1856-81 OWEN’S ‘EXTRAVAGANT SCHEME’ j 7 
It Is interesting to note that even this 
vagant scheme ’ of Owen’s will shortly be realized, 
for the construction of an adequate gallery or 
the skeletons of these huge cetacea is actual y 
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 was inevitable, for the Government had 
neglected to purchase the property surrounding 
the British Museum, and thus secure an entire 
block.^ The value of property In that area tended 
in i860 to increase rather than decrease, and fur- 
ther extensions of any magnitude to the Brdish 
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 geologica 
periods into those of the historic, with t e 
accompanying development of the arts, 
have been seen under one roof. At present t e 
' The Government purchased from the Duke of Bedford for 
this property in March 1894 200,000/. 
