NATURE 



433 



THURSDAY, MARCH lo, 1892. 



THE SCIENCE MUSEUM AND THE TATE 

 GALLERY. 



THE men of science of this country owe a deep debt 

 of gratitude to Mr. Goschen. As a result of his 

 careful inquiry into the questions raised by the suggested 

 use, for Mr. Tate's gallery, of land bought for scientific 

 purposes, he has decided that the scientific claim must 

 hold good. It is impossible to over-estimate the import- 

 anceof this decision. Had it been otherwise, the possibility 

 of establishing in London an institution which should be 

 for Science what the National Gallery is for Art and the 

 British Museum Library for Literature would have been 

 wrecked for a generation. 



One can easily imagine that it was not easy for a 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer to come to such a conclu- 

 sion — not easy, that is, to one who was prepared only to 

 look at the surface of things. 



On the one hand, there was the tempting offer of 

 _^8o,ooo from a well-known public benefactor, about 

 which large sum so much has been said that very few 

 have thought it worth while to consider either the value 

 of the plot or what capital sum would represent the annual 

 outlay necessary to keep up the gallery when once built ; 

 an outlay which, of course, would fall upon the nation. 



On the other hand, the Lord President of the Council, 

 who is responsible for the Science and Art Department 

 (and, as many people think, however erroneously, for the 

 proper setting out and consideration of any national ques- 

 tion touching Science or Art), seemed to be willing that 

 Mr. Tate should have his way. Nor was this all ; the 

 Report of the Committee appointed by the Treasury 

 a few years ago is so vaguely drafted that it now 

 appears that the view which we and others took in 

 discussing its recommendations at the time was in- 

 correct. The question referred to this Committee dealt 

 with the space necessary for the housing of the science 

 collections which had been brought together as a 

 nucleus for the Science Museum, the establishment of 

 which was recommended in 1874 by the Duke of Devon- 

 shire's Commission. The Committee's Report recom- 

 mended that 90,000 square feet should be provided. We 

 and others naturally took this to mean that this was in 

 addition to the existing space. The modern gloss, how- 

 ever, is that this represented the whole space necessary^ 

 in the opinion of the Committee, for a complete Museum 

 dealing with all the inorganic sciences (except geology 

 and mineralogy) and their industrial applications ! It 

 may even be that this idea has been placed before Mr. 

 Goschen. If so, all the greater credit to him for having 

 seen through the fallacy of a view which it is absolutely 

 impossible can ever have been in the heads of the scien- 

 tific members of the Committee. 



As we pointed out recently, it is better not to deal 

 with opinions in such a matter as this, if facts are avail- 

 able ; they exist. The space considered necessary not 

 very many years ago for the sciences represented in the 

 Natural History Museum was 150,000 square feet, nearly 

 double that already mentioned. In the case of these 

 sciences, moreover, " industrial applications" cannot be 

 exhibited at all— except, by the way, in the case of 

 NO. 1 167, VOL. 45] 



geology, for which a special Museum exists in Jermyn 

 Street. 



One hundred and fifty thousand square feet being re- 

 quired, a plot of 500,000 square feet was provided ; and 

 it is quite certain that, at some not very distant time, 

 the space not yet built on will be required. We cannot, 

 therefore, call this generous appropriation unwise from 

 the point of view of possible, or rather certain, future 

 extensions ; while all will agree that a national building 

 of this class is all the better for standing a little away 

 from noisy and dusty roads. 



This, then, is the available fact with which we can deal, 

 and we must again state whither it leads us ; for in Mr. 

 Goschen's letter to Mr. Tate, admirable though it is as 

 a complete statement of the case, there is one phrase 

 to which we must take exception. To show its force, 

 we quote the whole sentence : — 



" In conclusion, allow me to say that I can well under- 

 stand that the difficulties in finding a suitable home for 

 your collection, notwithstanding your munificent offer to 

 build yourself, may not unnaturally have caused you some 

 vexation. I think you will, however, admit that the 

 Government have shown their desire to meet you in 

 every possible way, and are willing to incur considerable 

 outlay themselves in carrying out your plan. In the first 

 instance, we not only offered the eastern and western 

 galleries for housing British art, but adopted the plan of 

 uniting them by a cross gallery, which seemed to remove 

 many of the objections. When you came to the con- 

 clusion that the proportions given to the plan were not 

 large enough or distinct enough to suit your views, and 

 when you suggested the site at the corner of the Imperial 

 Institute Road, I hoped that a solution had been found, 

 and that this arrangement would meet with general 

 acceptance. You are aware of the storm which fol- 

 lowed, and though, in i)iy own judgment, the Gover7i- 

 vient land at Kensington was of so large an area that, 

 by some understanding between the representatives of 

 science and those of art, satisfactory means could be pro- 

 vided for assigning sites for every purpose , I was never- 

 theless so anxious that no obstacles should prevent the 

 execution of your plans, that I consented to recommend 

 the Government to incur a very considerable pecuniary 

 liability if the Corporation of London should, on their 

 part, offer the site on the Embankment on terms which 

 were suggested to me as not impossible." 



Now, the land at Kensington, of " so large an 

 area," consists of something like 300,000 square feet, 

 say three-fifths of the site occupied by the Natural 

 History Museum: of this, Mr. Tate demanded roughly 

 100,000 square feet — thus leaving 200,000. 



Of this, the new laboratories for physics, astronomical 

 physics, and chemistry, if these are to be on the scale of 

 similar institutions in a second-rate German town, will, 

 including the necessary lighting spaces, &c., require 

 100,000 square feet. This leaves 100,000. 



But this remainder, on which there is to be built a 

 Science Museum, is less than two-thirds of the exhibiting 

 space of the Natural History Museum as it stands at 

 present, to say nothing of the total area devoted to it ! 



It is clear, then, that Mr. Goschen has not had the 

 facts placed before him by those upon whom he has 

 relied for his information. While the official prompting 

 has tended one way, the opinions of the President and 

 Officers of the Royal Society and other men of science 

 have clearly tended another ; and Mr. Goschen's final 



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