The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-24 00:00:00

got expreots.

arsellsomisVirelei Kirsimi," Lanka
Minim pow, mambo se lir ON" 10, Boimiiirsinet,
by Tee rasa in the Arr at parderilm.

Dikvigy44pAi.
TVs
es, .Am !normm 10111 OP CA.1LL3.1144.1., a.m..,
R 0.... awl : W= L. %tad Pyse.
a. /Sam —And • DIVISTIdellil bl4ll.
&"""itishim. hawils. sad Malso6l.—Oarrase at MINNA I.

RAT if 111117.
Tits p•MILQUiI•••,, ?WI TAT TO [UP NIX. Noma brims.voi,
nom ma fume : Wm C. famialr. —TSB f, WOO ER OP TM h
GOAD& •
Aall IIIhOLAILEO a Al. Pam Kor—T/111 SALA
non.- s T
amara NI. NOW 01 001 ITO
Ann losis.—RT.
LTC---
1113111.
Two ammo EICTIIIIION. Ws LOA Ni.ol Roorl,
rtis. lame isms ; A. lit•Ook Onus. sad
. Os ROA: t Til• NCJIDESTOLA. TN
fray -.Ammo of.

MOH Want* /a LONDON BRUM.
Moir
w—lllerolea.

ZONDON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 24.

- - -
lIPORTING DITELLIG

♦ SPECIAL EDITION of the "EXPRESS,"
esetaising the results of the day's Room, is pub-
lished every evening during the Sporting Season, at
Ina o'clock.

Paorrnson Ownr has been making • very
admirable address as President of the British
Association foe the Advancement of Science now
assembled at Leeds. There is nothing new in
this. Everybody who knows 'arising of science
Of society is well aware that the great
Paleontologist is oce of those rarely gifted men
wise poses» in almost eqtaal degree the faculty of
extending the bounds of knowledge by original ».
search. and of communicating the results of know-
ledge by popular exposition. Had Professor Owns,
simply delivered an eloquent and instructive lecture
en the recent plosives and present state of science,
we might have been well contented to let his re-
marks peas wit►out any special comment. He has
had the good sense and manliness to deviate. some-
what from the beaten track, and given a practical
tarn to his observations which at once brings them
within the province of journalists who, like our-
selves. make no pretensions to any special
qualifications in science. The point he urges
is one to be judged of in the Court of
Common Sense : his thesis is the expediency
of forthwith establishing a Museum of Natural
History on a scale of magnitude and completeness
commensurate with the requirements of the age and
the »sonic» of the wealthiest and meet powerful of
empires.
Let no at once explain. We are not about to
plunge into the vexed controversy which has been
raised as to the site of the proposed Collection.
Whether in Bloomsbury or out of Bloomsbury is a
question to which in the abstract we are profoundly
indifferent. Scientific people, we know, have emitted
representation., and a Parliamentary Commit-
tee has been delivered of • report in favour
of keeping the National Library and the
national collections of Natural History in one
and the same spot. With us, the only considera-
tion fur or against the perpetuation of such a con-
nexion is the simple question of space. If adequate
space can be obtained on the present site for doing
complete jut», to the requirements of our National
Library and our Natiooal Museum of N►taral His-
tory—well and good, there is no present ground
for the divans*. If, on the other hand, this be not
the case; if the bulk of the printed books be
rapidly growing beyond the limits of the
space assigned to it; if valuable and interesting
collections of prints, which ought to be framed '
and exhibited on walls, are necessarily hidden away
from mortal sight In drawers and portfolios ; if i
specimens of natural history, valuable in themselves,
are rendered comparatively valueless by the imp».
!Ability of finding the Omens for instructively elami-
Eying and arranging them ; then, indeed, it does
seem the height of absurdity t. 7, insist on keeping
the National Library, the National Collections of
Natural History, and the National Museum of
Archwology, all together in one inadequate building
in Bloomsbury—simply because • very admirable
physician is the early part of last century
chose to leave to the nation, as the Duals»
of a pablie museum, a miscellaneous collec-
tion of books, busts, and butterflies. It would be
difficult to find a were signal instanee of the un-
»natio» dominion of precedent over the British
mind than the fact that, from the time of Sir lane
atom» down to the present day, we have gone on
heaping up vast agglomeration* of erode and unsifted

tiresairee—literary, scientific, and testhetic—on the
narrow basis of a private and miscellaneous collar.
ton. Whatever scientific people may say, or Par.
bansentary Committees report, we mast tale leave
to think that the plain dictate of common sense is
this : that the National Library, the National
Museum of Natural History, and the National Gal-
lery of Atebrology esti Art, should be all three
separate and distinct.

This., however, is controverted ground, and we
hasten to pass on with Professor Owls to points •
to w►ich there ought to be ma sontroverey at all
Wherever the National Museum or Natural History
is situated there must be adequate space for the
dee exhibition of its contents—space, as Professor
Owso observes, not only for display, ° but for orderly
" display?' The object is is oath elms of organised his
to show the gradual promisees of development from
the less perfect to the more perfect form. Aggrega.
tion esortuee and bewilders ; it is nothing bat
orderly display that teaches. But orderly display
imperatively requires ample space. There is another
point. Prep it the review' apace be obtained, and
your collodium duly ranged i• scientific order, you
have yet. if you wish your Museum to be an institute
of instruction, accomplished but half year task.
Too mus: have exposition as well ea display ; sot
saly dumb shelves fall of dead specimens,
but the living voioe of skilled men adequate
to interpret in accurate but popular 'sa-
vage the collected marvels of the great
collection. Let Professor Owte speak to this point:
nom, can speak better or moss persuasively :
" The most elaborate and beautiful of created
" things--those manifesting life—have much to
" teach—much that comes home to the business of
o man; and also to the highest elements of his moral
nature. The nation that gathers together thou-
" sands of corals, simile, insects, fishes, birds, and

lIIIINNEm