202 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



not, however, avoid the suspicion that some of those who have 

 signed Sir Henry Roscoe's Memorial have done so in ignorance 

 of the irreparable nature of the injury which would be done to 

 the Natural History Museum by the curtailment of its present 

 site. This conclusion appears to be supported by the words of 

 the Memorialists, who say : 



" We, the undersigned, interested in the practice and pro- 

 " gress of British Science and Industry, beg, therefore, 

 "to express our emphatic opinion that, whilst nothing 

 " should be done to interfere with the development of 

 "the Natural History Museum, any action which pre- 

 " vents the erection of a Science Museum on an adequate 

 " scale on the proposed site would be a national disaster, 

 " and we cannot but believe that the two competing 

 "claims can be reconciled without the sacrifice of essen- 

 "tials on either side." 

 It becomes incumbent on us to show, therefore, that the 

 proposed allocation of the site would interfere with the develop- 

 ment of the Natural History Museum to such an extent as to 

 affect vitally the continued efficiency of that Museum, and to 

 render nugatory the provision which had been made for its 

 normal growth in the future. 



The Natural History Museum is about thirty years old, but 

 during the short time in which it has been in existence the 

 collections have increased to an extent which can hardly have 

 been anticipated by those who were responsible for drawing out 

 the original plans. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that 

 the growth which must continue to go on, if the Museum is to 

 hold its position among the great Museums of the world, is very 

 far from having reached its limit. The number of species of 

 animals and plants, recent and extinct, which are not at present 

 represented in the Museum is enormous. The importance of 

 the Biological Sciences in matters which affect the practical 

 concerns of mankind is becoming increasingly obvious. Not 

 only has the study of these Sciences, in their relation to the 

 theory of Evolution, profoundly affected every department of 

 Human thought, but it has also been proved to have the most 

 important bearing on Economic questions. We may merely 

 allude, in this connexion, to the discovery of the part played 



