MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



97 



Sit John Tavlor's suggestions were immediately carriea 

 out. At niT "own instance an adjoining building was 

 pulled dowTi. The Herbarium is now, therefore, com- 

 pletely isolated. Bud its inflammable structure still 

 remains as described by Sir Eyre Shaw. 



Everv contrivance has been exhausted for finding space 

 in tJie" existing Herbaiium building for the continual 

 accessions. I, therefore, submitted to the First Com- 

 missioner a comprehensive scheme for dealing with the 

 whole question. I proposed that a new fireproof building 

 should be erected, for which there is ample space, that 

 the present Herbarium should be removed to it when com- 

 pleted, and that the existing budding should be made 

 tireproof as a pro^•ision for future expansion. 



The Office of Works pressed the matter on the atten- 

 tion of the Treasury. It received the following reply : — 



[COPT.] 



Treasury to Office of Works. 



Treasury Chambei^, 

 January 17, 1898. 



Sir,— The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's 

 Treasury have had before them Mr. Brett's letter (B. 

 64/98) of the 6th instant as to the Herbarium at Kew, 

 representing that the present building is not fireproof, 

 and is in need of extension to meet the continued growth 

 of the collections. 



My Lords recognise the value of these collections, and 

 the necessitv for both reasonable security from fire and 

 adequate space for storage of them ; and they will be 

 prepared when necessary to ask Parliament to make such 

 provision for these purposes as upon full consideration 

 may appear necessary. 



The present proposal, however, comes before them at 

 too late a stage in the preparation of the estimates to 

 obtain full discussion in time to make any provision in 

 1898-99, and my Lords therefore suggest that it be with- 

 drawn for the present, for the purpose of receiving more 

 detailed consideration in the course of 1898, together with 

 the various building questions which will arise in con- 

 nection with Her Majesty's gracious surrender of her 

 rights at Kew. 



I am, etc., 

 (Signed) B. W. HA^-B■DET. 



The First Commissioner of "Works. 



With regard to the last paragraph I am not aware that 

 the Queen has actually surrendered any rights at Kew. 

 On the contrary, the Jiope that the much needed accom- 

 modation for the Director's Office might be found in one 

 of the Crown houses has been indefinit-ely deferred. In 

 any case, I am quite unable to conjecture what building 

 questions could under any circumstances have arisen in 

 connection with the surrender. 



Professor Rusby, of the Institute of Pharmacy, Xew 

 York, dwelt forcibly on the subject in a lecture delivered 

 by him in America after a visit to Kew. I quote 

 the following passage from the " Druggists' Circular and 

 Chemical Gazette" for January, 1898, in which the 

 lecture was reported : — 



'■' Xo sum of money could well be named as a compensa- 

 tion for the loss of these collections, for there is no basis 

 of estimate. If it were possible to duplicate them the 

 cost of doing so would be its value, but types can never be 

 thus replaced. A great herbarium is something like a 

 diamond, its value increases in geometrical ratio with its 

 size. The value of types is like that of records in regard 

 to legal tenure, a comparison which Government officials 

 surely should be able to understand. The extent oi the 

 calamity involved in the loss of such a collection can 

 scarcely be exaggerated. Its effect would almost imme- 

 diately be felt with paralysing force in the most distant 

 colonies wherever the economics of vegetation have come 

 to depend upon the resources of this unique establish- 

 ment. Many contingencies regarding fire can be guarded 

 against by careful vigilance, but some cannot. A light- 

 ning stroke, the match or apparatus of a careless working 

 man, the bomb of the dynamiter, riot, the act of a mad- 

 man — who can say that none of these will take effect in 

 any single year? Yet any one of these would probably 

 be completely destructive to such a tinder-box as that 

 now in use at Kew." 



I should add that in the event of fire in any part of the 

 establishment, we are dependent for it>s prompt extinction 

 on a supply of water from one reservoir in Richmond 

 Park. It holds 250,000 gallons ; but this is only suffi- 



3499. 



cient for a day's consumption for garden purposes in 

 summer. This "is a state of things from which I am 

 unable to derive any feeling of security. 



