July 6, 191 1] 



NATURE 



1 



to be of only one storey, and top-lighted; I mean so 

 far as it is devoted to museum purposes. But I think 

 that the museum galleries might be conveniently 

 supported on a side-lighted ground floor, which would 

 afford ample room for the library and offices. 



"2423. [Mr. Layard.J Of course, when I asked 

 you the question about the space, I meant to include 

 all the natural history collections, together with the 

 collections of mineralogy, zoology, geology, osteology ; 

 in fact, everything that appertained to the depart- 

 ment of science in the British Museum? — My first 

 answer had reference entirely to the zoological col- 

 lection ; but if you wish to add the other collections 

 I should say, speaking; roughly, another couple of 

 galleries, making, say, seven altogether, would be 

 sufficient, but that is, of course, a mere estimate, 

 and a very moderate one." 



The plans show that the building proposed on this 

 site covered about 35 acres, and there was little, if 

 any, room for expansion, as the District Railway and 

 wide roads had to be provided for, and it was proposed 

 that the latter should bound the area available for 

 museum purposes. 



Ultimately this scheme was given up, and the South 

 Kensington site was fixed upon, the building covering 

 the same ground — 3J acres — as that proposed for the 

 Hunarerford Bridge site. 



d 



h 



the new museum then found itself in the centre of a 

 square containing more than 12A acres. Shade of 

 Owen ! shade of Huxley ! The first had asked for 

 three acres, and two more to cover the expansion of 

 thirty years, and the latter three acres, in which '"the 

 largest zoological collection that can ever be formed 

 may be displayed and preserved in a manner most 

 advantageous to the public and to men of science." 



The second thought was given to this subject in 

 1899, when a new north boundary was considered. 

 This added one and a half acres more land, making 

 more than fourteen acres in all. 



There is no doubt that the Government then allo- 

 cated this land for Natural History Museum purposes. 

 In the recent "Correspondence" (Cd. 5650, p. 1) a 

 letter of 19 10 is printed, quoting a letter of 1S99 

 1 " with reference to the boundary line between the 

 ground which it was then contemplated should be 

 allotted for the use of the Natural History Museum 

 and that provided for the use of the Education De- 

 partment (Science Museum). 



" It was then arranged that a boundary should be 

 fixed, as shown upon the plan, which was forwarded 

 to your predecessor at that time, and it was decided 

 that all the land to the south of that land should be 

 regarded as ear-marked for the future of the expansion 

 of the Natural History Museum." 



Fig. I. — Plan of plot and building erected on it. 



It would seem that between 1863 and 1869 the 

 question of the Patent Museum had dropped into the 

 background, for the plan ultimately adopted for the 

 Natural History Museum was allowed to sprawl over 

 nearly the whole of the plot as shown in the copy 

 of the map published in the sixth Report of the Com- 

 missioners of 1851 (1879). It thus put difficulties in 

 the way of using the unoccupied land. I give another 

 plan, which shows that two museums of the same 

 plan and size, say a Natural History Museum and a 

 Patent Museum, could have been built on the land, 

 leaving some eight acres for future extensions. Of 

 course, if this had been carried out, any desirable 

 change in the plan might have been made. 



It would seem also that all the data collected in 

 1863 and 1S69 had either been forgotten or shown 

 to be worthless, for there is nothing that I know of 

 in the shape of public documents to show, until long 

 afterwards, of what part of the 165 acres bought the 

 British Museum Trustees might consider themselves 

 to be in possession. The land all round the museum 

 was necessarily planted and laid out as gardens, be- 

 cause at the time it was not used for building pur- 

 poses. 



The first thought seems to have been given to this 

 matter in 1S81, after the erection of the building. A 

 fence was erected to cut off the land to the north, and 



NO. 217 



/3» 



s;] 



Seals of Feer 

 Fig. 2. — Plan showing what might have been. 



As the building covers 33 acres, this allocation 

 provided ioj acres for future expansion. 



Incredible as it may seem, this is more by an 

 acre than the area of the parent institution in Blooms- 

 bury at the present time; an area required to garner 

 all the collections on all subjects except natural history, 

 made since 1753, say during a century and a half. 

 Until 1907 it occupied seven and a half acres. In 

 1907 five and a half acres additional were bought, 

 making thirteen in all. 



To state this fact is to show that something had 

 gone wrong somewhere. Had someone blundered? 



This does not seem to be impossible, for the Govern- 

 ment has recently been led to reconsider the matter. 

 We read in the "Correspondence" referred to: — 



"The Treasury and this Board [of Works] have 

 had no desire to disturb the arrangement then [in 

 1899] arrived at so long as the occupation of this land 

 by the Natural History Museum does not affect in- 

 juriously the interests of any other Department." 



"The land and the Museum Buildings being vested 

 in the Commissioners of Works, are the property of 

 his Majesty's Government, and they are bound, there- 

 fore, in the interests of the public, as a whole, to 

 consider without prejudice whether the time has not 



