'5o Notes and Comments. 



in the furtherance of the war ; yet it would be stopped, if the 

 buildings were closed and the collections were removed, to 

 say nothing of the loss to science, literature and art generally 

 (and we may include commerce), though this may not be ex- 

 pected to appeal to the said powers. But the collections in the 

 British Museum cannot be hurriedly packed and carted off 

 by pantechnicon vanmen, and in any case, if every possible 

 care were taken, damage to objects which cannot possibly be 

 replaced was inevitable. 



BOMBS. 



There is a further aspect of the question ; if our principal 

 museum buildings are being used for war work, we can hardly 

 expect them to be respected in case of air raids — which are 

 quite possible ; and experience has shown that the raiders are 

 able to select their targets — and hit them ! 



PROTESTS. 



However, as soon as the object of the Air Board was known, 

 there was such a spontaneous storm of indignation set up — the 

 Press, for once, was unanimous in condemning the scheme — 

 and scientific societies, large and small, throughout the country, 

 were hurriedly called together, and telegrams of protest were 

 forwarded in great numbers. Yorkshire societies were as 

 active in their way as any. Punch especially had an effective 

 appeal in its cartoon, ' Another Air Raid.' The Times and 

 other papers published letters and articles. 



LORD SUDELEY. 



When Parliament assembled. Lord Sudeley called attention 

 to the proposed appropriation of the British Museum to the 

 purposes of the Air Ministry, and of its branch, the Natural 

 History Museum at South Kensington, for other public offices. 

 He was confident, he said, that the decision to appropriate 

 the building was arrived at by the Government before they had 

 been able to obtain full information. All the learned societies 

 throughout the country, and all the great authorities, had pro- 

 tested against the proposal to appropriate so great a national 

 trust. The idea was an absurd one, especially in view of the 

 fact that other buildings were available for the purpose. The 

 accommodation of the Hotel Cecil, he understood, had not been 

 fully utilised. The Port of London Authority's buildings and 

 the Bethlem Hospital buildings could also be utilised for the 

 purposes of the Air Ministry. The Natui-al History Museum 

 had done an immense amount of work for War Services. 



LORD CURZOX. 



In repl3^ Lord Curzon said : — ' As regards the British 

 Museum, it has been found possible so- materially to reduce 



Naturalist, 



