86 Notes and Comments. 
the British Museum would be £12,000 a year, against whicly 
must be set some £3,000 at present received from the sale of 
official publications. If the closure were part of a general 
measure for the protection of the treasures of the nation from 
air raids, they would all acquiesce. But no such great and com- 
prehensive measure was in contemplation, and the only effect of 
the closure would be to render the museums useless at a time 
when they were doing a most useful work, and to proclaim our 
disregard for the things of the mind. 
OTHER SPEAKERS. 
Mr. R. C. Witt quoted the statement of an enemy newspaper 
that the closing of the museums was ‘a declaration of moral 
bankruptcy, throwing a strange light on the economic con- 
ditions of England.’ He emphasised the importance of the 
museums and art galleries as the intellectual workshops of 
the nation. Mr. G. Prothero dwelt on the desirability of giving 
students and scholars engaged in historical and archeological 
research continued access to the Manuscript Room at the 
British Museum. Mr. Dibdin declared that, having regard to 
the necessity for heating and cleaning and the continuance of 
rates and salaries, the closing of municipal and other museums 
in the provinces would not materially reduce their cost. The 
estimated saving in Liverpool would be only £1,355. Ona 
recent occasion over eight per cent. of the visitors to the Liver- 
pool Art Gallery were soldiers. To close the museums would 
be to deprive the public of intelligent and inexpensive dis- 
traction from the present stress of life and to cripple the 
advance of art and science. Sir Ray Lankester also argued 
that the economy effected would be extremely small and out of 
proportion to the injury done to the public. The museums, 
like the cathedrals, were places of rest and reflection. It was 
unwise to lump them all under one regulation. The saving 
that would result from closing the Natural History Museum 
would be less than £2,500—a mere flea-bite. Similar pro- 
tests were made by Dr. Hoyle, Mr. Lowe and Mr. Colton. 
MR. ASQUITH’S REPLY. 
Mr. Asquith in reply, said he was sure they would not 
suspect him of any want of appreciation of the invaluable 
work of the museums and art galleries in the promotion of 
culture, the development of scientific research, the application 
of the arts and sciences to industry, and the provision of the 
most wholesome of all forms of recreation and relaxation. 
Under normal conditions he would have been the last person 
to assent to any curtailment of the national expenditure on such 
institutions, still more to any restriction of the facilities of 
the public for visiting them. But we were at war. 
Naturalist,. 

