MINUTES OF EVIDENCE 



TAKEN BEFORE THE 



DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE 



ON 



BOTANICAL WORK. 



FIRST DAY. 



WESTMINSTER PALACE HOTEL. 



Thursday, 1st November, 1900. 



PRESENT 



Sir Michael Foster, k.c.b., m.p., sec.r.s., &c. (in the Chair). 



The Eight Hon. Baron Avebury, p.c, f.r.s. 

 Sir .JoHX Kirk, g.c.m.g., k.c.b., f.r.s. 

 Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour, d.sc, f.r.s. 

 Mr. Francis Darwin, m.b., f.r.s. 



Mr. Frederick DitCane Godman, f.r.s. 

 Mr. Horace Alfred Damer Seymour, c.b. 

 Mr. Stephen Edward Spring Rice, c.b. 



Mr. Benjamin Daydon Jackson, Secretary- 



Mr. Geoege Robert Milke Muheay, f.e.s., called and examined. 



1. (Chairman.) You are the keeper of the Depart- 

 ment of Botany of the British Museum (Natural 

 History) ?— Yes. 



2. You have been kind enough to send in a statement 

 consisting of answers to questions laid before you by 

 the Secretary of the Committee ; may we assume that 

 you are willing that that statement should be put in 

 as evidence ? — I do so put it in, exactly as it stands. I 

 have had the opportunity of revising it. 



The following is the form of questions issued by the 

 Committee, with the answers of the Witness attached 

 thereto : — 



Committee appointed by The Lords Commissioners of 

 Her Majesty's Treasury, "To consider the present 

 arrangements under which botanical work is done 

 and collections maintained by the Trustees of the 

 British Museum and under the First Commis- 

 sioner of Works at Kew, respectively ; and to 

 report what changes (if any) in those arrangements 

 are necessary or desirable in order to avoid dupli- 

 cation of work and collections at the two institu- 

 tions." 



The information desired by the Committee may be 

 conveniently arranged under the following heads : — 



L A general statement of the nature and extent of 

 the collections ander your charge within the 

 scope of the present enquiry. 



This statement will naturally distinguish 

 between different kinds, general, special, 

 etc., of collections. It will also be desir- 

 able to distinguish between: — 



(a) Dried plants. 



(b) Other preparations, either (1) Dry, 



in bottles or boxes ; (2) In preser- 

 vative fluid ; or (3) Microscope 

 slides, 



and to give a rough or approximate esti- 

 mate of the extent or number of each. 



3499. 



II. The duties of the keeper and of his chief sub- ^^^ q ^ j^- 

 ordinates. Murray, 



f.r.s. 

 HI. The uses to which the collections are applied. 



In this it will be desirable to distinguish 

 between : — 



(1) Popular instructions. 



(2) Assistance given to students, i-e.y 



educational use. 



(3) Assistance to research, given either 



to home or foreign investigators. 



(4) Government requisitions. 



special attention being given to the third 

 and fourth sub-headings. 



rV. The main several sources from which accessions 

 are derived. 



This should indicate in their relative pro- 

 portions the accessions derived by: — 



(a) Purchase. 



(b) Exchange. 



(c) Gift. 



Y. The chief additions or alterations which have 

 been made in your collections since 1875, the 

 date of the last Report of the Royal Commis- 

 sion on Science (Devonshire Commission). 



VI. The approximate number of specimens received 

 annually during the last few years. 



VH. The main results, scientific or other, which have 

 been accomplished by means of your collec- 

 tions since 1875. 



This statement may be given as in para- 

 graph HI. , thus : — 



(1) Popular instructions. 



A 



1 Nov. 1900. 



