ii PLAN FOR A NATIONAL MUSEUM 49 



other, and communicating at frequent intervals. Each circle, 

 would represent an epoch in the world's history, commencing 

 in the centre and finishing at the outermost, which would be 

 that in which we are now living. The history of each natural 

 group would be traced in radiating lines, and so by passing 

 from the centre to the circumference, its condition of develop- 

 ment in each period of the world's history could be studied. 

 If, on the other hand, the subject for investigation should be 

 the general fauna or flora of any particular epoch, it would be 

 found in natural association by confining the attention to the 

 circle representing that period. By such an arrangement, that 

 most desirable object, the union of palaeontology with the 

 zoology and botany of existing forms in one natural scheme, 

 could be perfectly carried out, as both the structural and the 

 geological relations of each would be preserved, and indicated 

 by its position in the museum. Such a building would 

 undoubtedly offer difficulties in practical construction ; but 

 even if these could be got over, our extremely imperfect 

 knowledge of the past history of animal and plant life would 

 make its arrangement, with all the gaps and irregularities that 

 would become evident, so unsatisfactory that I can scarcely 

 hope to see it adopted in the near future. 



I have therefore brought before you a humbler plan, but 

 one which, I think, will be found to embody the practical 

 principles necessary in a working museum of almost any 

 description, large or small. 



The fundamental idea of this plan is that the whole of the 

 building should be divided by lines intersecting at right angles, 

 like the warp and the woof of a piece of canvas. 



The lines in one direction (see Plan, next page) divide 

 the different natural sections of which the collection is com- 

 posed, and which it is convenient to keep apart ; the lines 

 crossing these separate the portions of the collection according 

 to the method of treatment or conservation. Thus, the ex- 

 hibited part of the whole collection will come together in a 

 series of rooms, occupying naturally the front of the building. 

 The reserve collections will occupy another, or the middle, 

 section ; and beyond these will be the working rooms, studies, 

 and administrative offices, all in relations to each other, as 



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