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241 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1887 



SCIENCE AND THE JUBILEE 

 II. 



T N our article last week we referred to two directions in 

 which the Jubilee memorial could in our opinion be 

 made to fulfil functions of the highest importance which 

 none of our existing institutions could take up, and we 

 pointed out that one of them would be almost exclusively 

 scientific. 



The fact that so distinguished a man of science as Sir 

 Frederick Abel has been appointed the organising secre- 

 tary of the new institution amounts almost to an assur- 

 ance that these possible high purposes will not be lost sight 

 of. Sir Frederick Abel has proved himself to be not only 

 a brilliant and patient investigator of new problems in 

 science, but also one of those men whose indomitable 

 energy and administrative power peculiarly fit him for a 

 post in which sympathy with science in its highest aspects 

 must be associated with a keen knowledge of and interest 

 in affairs. 



It is not merely a coincidence, but rather a sign of the 

 times, that this week we refer in our columns to two other 

 apparently distinct subjects,which in fact are most germane 

 to the one we are discussing. The first is an article by 

 Mr. Morris on the botanical federation of the West Indies, 

 and the second is the recently issued Report of the Com- 

 mittee appointed by the Government to consider the 

 question of the national science collections. Mr. Morris's 

 article is connected with the proposed Jubilee memorial in 

 this way : it shows that already, by the nature of things, 

 the West India Islands are associating themselves with 

 the mother country in things botanical, as, according to 

 our view, all our colonies should in things scientific 

 generally. The necessity, the thoroughness, and the 

 economy which obviously must result from such an ar- 

 rangement are well stated by Mr. Morris, than whom we 

 know no higher authority. It should be a subject of pride 

 to our men of science that, thanks to the broad views 

 taken by three successive Directors of the Royal Gardens, 

 Science is ahead of politics on a line where politics is 

 bound to follow her ; for the political federation of the West 

 India Islands is a thing of the not very distant future- 

 This reference to the West Indies induces us, almost com- 

 pels us, to return for one moment to another matter 

 touched on in our article last week. We then pointed 

 out that topography, geology, and botany would not be 

 the only arts of peace to which w^e need confine ourselves. 

 Now, we are inclined to believe that any money which 

 might be spent in federating the West Indies meteoro- 

 logically by means of the telegraph, even if new cables 

 had to be laid here and there, would be saved over and 

 over again in twenty years by the protection afforded 

 to shipping by forecasts during the hurricane season. 

 Now, supposing such a system as this at work in one 

 of the most interesting regions of the world from a 

 meteorological point of view, and controlled, if need be, 

 from the mother country, represented by the Meteoro- 

 VOL. XXXV.— No. 898 



logical Council, good would come all round ; the Meteoro- 

 logical Council would gain a larger and closer view of 

 the phenomena which it is its duty to study, and the 

 federated colonies would obviously gain by the reduction 

 in the yearly loss of life and capital. 



We now pass to the Report on the National Science 

 Collections. The connection between this Report and the 

 proposal for the Institute can be gathered from the 

 following statements. 



We showed in our last article that the Committee 

 appointed by the Prince of Wales were driven to South 

 Kensington for a site by stress of money, even supposing 

 that South Kensington was the worst possible site that 

 could be selected. Our opinion is that South Kensington 

 is the best site that could be selected for any institution 

 which is to be anything more than an expanded Chamber 

 of Commerce or Mart. But, however this may be, the fact 

 remains that the Institute buildings, if erected at all, will 

 be erected at South Kensington. Further the building 

 must have a frontage. 



It will be gathered from the Report of the Government 

 Committee on the Science Collections that it is proposed 

 to house them, including the historical and other objects 

 recently transferred from the Patent Museum, in a building 

 to run from Prince's Gate to Queen's Gate, at the back 

 of the Museum of Natural History. Now, why should 

 not the Royal Commissioners and the Government arrange 

 matters so as to enable the Science Museum, which thus 

 must be geographically associated with the Institute, to 

 be commenced at the same time ? In this way, it appears 

 to us that the Royal Commissioners would have fully 

 discharged their functions as regards the southern part 

 of the land for which they are trustees, provided always 

 that the Institute is really to promote the progress of 

 science and art. 



One word nowas to the real place of this Science Museum 

 among our national institutions for the promotion of know- 

 ledge. The student of literature in this country — the man 

 who has to make new books, or whose desire it is to obtain 

 any of the knowledge contained in old ones — finds in the 

 British Museum library and reading-room the most 

 magnificent organisation to supply him with what he 

 wants. In this respect the British citizen to-day is as well 

 off as, but perhaps no better off than, the citizen of 

 Alexandria was in olden times ; and now, as then, it is 

 conceded that it is the duty and glory of a State which 

 makes any pretence to civilisation to have such an 

 institution as this among its resources. It is one of the 

 arsenals of peace. 



Turn to another line of intellectual activity : take the 

 student of the biological sciences. The British Museum 

 of Natural History is a library no longer containing books 

 merely, but things which have to be studied to obtain new 

 knowledge. Here, as among the books, the student is 

 allowed to examine, to study, to collate, and to describe 

 without stint, microscopes and other apparatus being pro- 

 vided for him ; facilities are afforded to him in order that 

 he may learn, and that the field of knowledge may be 

 enlarged through his labours. 



Yet another region of activity : take Art in all its 

 branches. Our National Gallery and the art collections 

 at the British Museum and South Kensington show that 



