14 



ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF TE"^. BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



The total number of visitors to the Museum in the year 

 1896 amounts to 581,906, the highest number reached since 

 1890. This increase is partially accounted for by the admis- 

 sion of visitors on Sunday afternoons since 17th May, 30,136 

 persons having been thus admitted. On the other hand, the 

 number of evening visitors has further diminished since 1895 

 to 29,769. 



The total number of visits of students to the Reading Room 

 during the year was 191,363, being 3,600 less than that of 

 1895, which again was lower than that of 1894 by 8,000. This 

 diminution of numbers may perhaps, in some degree, be ac- 

 counted for by the growth of local libraries in the metropolis, 

 which have satisfied the requirements of students who 

 would otherwise have had recourse to the British Museum. 

 The daily average was about 630. 



The average numbers of persons in the room, counted at 

 certain hours in the afternoon, were : — 



4 P.M. 5 p.m. 



346 ! 256 



6 P.M. 



173 



6.30 P.M. 7 P.M. , 7.30 P.M. 

 112 . 119 j 87 



These figures show the same fluctuations, on a slightly lower 

 scale, as those of 1895, which were 354, 265, 182.113, 124, and 

 90. 



Although the number of readers has declined, the number 

 of volumes supplied to them is larger than that of 1895, being 

 1,428,535, as against 1,405,866. 



There has again been a slight reduction of the total number 

 of visits of students to the several Departments, the numberfor 

 this year being 37,130, as against 37,560 in 1895. A consider- 

 able decrease in the number of visits in the Galleries of 

 Sculpture is compensated by an increase of nearly 1,000 in 

 the Department of Manuscripts. 



No very large works have been undertaken on the fabric 

 of the Museum ; but it may be noticed that the substitution 

 of skylights for windows in the Egyptian and Babylonian 

 Rooms on the upper floor, commenced two years ago, is in 

 progress ; which, when completed, will add materially to the 

 wall-space available for exhibition cases, as wel] as improve 

 the light in the several rooms. 



The re-arrangement of the sculptures from the site of the 

 Temple of Diana at Ephesus has been almost completed. 



Excavations 



