NATURE 



29 



THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1920. 



The State and the National Museums. 



WHILE reconstruction in almost every direc- 

 tion is in the air, there is a very real 

 danger that the needs of our national museums 

 may escape notice. The time is, indeed, more than 

 ripe for the State to consider with all due care 

 whether their value to the community might not 

 be vastly increased were there some system of co- 

 ordination between them, the connecting Hnks 

 being of sufficient flexibility to allow each of them 

 to perform its proper work without the irksome 

 trammels that accompany undue centralisation. In 

 the course of two reports issued by the late 

 Ministry of Reconstruction, certain suggestions 

 are made for achieving this end ; to them we shall 

 refer later. The proposal which we put forward 

 is not very different, but we consider it to be a 

 more complete solution. To apprehend more cor- 

 rectly the nature of the problem, it will be neces- 

 sary first to set out briefly the origin and the 

 present position of the principal national museums. 



Perhaps without exception the museums came 

 Into being, not as parts of some wide and com- 

 prehensive scheme, but casually and at haphazard 

 because some particular contingency arose and 

 had to be met. The oldest and most famous of 

 them — the British Museum— was founded in 1753 

 for the purpose of housing and conserving the 

 valuable collections which had been bequeathed 

 to the nation by Sir Hans Sloane, a great antiquary 

 and collector in his day. In the following century 

 the growth of the collections was so great, fed 

 as they were by donations, bequests, and parlia- 

 mentary grants, and, as regards the library, by 

 the operation of the Copyright Act, that it became 

 necessary in the early 'eighties to transfer the 

 natural history collections to the new buildings at 

 .South Kensington which had been erected for 

 their reception. But the rate of growth of the 

 collections tended ever to increase, and additional 

 accommodation was soon urgently needed at both 

 branches of the museum. It was only just before, 

 the outbreak of war that a new wing was opened 

 at Bloomsbury by the King and Queen, while the 

 plans which had been prepared for relieving the con- 

 gestion at South Kensington had, owing to the war, 

 necessarily to be held in abeyance, and it is uncer- 

 tain when it will be possible to proceed with them. 



The original Act of Parliament constituting the 

 museum provided for its governance by a body 

 of trustees ; this arrangement still remains, and 



NO. 2628, VOL. io;1 



no exception could be taken, to it were it not for 

 the fact that election to the standing committee 

 of the British Museum has come to be regarded as 

 a distinction to be awarded on quite irrelevant 

 grounds, and that, owing in the past to the little 

 attention given to science in the public schools, 

 this process has not in general led to the selection 

 of trustees most suitable for the Natural History 

 Museum. Despite the actual physical distance 

 between the two branches of the British Museum, 

 and the great difference in the character 'of the 

 work carried on at the two institutions, they are 

 still officially regarded as one museum, and the 

 Natural History Museum is subordinated to the 

 parent establishment, the official title of its director 

 being Director of the Natural History Departments. 

 There can, unfortunately, be little question that 

 the development of the Natural History Museum 

 has been grievously hampered by the persistent 

 attempt made to fit it to a system devised for the 

 older building, and especially for the great library, 

 which has, in fact, always tended to overshadow 

 the rest of the museum. 



The institution which was at one time known 

 as the South Kensington Museum originated in 

 the collections which were purchased at the Exhibi- 

 tion of 1 85 1 on account of the excellence of their 

 art and workmanship. Half a century later the 

 need for expansion had become acute, and plans 

 for new buildings were put in hand, but in the 

 reorganisation of this museum wiser counsels pre- 

 vailed, and the Science Museum was created a 

 separate institution, quite independent of the Art 

 Museum, .afterwards known as the Victoria and 

 Albert Museum. The title of the former museum 

 cannot be considered altogether happy, since it 

 is concerned, not with science in general, but 

 chiefly with engineering and applied mechanics. 

 Both museums are administered by the Board of 

 Education, 



The Museum of Practical Geology was a neces- 

 sary concomitant of the Geological Survey, which 

 was instituted in 1832. Plans had been prepared 

 for bringing this museum and the offices of the 

 Survey to a new building to be erected near the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington, 

 but the war intervened, and many years are likely 

 to elapse before they reach maturity. Up to a few 

 months ago the Survey was attached to the Science 

 Museum under the administration of the Board of 

 Education, but it has now been transferred to the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 

 the creation of which is one of the few beneficent 

 results of the war. 



The London Museum, now located at Lancaster 



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