May 2, 1889J 



NA TURE 



THE NATIONAL SCIENCE MUSEUM. 



IT is now fifteen years since the Duke of Devonshire's 

 Commission, in its fourth Report, made the following 

 recommendations : — 



" With regard to t/ie Scientific Collections of the South 

 Kensington Museum, we recommend : 



" 9. The formation of a collection of physical and 

 mechanical instruments ; and we submit for consideration 

 whether it may not be expedient that this collection, the 

 collection of the Patent Museum, and that of the Scientific 

 and Educational Department of the South Kensington 

 Museum, should be united and placed under the author ty 

 of a Minister of State. 



" With regard to Provincial Museums, we recommend : 



" 10. That, in connection with the Science and Art 

 section of the Education Department, qualified naturalists 

 be appointed to direct the collection of specimens in order 

 to supply whatever deficiencies exist in the more import- 

 ant Provincial Museums ; and also in order to organize 

 typical museums, to be sent by the Department of Science 

 and Art into the provinces to such science schools as may 

 be reported to be likely to make them efficient instruments 

 of scientific instruction. 



" II. That a system of inspection of Provincial Museums 

 be organized with a view of reporting on their condition, 

 and on the extent to which they are usefully employed, 

 and whether the conditions of the loan or grant from the 

 Department of Science and Art have been fulfilled." 



It is quite in accordance with the general way in which 

 scientific matters are treated by the British Government 

 that practically nothing has been done to give effect to 

 these recommendations. Committee after Committee has 

 been appointed, but it would seem more to give an excuse 

 for delay than anything else. But the apathy of the Govern- 

 ment was not shared by H.M. Commissioners for the Exhi- 

 bition of 1 85 1, for some time afterwards they offered a large 

 site on their estate, and a building to be erected at a cost 

 of ^ioc,ooo, if the Government would undertake its main- 

 tenance for the purposes named in the recommendations. 

 Even this munificent offer was declined. 



Again we hear that another Committee has been ap- 

 pointed. Its saiUng orders are not known, but whatever 

 they may be, it seems desirable to again place on record 

 after an interval of fifteen years that part of the Report in 

 question which relates to the inquiry intrusted to the Com- 

 mittee. The Report was the result of much and patient 

 inquiry and deliberation (the Commission worked for five 

 years), and that the competence of the Commission may not 

 be doubted after this lapse of time, we give the names of the 

 Royal Commissioners : the Duke of Devonshire, Sir John 

 Lubbock, Sir James P. Kay-Shuttleworth, Dr. W. Sharpey, 

 Prof. T. H. Huxley, Prof. G. G. Stokes, Prof. Henry 

 J. S. Smith, and Mr., now Sir, Bernhard Samuelson. Mr. 

 J. Norman Lockyer was the secretary of the Commission. 



The Collections at South Kensington. 



64. The South Kensington Museum is administered 

 by a Director who is responsible to the Lords of the 

 Committee of Privy Council on Education. 



65. Though, from special circumstances, the art col- 

 lections of this Museum have been, up to the present 

 time, most developed, it has contained, from its earliest 

 days, several collections of a scientific nature. Those at 

 oresent existing are :— 



(i) The food collection. 



(2) The animal products collection. 



(3) The structure and building materials collection. 



(4) Models of machinery, ships, and military and naval 

 appliances. 



(5) Collections illustrating economic entomology and 

 forestry. 



(6) Collections illustrating fish culture. 



(7) The educational collections. 



(8) The Patent Museum. 



66. The Food Collection. — This collection, which was 

 commerced in 185S, has been formed with a view to 

 showing, first, the chemical composition of the various 

 substances used as food ; secondly, the sources from 

 which all varieties of food are obtained ; and, thirdly, 

 the various substances used for adulteration, and the best 

 methods of detecting them. 



A duplicate collection of the chemical analyses of food 

 is used for circulation among country schools, and large 

 descriptive labels are supplied to the managers of country- 

 museums who may apply for them. 



67. The Animal Products Collection. — This collection 

 was established by the Commissioners for the Exhibition 

 of 185 1, who observed that, whilst the puWic possessed, 

 in the Museums of Kew and Jermyn Street, collections 

 illustrative of the economic apphcations of mineral and 

 vegetable substances, there was no representation of the 

 uses of the animal kingdom. The collection consists of 

 animal substances employed in textile manufactures and 

 clothing ; substances used for domestic and ornamental 

 purposes ; pigments and dyes yielded by animals ; ani- 

 mal substances used in pharmacy and in perfumery ; and 

 the application of waste matters, together with illustrations 

 of the processes of manufacture. 



We have been informed that, for want of space, this 

 collection has been but little developed of late years. 



68. Construction a7id But I ding Materials Collection. — 

 This collection had its origin in a large number of models 

 and specimens which were presented to the Commis- 

 sioners for the Exhibition of 1851 at its close. In 1859 

 the collection had become so extensive from gifts, es- 

 pecially from the Exhibitions in London and Paris, that 

 the classified Catalogue formed a most useful book of 

 reference on the subject, and was largely sold as such. 



The collection consists of the following objects : — 

 building stones ; marbles and slates ; cements and 

 plasters ; bricks of every description ; tiles for roofing, 

 flooring, and wall decoration ; terra-cottas ; drain-pipes ; 

 asphalte and bitumen ; iron and metal work ; woods 

 applicable to building purf oses ; glass, and its applica- 

 tion ; models of buildings and construction ; paper- 

 hangings ; papicr-mdche work ; architectural drawings 

 and plans. 



69. In connection with this Museum, numerous experi- 

 ments on the strength of materials have been carried 

 on, the results of which have been published in the 

 Catalogues. 



10, Models of Machinery, Ships, and Military and 

 Naval Appliances. — This collection consists principally 

 of models of marine engines, ships, and guns. But there 

 are also specimens and models of machinery of a 

 different character, such as the Jacquard loom, the Whit- 

 worth measuring machine, and the Babbage calculating 

 machine. 



7 1 . Collections illustrating Economic Entomology and 

 Forestry. — A collection of economic entomology is now 

 in course of formation. It is intended to enable the 

 public to distinguish insects injurious to man from those 

 that work to his advantage, and to illustrate the best 

 means of destroying those which are injurious, or 0/ 

 mitigating the ravages committed by them. 



This collection, in its relation to forestry, contains 

 sfecimens of the various kinds of timber attacked by 

 insects, the insects themselves in various stages of 



