1856-81 PLAN NEGATIVED 35 



which he asked inevitably involved change of 

 locality, and that no other plan for gathering 

 together the whole of the national natural his- 

 tory collections had previously been submitted 

 to authority. The legislative mind was there- 

 fore unprepared for calm and due consideration 

 of the subject Still, Owen considered that if the 

 details and aims and grounds of his report were 

 known and comprehended, no strong opposition 

 on the part of Parliament could be expected. 

 In this he was disappointed. An Irish member 3 

 made his ' Report and Plan ' the ground of a 

 motion for a committee of inquiry, which was 

 carried. 



This committee, after taking the evidence 

 published in the Blue Book (ordered to be printed 

 August 10, i860), 4 reported against the removal 

 of the natural history collections from the British 

 Museum. Indeed, as the report states, with one 

 1 eminent exception, the whole of the scientific 

 naturalists, including the keepers of all the depart- 

 ments of natural history in the British Museum, 

 are of an opinion that an exhibition on so large 

 a scale [as that proposed by Owen] tends alike to 

 the needless bewilderment and fatigue of the 

 public and the impediment of the studies of the 

 scientific visitor.' The committee also recom- 

 mended a more limited form of exhibition, their 



3 Mr. Gregory, M.P. for co. July 22, 1861). 

 Galway (Hansard, Debate of - 4 Pp. 238, with ten plans. 



