THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). 



The tide of opinion against the erection of a new seience 

 museum between the Imperial College and the Natural 

 History Museum at South Kensington, continues to gather 

 strength. At present the plot of land bounded on the north 

 by Imperial Institute Road, on the south by Cromwell Road, 

 and lying betwefen Queen's Ciate and E.xhibition Road, is 

 occupied by the two great institutions just mentioned. .At the 

 back of the Natural History Mnseiun is the Spirit Building, 

 between it and the Imprri.il College are the temporary 

 buildings of the Science Museinn. The suggestion is that the 

 Spirit Building, which cost /, 30.000, shall be pulled down, that 

 the ground which it occupies and some on each side of it shall 

 be taken away from the British Museum and form the site of 

 a new science nniseum. 



A glance at the plans issued with the Government white 

 paper, numbered Cd. 5650, will show at once how each of the 

 institutions will hamper the others. There will be absolutely 

 no hope for the Imperial College to spread, the Science 

 Museum will be in the same predicament and the Natural 

 History Museum which long ago ought to have been enlarged 

 will not only lose a part of the land definitely allocated to it. 

 but even the space which is left, if the Government scheme 

 does get carried out. will be encroached upon, because it is 

 proposed to erect a new spirit building along the frontage to 

 Queen's Gate making it for all practical purposes under 

 ground, and bringing the roof four feet above the level of the 

 pavement. The accommodation in the present building is bad 

 enough, but why should it be proposed that those who work at 

 the animals themselves, rather than their stuffed hides, 

 bleached bones, and mummified remains should be condenmed 

 to carry on their researches in a subterranean excavation. 



It is no wonder that the trustees of the British Museum and 

 lovers of Natural History throughout the British Isles, though 

 quite as anxious as other scientific peojile that the new uuiseum 

 should be erecti-d, should wish that some other site might be 

 found for it. 



In the case of private individuals a bargain would have to 

 be kept, and why should not the Government be expected to 

 fulfil an arrangement definitely made. There are plenty 

 of open spaces on the east side of Exhibition Road and. com- 

 paratively speaking, few houses. No doubt it would be some 

 hardship for private individuals to have to part with their 

 dwellings, but surely the development of scientific collections 

 belonging to the nation is as important as the making of a 

 railway by private persons, and it is necessary to look before- 

 hand, not for twenty, but for many hundreds of years. 



The original memorial to the President of the Board of 

 liducafion with regard to the Science Museum was signed by 

 over one hundred scientific men. mostly chemists, physicists and 

 astronomers. Dr. Shipley, Master of Christ's College, Cam- 

 bridge, has already sent in the names of nearly a thousand 

 eminent men and women, who have signed a memorial express- 

 ing their emphatic opinion that nothing should be done which 

 interferes with the development of the Natural History Museum 

 or which limits the scope of the proposed science museum. 



The Entomological Society, knowing that the Insect Depart- 

 ment of the Natural History Museum greatly needs more 

 space, has also passed a resolution of a similar character; 

 the South London Natural History Society and the South- 

 Eastern Union of Scientific Societies have done the same, as 

 well as the Essex Field Club, and we have received the 

 following resolution which has been still more recently passed 

 at a special Council Meeting of the Selborne Society, which 

 now numbers nearly three thousand members. 



" That the Council of the Selborne Society learns with 

 grave concern, the declared intention of the Government 

 to alienate a part of the British Museum I Natural History! in 

 order to form the site of a new museum, and respectfully 

 urges upon the authorities that they should seek another site 

 for the new institution, so that both nuiseums ui.iy have room 

 for their due expansion." 



N()T1CK.S. 



THf: Nl-;w EAIK\ FLV.~As we go to press Mr. Fred 

 Enock telegraphs to say that he has succeeded in breeding a 

 female of Myinar regcxlis, the male of which he recenth- 

 discovered, and describes and figures on pages 271 to 273 of 

 the present number of " Knowi.hdgk." 



XRAV APPAR.Vl T S.— The Admiralty has ordered from 

 Messrs. Newton and Co., of 3, I'leet Street, London, ten sets 

 of X-Ray apparatus for the new battleships for service afloat, 

 making thirty complete installations that this firm has recently 

 supplied to the Royal Na\-y. 



INTEREST TABLES.— We ha\e received from Messrs. 

 Charles and ICdward Layton. Layton's, Simple Interest 

 Tables (price 5 - net), by .Alexander S. Sellar, which deal 

 with amounts ranging from £] to i,'lOO,000 for intervals of 

 one day up to three hundred and sixty- five days and for 

 intervals of one month up to twelve months. 



MICRO-CINEMATOGRAPHV. — Messrs. Pathe Freres 

 have prepared, under the direction of Dr. J. Comandon, of 

 Paris, a series of cinematograph films of microscopic objects 

 for use by lecturers, scientific societies and in schools. At a 

 recent demonstration arranged for " Knowi.kdgl; " these 

 films were seen to be of great interest, showing, as they do, 

 the circulation of the blood. Brownian movements of the 

 platelets in the plasma, phagocytosis by the white corpuscles 

 or leucocytes, clearly illustrating the extrusioirand retrocession 

 of pseudopodia, and, most interesting of all, living trypano- 

 somes and spirochaetes in the blood of infected animals. 

 The phenomena of agglutin.-ilion of ihc spirochaetes in the 

 later stages of rel.ipsing fever and h.ienioh-sis of red corpuscles 

 were extremely well displ.ayed. 



For more popular imrposes films were shown of the life- 

 history of flu' swallcjw-tail bnlleifly, caterpillars feeding on 



wild carrot plants, their mo\ements and the extrusion of their 

 horn-like scent appendages, pupation, the emergence of the 

 imago, the drying of the wings, and then the beginning of the 

 acti\e life of the perfect insect among the flowers. .Another 

 film showed the development of the Axolotyl within the egg, 

 its emergence and, subsequently, its preying on tadpoles. 

 Students who are not aroused to enthusiasm by such exhibi- 

 tions must indeed be hard to please. 



SUMMER FLOWER SHOW AT OLYMPIA. — The 

 Flower Shows of the Royal Horticultural Society are famous 

 throughout the world for their excellence and beauty, and they 

 well deserve the popularity which they enjoy. The Society fosters, 

 and by its Exhibitions nourishes, the love of plant life in the 

 hearts of English people, and its direction is sought by an ever- 

 growing body of people representing all classes of Society. 

 The increase in the number of Fellows, and the crowds 

 attending the Flower Shows, are putting a great strain on the 

 Council and Officials, who are doing all that is possible to do 

 to meet the demands of the times in horticulture. Therefore, 

 friends of the Society welcomed the proposal that the 

 Sunnner Show of this important year should be on a scale of 

 magnificence and comfort hitherto wholly unprecedented in the 

 Society's history, and the great Hall, " Olympia," was accord- 

 ingly engaged for it. The dates fixed are July 4th, 5th and 6th. 

 Many exhibits will, in themselves, be quite considerable 

 gardens. .Sunnner being at its height, the exhibits will largely 

 comprise open-air trees and plants, rock-gardens and water- 

 gardens. 



On July ttli (lie Show uill be open from 12 noon to 10 p.m.; 

 on July 5tl] fmni 'I ii.ni. In 10 p.m.: and on the 6th from 

 9 a.m. to () p.m. In order that the public with narrow purses 

 and little spare time may take advantage of the opportunity 

 thus offered, the price of admission after 6 o'clock on the first 

 two days is to be one shilling. 



288 



