The Directorship of the Natural History Museum

Abstract

THE Director of the British Museum (Natural History) is about to retire, and we learn with deep apprehension that the principal trustees, with whom the appointment rests, have received, or are about to receive, from the general body of trustees a recommendation to pass over the claims of scientific men and to appoint a lay official, who is at present assistant secretary. The former directors, Sir Richard Owen, Sir William Flower, and Sir Ray Lankester, like the present director, Sir Lazarus Fletcher, were all distinguished scientific men. The Natural History Museum is a scientific institution. There is a large staff of scientific keepers and assistants. The director has to represent natural history to the public, to other scientific institutions at home, in the Dominions and Colonies, and in foreign countries, and to the many Government Departments with which the museum has relations. He must represent it with knowledge and authority. There are few posts with such possibilities of advancing the natural history sciences, of making them useful to the nation, and of interpreting them to the public. The existence of the post is a great stimulus to the zeal and ambition of zoologists and geologists.