by the Staff either of the Zoological or of the Geological Department, though 

 the knowledge of the botanic staff is occasionally made use of by means of 

 personal intercourse. (The (Questions relating to the fossil plants and the 

 question whether, supposing the General Herbarium removed, any botanical 

 collections, and if so what, should be maintained, will be considered separately 

 later on.) The IJirector of the Natural History Departments is of opinion 

 that the Zoological Department would not sutt'er by the removal of the 

 Herbarium, but would be a gainer l)y reason of the space thus set free. 



It may be urged, and indeed has been urged, that the Natural Ideal " Unity of 

 History Museum is ui idea a museum of objects of all the three branches of Nature " at Crom- 

 Natural History, of beasts, plants and stones, and that the removal of chi^iera'" '' 

 the plants would be a mutilation. To this may be replied that, on the 

 one hand, there is no national zoological collection other than that at 

 Cromwell Eoad, and the same holds good as to a national geological, or 

 rather pala3ontological, collection (for the collection at the Museum of 

 Practical Geology in Jermyn Street is not a national collection of objects 

 gathered from all parts of the world, as are the British Museum collections, 

 but a special collection brought together in order to illustrate the geological 

 survey of Great Britain), and also as to a national mineralogical collec- 

 tion ; while, on the other hand, the Koyal Botanic Gardens at Kew do 

 constitute a national botanical collection. Hence, unless the herbarium were 

 removed from Kew to the British Museum, the maintenance of the botanic 

 collection at the British Museum involves, what is not involved in respect to 

 the other collections, the maintenance of two national collections. It can 

 hardly be contended that two national collections should be maintained in 

 close proximity merely to satisfy the idea of what a Natural History Museum 

 ought to be. 



Passing from the two establishments themselves to those who make use 

 of them for the purpose of research, the question arises, which situation, 

 Kew or Cromwell Road, is the better one in the interests of botanic 

 enquirers. 



The evidence laid before us shows that to a professional botanist who is Relative con- 

 engaged in a prolonged and continuous inquiry, involving the whole or the vemence of Kew 

 greater part of his time, the two sites are equally convenient. We have, j|juseum to 

 however, evidence that for certain botanic enquiries Cromwell Road, as enquirers, 

 being nearer to the centre of London, is the more convenient. Occasional 

 limited enquiries, more particularly perhaps in respect to British plants, are 

 often carried on by men engaged in other occupations, who can only spare a 

 short time to consult a herbarium. It is urged that a man for instance 

 engaged in business in the City, or coming up to London from the country for 

 a day, can find time to run down to Ci'omwell Road, but could not find time 

 to get as far as Kew. 



Enquiries of this kind ought certainly not to be discouraged ; but the 

 inconvenience which such enquiries might suffer owing to the transference 

 of the herbarium from the British Museum to Kew, ought not, in our opinion, 

 to have great weight in deciding the question of removal. It may be a dded 

 that the facilities of reaching Kew from any part of London are increasing 

 so rapidly, that probably Avithin a short time this argument would cease to 

 have any weight at all. Moreover to enquiries of the kind under considera- 

 tion, which often consist in the effort to determine the name of a plant, the 

 proximity of the herbarium at Kew to the collection of living plants iii the 

 Gardens, is a counterbalancing advantage of some importance. Botanists 

 of the older school, it is true, have more than once insisted that the systematic 

 botanist working in a herbarium has no need to consult living plants ; but 

 with regard to certain groups of plants, the advantages of being able to 

 consult a botanic garden are unquestionable. 



There remains the question of the expense of removal to the one site or Relative expenses 

 to the other. We have not obtained, and indeed Jiave not sought for, any of removal of the 

 exact estimates, l)ut it is possible to make certain general statements. ^^^ oTher'site ''"^ 



5086. n 



