14 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



The total number of visitors to the Museum in 1910 was 

 739,837, a considerable increase in comparison with the total in 

 1909 (708,836), though not quite equal to that of 1908 (743,413), 

 which was the year of the Franco-British Exhibition. The 

 total for weekdays was 670,104 (the highest figure since 

 1905), and for Sundays 69,733 (the highest on record with the 

 exception of 1908). 



The number of visits by readers to the Reading Room was 

 219,274, an increase of 1,300 on the previous year, and the 

 third highest in the records of the Museum. The daily average 

 was 726. In the Newspaper Room the number of readers was 

 19,200 (a decrease of nearly 2,000), and the daily average of 

 volumes of newspapers consulted was 216. The visits of 

 students to other Departments of the Museum amounted to 

 36,434, showing a decrease of about 500. Visits to the 

 Sculpture Galleries showed a large increase, while visits to the 

 Departments of Manuscripts and Oriental Printed Books and 

 Manuscripts showed considerable decreases, and those to the 

 Department of Prints and Drawings were identical v/ith the 

 figure for the previous year. 



Work has been in progress throughout the year on the 

 British Museum Extension Building. The main external 

 structure of the building was almost completed, and plans for 

 the internal furniture and fittings prepared. 



Another section of the reconstruction of the roof with fire- 

 resisting partitions was taken in hand ; and the usual work of 

 renovation and repair was carried out. 



Special exhibitions were held in the course of the year of 

 the prints and water-colour drawings bequeathed to the Museum 

 by the late George Salting, Esq. ; and of Chinese and Japanese 

 paintings, a large part of which were furnished by the Wegener 

 collection, purchased early in the year with the help of several 

 generous friends of the Museum. 



The number of separate objects incorporated in the collec- 

 tions of the several Departments during the year 1910 is as 

 follows : — 



Department of Printed Books : 



Books and Pamphlets _ _ - - 26,063 



Serials and Parts of Volumes _ - - 68,811 



Maps and Atlases ----- 2,149 



Music ------ 12,036 



Newspapers (single numbers) . - - 245,605 



Miscellaneous ----- 3,712 



Manuscripts and Seals . _ _ . 328 



Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts - - 2,545 



Prints and Drawings - - - - 4,926 



Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities - - 617 



Greek and Roman Antiquities _ - . 410 



British and Mediaeval Antiquities - - 6,032 



Coins and Medals ----- 1,548 



Total - - - - 374,782 



