NATURE 



[May 14, 1 89 1 



Gallon, Prof. Ayrton, Prof. Flower, C.B., Prof. Armstrong 

 (Secretary of the Chemical Society), and Mr. Fletcher 

 and Mr. Woodward, of the British Museum. 



Prof. Story-Maskelyne, in introducing the deputation, in the 

 absence of Sir Henry Roscoe (who is laid up with influenza), 

 said it embraced a body of gentlemen distinguished not so much 

 by their numbers as by their character, representing as they did 

 the Royal Society and the scientific men of England. They 

 had come there to ask that the question of the site of the new 

 National Gallery for Biitish Art should be reconsidered. Those 

 who were deeply concerned in what he might call the new Uni- 

 versity which had risen for science at South Kensington felt 

 that the proposed building would be a wedge put in between 

 the place now oocupied by it and the place dedicated to science. 

 Scientific men would have to go across the road to get to 

 another and interesting branch of the National Science Collec- 

 tion in a portion of the ground which would then be con- 

 siderably remote from where they at present were. They 

 understood it to be very much a question of money, and it was 

 believed that the Government would have to ask Parliament to 

 supplement the grant of ;,^8o,ooo given by the anonymous 

 donor. What he asked was that they should not be told off- 

 hand that the scheme could not be altered, but that they should 

 be allowed to take the sense of Parliament as to whether the 

 site was to be occupied in the way proposed or not. They 

 objected to the money being simply asked from Parliament and 

 the control taken out of its hands. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — You may entirely exclude 

 that. That will not be done. We shall take such precautions 

 by trustees and by contracts that such a contingency will not 

 occur. 



Prof. Story-Maskelyne said he was very glad to hear that. 



Sir William Thomson, on behalf of the Royal Society, said 

 they respectfully protested against the proposal to take the site 

 now occupied by the physical laboratory of the Royal College 

 of Science for' any other purpose. Sixty pupils were now 

 actively engaged. There was also a mining school in the same 

 locality. No other sites could be as convenient as the site 

 which those departments at the present occupied. It would be 

 most fatal to the science work if the present arrangements were 

 interfered with or the scientific collections, so conveniently 

 arranged, were disturbed. Nor would the proposed site be the 

 most convenient one for the pictures. A far better one would 

 be that at present occupied by the School of Cookery, which, 

 while affording ample room for the present proposal, would also 

 be perfectly convenient for subsequent expansion in a direction 

 that would result in the most admirable collection of picture 

 galleries in the world. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — Can you tell us — for I 

 have not yet been able to make it out — in what way the pro- 

 posed arrangement would be fatal to the work of the College of 

 Science? 



Sir William Thomson. — By cutting the school in two — by 

 separating the school from the place in which the instruments 

 are kept. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — You mean that it is too 

 far to walk ? 



Sir William Thomson, — It would be dreadfully risky to have 

 to carry about delicate instruments. 



Sir Bernhard Samuelson, as a member of a departmental 

 committee which considered the question of housing the College 

 of Science, supported Sir William Thomson's views, and pointed 

 out that already there had been an encroachment upon the 

 land which had been acquired for the purposes of the Science 

 Mupeum. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — It was purchased for 

 science and art. You do not contend that the whole of it should 

 be devoted to science ? 



Sir Bernhard Samuelson said he did. He would like to ask 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, after the assurance which he 

 had just given that there would be no occasion to go to the 

 House of Commons for a vote in aid of this work, whether he 

 meant that, if there should be an expansion of the art gallery, 

 some one would be ready to extend the munificence of the 

 present donor. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — I think that that is rather 

 a matter for our grandchildren. I think there is plenty of space 

 to fill with worthy pictures for a very long time to come. 



Prof. Story-Maskelyne. — But ;,^8o,ooo will not do it. 



Sir B. Samuelson said he hoped the question of the site would 

 be reconsidered, and that those representing science should have 

 the assurance that ample space would be given them not only 

 for their present requirements but also for the extension which 

 appeared to be looming in the future. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — I am anxious to provide 

 well for science. We hope to bring science into one centre 

 fronting the Imperial Institute, 



Sir B. Samuelson said that if they were given an area equal 

 to the amount purchased last year for the purpose of science 

 alone they ought, in his opinion, to be content. But already 

 there had been a small encroachment, and the fact of their 

 having no actual claim to the ground would lead to further 

 encroachment, which would, in the end, make it impossible for 

 science to be efficiently provided for. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer. — I am anxious to show you 

 that, quite irrespective of my interposition, we have not been 

 blind to the interests of science, and that one of our plans has 

 been to satisfy science in the most ample manner for the future. 



Sir B. Samuelson said the art gallery was looked upon with a 

 great deal of jealousy, and in the next place they feared that the 

 full area of 200,000 feet, which they considered to be absolutely 

 necessary for the future requirements of science, would be 

 encroached upon. 



Sir Frederick Bramwell, who was chairman of the departmen 

 tal committee which considered the question in 1888, said there 

 was a site to the north of the Cuy and Guilds Institute, and 

 from the east to the west there were galleries, and a cross gallery 

 was being made by the Imperial Institute which would give com- 

 munication one with the other, and which would be in immediate 

 connection with the site he suggested. That would be an admir- 

 able art gallery. He would be glad to see the Science School 

 and everything belonging to it moved so that there might not be 

 a road dividing it. He trusted that the anonymous donor might 

 be induced to see that his gift would prove more graceful if he 

 did not impose a condition that would have so prejudicial an 

 effect as would be the case if the recommendations of the two 

 committees he had referred to were disregarded. 



Lord Cranbrook. — The question, of course, so far as it can be 

 considered will be considered, and I quite agree with Sir 

 Frederick Bramwell that nobody can predict what may be done 

 hereafter. You may have a scheme which, in itself, is a good 

 one', but which may possibly have to wait. But in the meantime 

 I can assure you that the interests of science will be most care- 

 fully considered, and that we will do what we can in order 

 to further them. 



Prof. Story-Maskelyne, having thanked Lord Cranbrook 

 and Mr. Goschen for the hearing that had been given to their 

 views, 



The deputation withdrew. 



"We have received the following communication on this 

 subject : — 



Sir,— The curious admissions made by Mr. Goschen to the 

 deputation which waited upon him and the Lord President in- 

 dicate very clearly that we have, in the present muddle touching 

 the site of the Art Gallery, another of those instances in which 

 we suffer from the system, or, rather, want of system, which 

 is characteristic of the relation of Government to science, and 

 from the absence of scientific knowledge in those branches of 

 the public service by which matters of the highest scientific 

 moment are settled. A reference to some of the facts will, I 

 think, show this very clearly. 



The particular site which has been allocated by the Govern- 

 ment in this way for the purposes of an art gallery forms part of 

 a piece of land which, as is well known, only last year was 

 deliberately purchased by the same Government for scientific 

 purposes — to be quite accurate for "science and the arts "' — 

 that is, science and its manifold applications. The space of 

 ground thus purchased was less than half the space allotted to the 

 Natural History Museum. I say deliberately, because the pur- 

 chase of the land in 1890 had for its object the carrying out of 

 one of the recommendations of the Duke of Devonshire's Com- 

 mission, which dates from the year 1874— namely, the erection 

 of a Science Museum. 



This object so warmly commended itself to the Royal Commis- 

 sioners of the 1 85 1 Exhibition that in 1876 they offered the land 

 on which the Imperial Institute is now being erected and a sum 

 of ^100,000 towards its realization. Few acquainted with the 



NO, 



I I 24, VOL, 44] 



