866 REPORT—1899. 
still goes on, and the original difficulty of want of room would still face us, though 
in a lesser degree. This estimate of the rate of increase may seem a high one; but 
it should not be forgotten that the science is new, and that it is only within the 
last few years that such collections have been made on scientific lines, instead of being 
governed only by the attractive character or rarity of the object. The gaps that 
exist in such a series as that of the British Museum, made in great part on the old 
lines, are relatively more numerous than would be the case in museums more 
recently founded. Another reason, equally cogent, for allowing far more room than 
is required for the mere exhibition of the objects is that, in my judgment, ethno- 
graphical collections, to be of real value, need elucidation by means of models, 
maps, and explanatory descriptions, to a far greater extent than do works of art, 
which to the trained eye speak eloquently for themselves, Such helps to under- 
standing necessitate a considerable amount of space, though the outlay is fully 
justified by their obvious utility, and in any general scheme of rearrangement of 
the national collection they should be considered an essential feature. 
There is yet another factor to be considered. It has been the fashion in this 
country to consider remains illustrating the physical characters of man to belong 
to natural history, while the productions of primitive and uncultured races gene- 
rally find a place on the antiquarian side. Thus the skull of a Maori will be found 
at the natural history branch of the British Museum, while all the productions of 
the Maori are three miles distant in Bloomsbury. Such an arrangement can per- 
haps be defended on logical grounds, but its practical working leaves much to 
desire, and the arguments for a fusion of the two are undoubtedly strong. For 
instance, the student of one branch would be unlikely to study it alone without 
acquiring a knowledge of the other, while the explorers to whom we look for 
collections usually give their attention to both classes of anthropological material. 
Here again, in such a case, there would be a call for still more space at 
Bloomsbury. 
If I may be permitted to add one more to the requirements of what should be ~ 
an attainable ideal, I should like to say that courses of lectures on anthropology 
delivered in the same building that contains the collections would form a fitting 
crown to such a scheme for a really Imperial museum of anthropology as I have 
endeavoured to sketch. There is but one chair of anthropology in this country, 
and admirably as that is filled by Professor Tylor, he would himself be the first to 
admit that there is ample room and ample material to justify the creation of a 
second professorship. 
It will be admitted that if my premisses are well founded the conclusion must 
necessarily be that we cannot look to the British Museum to furnish us eventually 
with the needful area and other resources for the installation of a worthy museum 
of anthropology. The difficulties are far too great for the Trustees to overcome, 
unless by the aid of such an exhibition of popular enthusiasm as I fear our branch 
of science cannot at present command. Failing the British Museum, which may 
be called the natural home of such a collection, we must look elsewhere for the 
necessary conditions, and J think they are to be found, although it is possible that, 
however favourable these conditions may seem from our point of view, difficulties 
may already exist or arise later. 
It is not the first time that a scheme has been thought out for the establish- 
ment of a museum or kindred institution which should represent our colonies and 
India. In the year 1877 the Royal Colonial Institute made a vigorous effort in 
this direction, and, in combination with the various chambers of commerce through- 
| out the country, advocated the building of an ‘Imperial Museum for the Colonies 
; and India’ on the Thames Embankment, with the then existing India Museum asa 
| nucleus. The arguments then brought forward were in the main commercial, but 
_ they are, if anything, more forcible now than they were twenty yearsago. The 
competition with foreign countries has become keener on the one hand, while the 
bonds between the colonies and the parent country are notoriously closer and more 
firm than at any previous time. No moment could thus be more opportune than 
| the present for the foundation of a really Imperial Institution to represent our vast 
_ Colonial Empire. 
_— 
