10 
HISTOEICAL INTRODUCTION. 
JJ^^y^t®^- Early in the year 1866, Mr. Alfred Waterhouse was invited by 
engaged. the Chief Commissioner of Works to take up the unfinished work 
of Captain Fowke ; but he found himself unable to complete the 
plan to his own satisfaction, and in February, 1868, he was 
commissioned to form a fresh design, embodying the require- 
ments of the officers of the N'atural History Departments of the 
Museum. 
Mr. Waterhouse was not long in submitting to the Trustees his 
plan and model of the building, with a disposition of galleries as 
required, and these were formally accepted by the Trustees in 
April, 1868. It was not, however, until February, 1871, that 
the working plans had been thoroughly considered, and received 
the final approval of the Trustees. 
Completion of The actual work of erection was commenced in the year 1873, 
^m^oT^ and the building was handed over to the Trustees of the British 
Collections. Museum by Her Majesty's Commissioner of Works in the 
month of June, 1880. Immediately that the exhibition cases 
were completed, and the galleries were sufficiently dry to receive 
the collections, the great labour of removing the Natural History 
Collection from Bloomsbury was commenced. The departments 
of Geology, Mineralogy and Botany, were arranged in their 
respective sections of the Museum in the course of the year 1880, 
and the portion of the Museum which contained these departments 
was first opened to the public on April 18th, 1881. It was not 
until the following year that the cases destined to receive the 
larger collections of the Zoological Department were sufficiently 
complete to allow of these collections following, and three more 
years were required before all the rooms could be brought into a 
state fitted for public inspection. The last that was opened was 
the gallery devoted to British Zoology, in May, 1886. 
The following description of the structure has been contri- 
buted by Mr. Waterhouse : — 
Description of " The New Natural History Museum will, from its position, 
the building, always be more or less identified with the International 
Exhibition of 1862, which occupied the whole of the site 
between the Horticultural Gardens and Cromwell Koad. It 
was at one time thought that a portion, at any rate, of the 
Exhibition buildings could with advantage have been converted 
into a Museum of Natural History. Parliament, however. 
