ACCOUNTS, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VI. — General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



Provision was made by Her Majesty's Government in the British Museum 

 Estimates for 1889-90 for a complete system of installation of the Electric Light in 

 the public galleries, in order to open the Museum to the public in the evening. This 

 work has now been carried out. A limited installation had already been in use since 

 1879 in the reading-room and other parts of the building, and has been incorporated 

 into the new system. The public galleries are lighted with 128 arc lamps, connected 

 in pairs alternately, and 644 glow-lamps. In addition, there are five large arc lamps 

 in the Reading Room, and six in the Court Yard ; and 200 glow-lamps in offices and 

 passages. The main wires are laid outside the building, and four circuits are led 

 round the Museum, two for each floor. The motive power is in duplicate, two pairs 

 of dynamos being driven by two separate engines, each of which has its own steam- 

 pipe in direct communication with the boilers. The total cost of the work has been 

 8,842/. G«. Id. 



Since the 1st of February 1890 the eastern and western galleries alternately have 

 been opened to the public on week-day evenings from 8 to 10 p.m. The number of 

 evening visitors during the months of February, March, and April, 1890, have been 

 .15,230, 9,.53.5, and 7,442 respectively, giving an average of 63-5, 367, and 297, per 

 evening of the three months. 



The sculptures in the Egyptian Gallery have been partially rearranged, and have 

 been augmented by the fine palm-leaf granite column inscribed with the names and 

 titles of Rameses II. and Osorkon II. ; the colossal statue inscribed with the name 

 and titles of Osorkon II. ; and other remains from Bubastis, presented by the Egypt 

 Exploration Fund. 



The Egyptian antiquities on the Upper Floor have been entirely rearranged in 

 systematic order. In the First Room, mummies and mummy-cases are arranged in 

 chronological order, and the wall-spaces above the cases have been decorated with 

 coloured bas-reliefs and paintings. In the Second Room are the later mummies and 

 mummy-cases, and sepulchral figures and other objects connected with Egyptian 

 burial. In the Third Room are mummied animals, sepulchral furniture, a gi'eat 

 sei-ies of the gods of Egypt, weapons, tools, writing implements, &c. In the Fourth 

 Room are the series of alabaster vessels, Egyptian porcelain and earthenware ; 

 scarabs, ivories, necklaces, jewellery, and other objects of personal adornment ; 

 domestic articles, models, toys, &c. 



In the Assyrian Galleries many of the sculptures and other antiquities have been 

 rearranged in chronological order. 



The arrangement of the sculptui'e in the Greek Archaic Room has undergone 

 considerable alteration ; an interesting restoration has been erected of the drum of 

 one of the columns of the ancient Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, bearing a part of 

 the dedicatory inscription of Croesus ; and the casts of the figures from the Temple 

 at JEginsi have been set up on the walls within pediments decorated after the original. 



In the Elgin Room the marble plinths for the sculptures from the western pediment 

 of the Parthenon have been provided ; and by certain rectifications the marbles are 

 now shown to the best advantage. 



The marbles from Phigaleia and from the Temple of Victory at Athens, together 

 with the finest sepulchral stelee, have been placed in the new room in extension of 

 the Elgin Room ; and the sepulchral monuments of Grseco-Roman origin have been 

 arranged in the basement-room beneath. 



The Etruscan Collections brought together in the Etruscan Saloon on the first floor 

 are now arranged; the heavy tombs have been removed to the Grseco- Roman 

 basement. 



The re-arrangement of the First, Second, and Thii-d Vase-rooms has been com- 

 pleted. 



The arrangement of the collections in the Prehistoric Saloon has now been com- 

 pleted, the important series of objects from South-eastern Spain, formed by the 

 brothers Siret, having been incorporated during the year. The central portion of 

 the saloon is occupied by the Palaeolithic series, the most ancient remains of human 

 industry ; the large northern wing is appropriated to antiquities of the stone and 

 bronze periods from the British Islands and the several countries of Europe; and the 

 southern wing contains antiquities from the Lakes of Switzerland and France, and an 

 interesting collection of late Celtic remains. 



A selection of manuscripts, printed books and broadsides, seals, and portraits, in 

 illustration of the history of the House of Tudor, has been exhibited in the King's 

 Libraiy. 



The number of persons making use of the Reading Room has slightly increased 

 during the past year. The number of visits to the room has been 190,025 as against 



188,432 



