ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



The following changes have been made in the arranfiremeuts affectino- the exhibition of 

 the CoHectiors in the British Museum, and the hours of admission to the Galleries, the 

 Reading Room, and the Print Room. 



In order to prevent the disappointment of intending visitors occasioned by the closing 

 of the Museum to the general public on two days of the week, as has been the custom, 

 the Trustees have ordered that henceforward the Museum shall be open daily, and free 

 admission be given to all the exhibition galleries, excepting on Wednesday and Friday, 

 those of Greek and Roman Antiquities on the ground-floor, and General Antiquities on 

 the first-floor ; and, on Tuesday and Thursday, the Rooms of Natural History ; which 

 will on those days be reserved for special students of the Collections. 



The regulation excluding children in arms has been rescinded. 



With a view to making the Collections of the Dejjartments of Prints and Drawings and 

 of Coins and Medals more extensively known and more easily studied, arrangements have 

 been made for exhibiting a greater number of the former and a selection of the latter in 

 the King's Library. Twelve screens for the exhibition of Prints and Drawings have been 

 added to those already placed there; and on these have been exhibited, in the first 

 instance, a series of water-colour drawings by J. M. W. Turner, Thomas Girtin, David 

 Cox, William James Miiller, and Antonio Canaletto, recently bequeathed by the late 

 Mr. John Henderson, with a set of early and curiously designed Playing Cards, presented 

 by Major-General Augustus Meyrick. These objects will shortly be replaced by a 

 selection of Prints illustrating the various schools of engraving. Six table-cases 

 and two upright stands have also been placed in the King's Library for the exhibition 

 of English and Foreign Medals, and electrotypes of the finest Greek and Roman 

 Coins. 



The hours of opening for the Reading Room have been extended from Five to Six 

 o'clock during the month of April ; and, for the Print Room, I'rom Four to Five o'clock 

 from the beginning of April to the end of July. 



The regulations requiring the renewal of reading-tickets every six months, and of 

 necessarily presenting them at the entrance of the room have been withdrawn. 



Experiments have been made with the Electric Light, by the gratuitous assistance of 

 the Societe Generale d'Electricile of Paris, in order to test its applicability to the Reading 

 Room. It is proposed, with the sanction of the Treasury, to make further experiments 

 with the Electric Light towards the close of the year, with a view to its adoption during 

 the winter months. 



An addition has been made to the Entrance Hall, forming a room for the exhibition of 

 the Lycian Sculptures, the removal of which from their former gallery of exhibition has 

 given space for an arrangement of Archaic Greek Sculpture. The upper floor of the * 

 addition to the Hall has been fitted for the reception of Mediaeval Antiquities, and will 

 be occupied in the first instance by Collections bequeathed by the late Mr. John 

 Henderson, and presented by Major-General Meyrick. 



It is anticipated that a commencement of the removal of the Natural History Collections 

 may be made before the conclusion of the present year. . 



The Trustees have consented to the transfer to the National Portrait Gallery of the 

 portraits at present placed in the Zoological Gallery, with reservation of those directly 

 connected with the British Museum Collections. 



2 May 1879. Edward A. Bond. 



170. A3 



