lxiv REPORT—1868. 
each pair of windows. This arrangement combines economy of space with 
perfect illumination, and affords facilities for classification *. 
In respect of its Natural-History Collections, the position of the British 
Museum appears to me disadvantageous ; it is surrounded by miles of streets, 
including some of the principal Metropolitan thoroughfares, which pour 
clouds of dust, and the products of coal-combustion into its area day and 
night; and I know few more disappointing sights, to me, than its badly 
lighted interior presents on a hot and crowded public holiday, when whole 
families from London and its outskirts flock to the building. Then young and 
old may be seen gasping for fresh air in its galleries, with no alternative but 
the hotter and dustier streets to resort to. How different it would be were 
these Collections removed to the townward end of one of the great parks! 
where spacious and well-lighted galleries could be built, amongst trees, grass, 
and fountains ; and where whole families need not be cooped up for the day 
in the building, but avail themselves of the fresh air and its accessories at the 
same time as they profit by the Museum. 
Norwich, I hear with surprise, has no Public Park worthy of the name. 
That she may soon have one should be the endeavour of every citizen, and to 
haye a good instructional series added to your admirable Museum, and this 
transferred to the Park, should be the aspiration of all who are interested in 
the education and moral well-being of their townsmen. 
My remarks on the British Museum convey no reflection on the able officers 
who have, in so short a time, formed this wonderful Collection. Lawrence, in 
his Lectures delivered in 1818, congratulates his audience on the formation 
of a Zoological Collection having just been determined upon; in 1838, when 
I first knew the Museum, in Old Montague House, I was told it ranked about 
the sixth in Europe—now, and for some years past, it has been considered to 
be the finest in the world. This is due to the energy and ability of the 
Keepers and Curators ; and in mentioning them, I would wish to pay a passing 
tribute to the merits of the venerable Dr. Gray, who has devoted his life to 
the development of the Zoological Department, with a singleness of purpose, 
liberality, and zeal that are beyond all praise. 
At the time when Old Montague House contained the National Collections, 
there was but one Museum in the Metropolis in which the Naturalist could 
study to much purpose; this was the Hunterian (belonging to the Royal 
College of Surgeons), then under the superintendence of the late Mr, Clift 
and of Professor Owen, the friend of my early youth, when preparing myself 
to accompany the Antarctic Expedition, and who instructed me in the use of 
that now unrivalled series of Catalogues, that owes so much to himself. 
From the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, the national and pro- 
vincial Museums of England have much to learn and to copy; and, thanks 
to the wisdom and munificence of the Council of the College, and to the zeal 
* Upon this plan the large Museum in Kew is built, where the three principal rooms 
are 70 ft. long by 45 ft. wide, and each accommodates 1000 square feet of admirably lighted 
cases, 600 or 700 feet of wall-room for pictures and for portraits of naturalists, besides 
two fireplaces, four entrances, and a well-staircase, 11 feet square. A circular building, 
with cases radiating from the wall between the windows, would probably be the best ar- 
rangement of all. A light spiral staircase in the centre would lead to the upper stories. 
Two or more of the bays might be converted into private rooms, without disturbing the 
symmetry of the interior or intercepting the lighting of the cases. The proportions of the 
basement and first floor might be such as to admit of additional stories being added, and 
the roof might be so constructed as to be removable without difficulty, when an additional 
story was required ; furthermore, rectangular galleries might be built, radiating from the 
central building, and lighted by opposite windows, with buttress cases between each pair 
of windows. 