12. Every building devoted to botanical study is now- 

 filled to overflowing. It became, as will have beer. seen. 

 the Director's duty to represent to the Government ii. 

 1898 the urgeiit need of the erection of a new 

 wing to the Herbarium, which, as the Keiv 

 buildings are of the most utilitarian character, 

 would have been a matter of little expense. Tlie apphca- 

 tion was not acceded to. but the appointment of the pre- 

 sent Committee admittedly rose out of it. The question is 

 raised in principle as to whether the Kew Herbarium 

 should be maintained at all, and this amounts to the con- 

 sideration of the disestabli.shment of Kew as a scientific 

 institution. This was elaborately threshed out by the 

 Royal Commission on Soientific Instruction, which recom- 

 mended in its fourth report, issued in 1874, "that the col- 

 lection at Kew should be maintained and arranged with 

 especda;l reference to systematic botany." I think it is 

 proper in thi? connection to draw attention to the 

 Treasury Letter on the subject of Januan- 23, 1873. 



Treasury Chambers, 



Januarv- 23, 1873. 



Sib, — The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's 

 Treasury, having had before them your letter of the 

 5rd instant, and the Memorial inclosed with it from 

 various gentlemen engaged in the pursuit of botany or 

 in instruction therein, with respect to the transfer to 

 the branch of the British Museum about to be con- 

 structed at South Kensington of the scientific collections, 

 and library now existing at the Royal Gardens, Kew. 



Their Lordships desire me to request that you will 

 inform the memorialists that Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment have not formed the intention of removing the 

 collection to South Kensington, and that, should any- 

 thing lead them hereafter to entertain the idea, they 

 will take care that ample notice shall be given, and 

 that the judgment of the persons most accomplished m 

 botany shall be fairly weighed in the first instance. 



I am, etc., 

 (Signed) WiLUAii L'aw^ 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, ; 



Sibbertoft, Market Harborough. 



Sir IV. T. 

 Tliiselton- 



K.C.M.G., 

 F.E.S, 



2D Nov. low. 



It will be observed, on reference to the report of the 

 Commission, that, while it recommended the separate 

 maintenance of the herbaria at the British Museum 

 and at Kew, it suggested their specialization in different 

 directions. The former was to have in view geographi- 

 cal distribution, the latter, as stated above, systematic 

 botany. From a scientific point of view the distinction 

 is impracticable ; the two aspects of herbariam research 

 go hand-in-hand and cannot be separated. The geo- 

 graphical distribution of a species cannot be ascer- 

 tained till the systematic limits of that species have 

 been accurately determined, and if there is one featui'e 

 more than another of Kew work it is the detailed and 

 constant attention which is given to geographical 

 botany. 



A distinction can be drawn between the two herbaria, 

 but of a different kind. The principle which runs 

 through every department of the British Museum is the 

 accumulation and preservation of things interesting, 

 and valuable in themselves. This is the primary object, 

 and research, though not neglected, is subsidiary. At 

 Kew the policy which has always animated the estab- 

 lishment is precisely the opposite. The herbarium has 

 always been regarded as an instrument for research, 

 and for determining problems in systematic and geo- 

 graphical botany. The distinction is a real one, and 

 constantly comes into operation in considering pur- 

 chases, it may happen, and no doubt has frequently 

 done so, that a purchase which would commend itself 

 to the Trustees, and rightly so from their point of view, 

 would not be agreed to at Kew, and. equally rightly, 

 Kew has in fact not hesitated to transfer to the British 

 Museum objects for which it seemed a more fitting 

 repository. 



With regard to the museums, the pressure on their 

 space has long been acute. In order in some measure 

 to obviate it, I undertook personally a complete revision 

 of their contents. A great number of duplicate and 

 deteriorated specimens especially on the economic side 

 were withdrawn, and a large proportion of others reduced 

 in size. This occupied me for five years (1876-80). 



N 



