658 BEPORT — 1881. 



In 1867, Lord Elcho pressed upon the House of Commons, through the Hunger- 

 ford Brido'e Committee, the Thames Embankment as a site for the New Museum 

 of Natural History, but unsuccessfully. The debates thereon, nevertheless, caused 

 some further delay. 



In 1871, a vote of 40,000^. for beginning the Museum Buildings at South 

 Kensington -was carried -without discussion. In 1872, a vote of 29.000?. for the 

 same building was opposed by Lord Elcho, but was carried by a majority of 40 (85 

 against 45). 



On the demise of Capt. Fowke, Mr. Alfred Waterhouse was selected as archi- 

 tect. He accepted the general plans which had been sanctioned and approved by 

 Sir H. A. Hunt and by Capt. Fowke, and I took the liberty to suggest, as I had 

 previously done to Capt. Fowke, that many objects of natural history might afford 

 subjects tor architectural ornament ; and at Mr. Waterhouse's request I transmitted 

 numerous figures of such as seemed suitable for that purpose. I shall presently 

 refer to the beautiful and appropriate style of architecture which Mr. Waterhouse 

 selected for this building, but am tempted to premise a brief sketch of what I 

 may call the ' Genealogy of the British Museum,' or what some of my fellow- 

 labourers, agreeably with the actual phase of our science, may prefer to call 

 'Phylogeny.' 



Sir Hans Sloane, M.D., after a lucrative practice of his profession in the then 

 flourishino- colony of Jamaica, finally settled at Chelsea, and there accumulated a 

 notable museum of natural history, antiquities, medals, cameos, &c., besides a 

 library of 50,000 volumes, including about 350 portfolios of drawings, 3,500 manu- 

 scripts and a multitude of prints. These specimens were specified in a MS. 

 catalogue of thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight volumes in quarto. Sir Hans 

 valued this collection at the sum of 80,000?., but at his death, in 1753, it was 

 found that he had directed in his ' will ' that the whole should be offered to 

 Parliament for the use of the public on payment of a minor sum, in compensation 

 to his heirs. This offer being submitted to the House of Commons, it was agreed 

 to pay 20,000/. for the whole. At the same time the purchase of the Cottouian 

 Library and of the Harleian MSS. was included in the Bill;^ 



The following are the terms of the enactment : — 



Act 26 Georf/e II., Cap. 22 (17 5S).— Sect I'ons IX. and X. 



" (IX.) And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that within the cities of 

 London or Westminster or the suburbs thereof, one general repository sliall be 

 erected or provided in such convenient place and in such manner as the trustees 

 hereby appointed, or the major part of them, at a general meeting assembled, shall 

 direct for the reception not only of the said museum or collection of Sir Hans 

 Sloane but also of the Cottonian Library and of the additions which have been or 

 shall be made thereunto by virtue of the last will and testament of the said Arthur 

 Edwards, and likewise of the said Harleian collection of manuscripts and of such 

 other additions to the Cottonian Library as, with the approbation of the trustees 

 by this Act appointed, or the major part of them, at a general meeting assembled, 

 shall be made thereunto in manner hereinafter mentioned, and of such other collec- 

 tions and libraries as, with the like ap]n-obation, shall be admitted into the said 

 "•eueral repository, which several collections, additions, and library so received into 

 the said oeneral "repository shall remain and be preserved therein for public use to 

 all posterity. 



'' (X.) Provided always that the said museum or collection of Sir Hans Sloane, 



' In his letter of February 14, 175.3, to his friend ]Mann, Horace Walpole, then 

 Jlember for Lynn, writes : — ' You will scarce guess how 1 employ my time, chiefly at 

 present in the guardianship of embryos and cockle-shells. Sir Hans Sloane is dead, 

 and has made me one of the trustees of his museum, which is to be offered for twenty 

 thousand pounds to the King and Parliament, and (in default of acceptance) to the 

 Royal Academies of Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid. He valued it at four-score 

 thousand, and so would any one who loves hippopotamuses, sharks with one ear, and 

 spiders as bi? as geese. The King has excused himself, saying he did not think that 

 there were twenty thousand pounds in the Treasury.' — Letters to Iforace Jfann, 8vo, 

 vol. iv. p. 32. 



