1856-81 GLADSTONE INSPECTS FOR HIMSELF 41 
thought to the subject than had been bestowed by 
any of those, whether naturalist or administrator, 
who testified adversely thereon — the Right Hon. 
William Ewart Gladstone, an elected Trustee of 
the British Museum. From Mr. Gladstone Owen 
received the following letter : — 
Penmaenmawr, Conway ; August 24, 1861. 
‘ Dear Professor Owen,— I do not know whether 
it is to you that I am indebted for a copy of your 
lecture on a Museum of Natural History con- 
tained in some numbers of the “ Athenaeum ; ” but 
I have read it with great interest, and I shall be 
tiery happy to enter upon the subject with you in 
the course of the autumn. Indeed, the main 
purpose of this note is to intimate to you that, so 
far at least as my opinion goes, the time has 
arrived when the question of space, for this and 
other cognate purposes, together with that of 
union or severance of the collections at the 
Museum, should be not only seriously but de- 
finitely considered by the Government. 
‘ I remain, my dear Sir, 
‘ With much respect, 
‘ Very faithfully yours, 
‘W. E. Gladstone.’ 
Accordingly, on October 21, 1861, Mr. Glad 
stone made an appointment with Owen to insp^t 
the Museum. On Mr. Gladstone s arrival at t e 
