i856-8i 
31 
‘REPORT WITH PLAN' 
the spoils were then, as now, not in the keeping 
^ the Museum Trustees, but of a clerk in the 
T reasury. 
Accordingly, on February lo, 1859, Owen 
su mitted a strong report to the Trustees, setting 
ort his views as to a National Museum of 
atural History, accompanied with a plan, and 
t IS was forwarded to the Treasury. The docu- 
ment was remarkable for the complete grasp of 
t e problem and the author’s intimate knowledge 
o the facts concerned ; it was too weighty to be 
overlooked, and on March 11, 1859, the ‘ Report 
with Plan was ‘ ordered by the House of 
ornmons to be printed.’ A fac-simile of the 
original pen-and-ink sketch pi an drawn by Pro- 
essor Owen himself is given on the next page. 
d his ‘ Report with Plan ’ included estimates 
o space for the then acquired specimens of the 
several departments of natural history, together 
With space for the reception of the additional 
specimens which might accrue in the course of a 
generation. It further recommended that ‘ such 
^ building, besides giving accommodation to 
e several classes of natural history objects 
should also include a hall for a distinct depart- 
^ent, adapted to convey an elementary knowledge 
tion natural history, the large propor- 
° public visitors not being specially conver- 
sant with any particular subject.’ 
® Pari. Papers (126 i.), fo. 1859. 
