44 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. n. 



evening it must have struck him that it was, to 

 say the least, a rather curious coincidence that a 

 proposal to vote 600,000/. for a new collection of 

 birds, beasts, and fishes at South Kensington 

 should have been brought forward on the very 

 evening when the leader of the Opposition had 

 made a speech denouncing that exorbitant ex- 

 penditure — a speech, he might add, which was 

 re-echoed by many Liberal members of the 

 House." 2 



' It was, however, not a "curious,'' but a "de- 

 signed coincidence." Mr. Disraeli, knowing the 

 temper of the House on the subject, and that the 

 estimates for the required Museum of Natural 

 History were to be submitted by Mr. Gladstone, 

 chose the opportunity to initiate the business by 

 an advocacy of economy which left its intended 

 effect upon the House. In vain Lord Palmerston, 

 in reply to the Irish denunciators, proposed as a 

 compromise to " exclude whales altogether from 

 disporting themselves in Kensington Gardens." 3 

 The Government was defeated by a majority of 

 ninety-two, and the erection of a National or 

 British Museum of Natural History was post- 

 poned, to all appearance indefinitely, and in reality 

 for ten years. 



' Nevertheless, neither averments nor argu- 

 ments in the House on May 19, 1862, nor testi- 

 monies in the hostile committee of i860, 1861, 



2 Hansard, 1862, p. 19 18. 3 lb. p. 1931. 



