturally anxious. Had they been aware 

 of this grant, no doubt they would have spoken more 

 fully and decidedly of another scheme which appears to 

 have come under their consideration. 



The scheme to which we refer was briefly described by 

 Mr. Cross recently in the House of Commons, and has 

 reference to the establishment of " a museum and scien- 

 tific institute, which would comprise a library of works 

 in science and art, for the use of students at South 

 Kensington, and public examination rooms." From 

 the way in which the library is here mentioned we 

 may consider that it is a matter of secondary im- 

 portance in the eyes of the Commissioners, and that 

 the main idea is to build a museum and laboratory. 

 We confess we cannot see the immediate appropriate- 

 ness of attaching a library to a laboratory and mu- 

 seum of this kind. At present no library of science 

 exists, and there will be a library attached to the Natural 

 History Museum which is now being erected on the 

 Commissioners' grounds, and there are various places in 

 London where the best works and serials in all depart- 

 ments of science can be easily consulted. There is at 

 least no pressing need at present for a science library, 

 while the necessity for the organisation of a laboratory 

 and museum was never more urgent. It is known that if 

 only a suitable receptacle were provided, many of those 

 who have contributed to the Loan Collection are willing to 

 leave their apparatus permanently as the nucleus of an 

 English Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. No better 

 opportunity could be afforded for the commencement of 

 a science museum ; but if the Commissioners do not 

 resolve without delay to carry out the scheme that has 

 apparently been engaging their attention, a golden oppor- 

 tunity will be lost that is not likely to occur again soon. 



As to the proposal to provide rooms in the Science 

 Museum for examinations in connection with the Science 

 and Art Department, we think the Commissioners would 

 be doing a quite unnecessary and rather mischievous 

 thing in carrying out such a proposal. Government 

 has started these examinations, and is no doubt quite 

 prepared to provide examination-rooms for itself. I 



I. 



