July 26, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



137 



board, its relations to the First Commis- 

 sioner and to the Director, as well as the 

 position of the latter and the functions of 

 the gardens, being defined by Minute of 

 the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's 

 Treasur3% (3) That the illustrative bo- 

 tanic collections now publicly exhibited at 

 the British Museum be maintained, and, 

 so far as it is possible and expedient, en- 

 larged and developed with the view of in- 

 creasing popular interest and imparting 

 popular instruction in the phenomena of 

 the vegetable world, and be placed under 

 the charge of an officer of adequate scien- 

 tific attainments, responsible to the Direct- 

 or of the Natural History Departments. 

 (4) That upon the transference of the bo- 

 tanic collections from the British Museum 

 to the Koyal Botanic Gardens such ar- 

 rangements be made both in respect to the 

 accommodation of the collections and the 

 staff administering them that they shall 

 fully serve the purposes which they have 

 hitherto served. (5) That the botanic col- 

 lections consisting of fossil plants, now in 

 the charge of the Keeper of the Department 

 of Geology in the British Museum, be 

 maintained for the present under the same 

 conditions as heretofore. We desire to 

 express our warm appreciation of the 

 valuable services which have been rendered 

 to us by the secretary, B. Daydon Jack- 

 son, Esq., secretary of Linnean Society. 

 Not only has he performed his duties as 

 secretary with great zeal and ability, but 

 also throughout the inquiry we have re- 

 peatedly derived great assistance from his 

 very intimate acquaintance with the bo- 

 tanic collections under our consideration, 

 as well as from his wide knowledge of 

 botanic science and literature. 



This report is not signed by Lord Ave- 

 bury, who cannot concur in recommending 

 a removal of the British Museum herbarium 

 to Kew, for the following reasons : 



It seems, no doubt, at first sight, an an- 



omalous arrangement that there should be 

 two national herbaria ; first, on account of 

 the expense ; and, secondly, because bot- 

 anists in some cases have to consult two 

 collections instead of one. But the evi- 

 dence shows that the saving of annual ex- 

 pense through the suggested fusion would 

 be small, and that the initial outlay for 

 building, cabinets, etc., would be heavy. 

 The alleged inconvenience seems to me to 

 be exaggerated and affects only a few of 

 those engaged in systematic botany who 

 are thus obliged to consult two herbaria in- 

 stead of one : while, on the other hand, to 

 those engaged in other departments of bot- 

 any, the existence of the two herbaria is an 

 advantage. I deprecate the proposals con- 

 tained in the majority report for the follow- 

 ing reasons: (1) The British Museum 

 is the greatest museum in the world, and 

 is justly the pride of the nation. To dis- 

 member it, by depriving it of so inte- 

 gral a part as the Botanical Department, 

 would be destructive of its unique charac- 

 ter as a fully representative museum, and 

 specially of a natural history museum ; 

 would be vehemently opposed by many, if 

 not most, British botanists, and, as it seems 

 to me, would be a great injury to science. 

 (2) To London and country botanists the 

 British Museum is much more accessible 

 than Kew. (3) The plan proposed would 

 separate the fossil from the recent plants. 

 (4) It would involve the creation of a new 

 board. If, on the other hand, Kew Gardens 

 and the British Museum were brought into 

 closer relations, as recommended in the re- 

 port which I have signed in conjunction 

 with Mr. Seymour, several advantages 

 would result ; for instance, the ofiicers 

 of the Museum would have access to 

 the living plants ; while those of Kew 

 Gardens would have access to the British 

 Museum library and the collection of fossil 

 plants. 



Lord Avebury and Mr. Seymour also ob- 



