14 YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



sciences. The architects were Deane and Woodward ; and the style 

 is mediaeval, especially fitted for Oxford. As the group of buildings 

 is entirely isolated, their picturesqueness and variety can be fully 

 appreciated. The principal (or west) front is shown in the vignette, 

 and contains sitting, apparatus, and lecture rooms : the northern 

 wing is devoted to the departments of anatomy, medicine, physi- 

 ology, and zoology ; the south wing to those of chemistry, experi- 

 mental philosophy, mineralogy, and geology, with a great lecture- 

 room, &c. ; and the large inner quadrangle, called the Museum 

 Court, to the collections. The octagonal building on the south-west 

 {right hand of the engraving) is the large laboratory, and is modelled 

 after the kitchen of Glastonbury Abbey. 



One of the happiest ideas of the design was to make the building 

 itself serve to illustrate the studies of the place. The shafts have 

 been selected, under the direction of the Professor of Geology, 

 from quarries which furnish examples of many of the most impor- 

 tant rocks of the British Islands. On the lower and upper arcades 

 are placed, west, the granitic series ; east, the metamorphic ; north, 

 calcareous rocks, chiefly from Ireland ; south, the marbles of Eng- 

 land. The capitals and bases represent groups of plants and ani- 

 mals, illustrating different climates and various epochs. 



THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. 



The Art-collections (the nucleus of this Museum) originated in 

 the School of Design in Somerset House, which commenced its pro- 

 ceedings in 1S37. The total cost to the public of the Collections of 

 Ornamental Art now deposited in the South Kensington Museum, 

 amounts to 38,2i>9/. The value of gifts and loans liberally contri- 

 buted by the public, were estimated at 4(30,000/. Including the cost 

 of land, buildings, and the other collections, the South Kensington 

 Museum has cost the public 167,805/. This great central Museum of 

 " fine art applied to manufactures" contains more than 7000 speci- 

 mens of ornamental art ; a large collection of British pictures ; a 

 circulating art library ; architectural examples, and various useful 

 collections ; besides which there is a normal school for training art 

 teachers, and the various local schools of art receive substantial aid. 

 The character of this museum is essentially practical. It includes an 

 educational collection of the most approved school buildings, furni- 

 ture, maps, and books. There is a " Food Collection," which shows 

 the nutritive powers of different substances, a curator supplying the 

 necessary explanation of the eases exhibited. There is also an exhi- 

 bition of animal products, which is obviously useful. A Collection 

 of Patents forms another class of the contents of the museum : it is 

 of remarkable interest as an historical exhibition, including, for 

 instance, the parent engine of steam navigation by Symington, by 

 which he navigated a boat in 17*7, with (it is said) Lord Brougham 



and the poet Burns for his companions. But Ornamental Art is the 



main feature in the museum.- -l:cidaia bif'ivc Select Committee, 



Hotue of Commons. 



