1856-81 OWEN'S 'EXTRAVAGANT SCHEME' 37 



It is interesting to note that even this ' extra- 

 vagant scheme ' of Owen's will shortly be realized, 

 for the construction of an adequate gallery for 

 the skeletons of these huge cetacea is actually 

 in contemplation at South Kensington. 



The proposal to remove the collections from 

 Bloomsbury to another site formed a consider- 

 able stumbling-block to Owen's plans ; but this 

 removal w T as inevitable, for the Government had 

 neglected to purchase the property surrounding 

 the British Museum, and thus secure an entire 

 block. 5 The value of property in that area tended 

 in i860 to increase rather than decrease, and fur- 

 ther extensions of any magnitude to the British 

 Museum seemed then to be impracticable. Had 

 the Government thoughtfully considered the 

 probable needs of a growing collection of books, 

 antiquities, and zoological specimens, and pro- 

 vided for it by judicious purchase of the sur- 

 rounding property, no such anomaly as the 

 housing of the national collections in two build- 

 ings three miles apart would have been neces- 

 sary, and the opposition to Owen's scheme 

 would have been considerably lessened. More- 

 over, the gradual passage of the later geological 

 periods into those of the historic, with the 

 accompanying development of the arts, might 

 have been seen under one roof. At present the 



6 The Government purchased from the Duke of Bedford for 

 this property in March 1894 200,000/. 



