THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2644, 28 January 1908, Page 7

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

It is curious to note that the British Museum, for a new branch of I which King Edward recently laid a I foundation-stone, literally gambled I itself into existence. Tn 175: i the trustees of Sir Hans Sioane offered | to the nation for £20,000 a wonder- | fill collection of rare books, manu--1 scripts, coins, and natural history ■ curiosities. The Government refused the ofler. but declared its readiness to countenance a lottery by which it could be bought. A lottery was therefore authorised of 100.000 tickets, £200,000 to be distributed as prizes, and the balance to go towards the purchase of the collection. The scheme proved successful, although the manager fell into disgrace, and was fined £I,OOO for receiving an illegal premium. From such sordid beginnings has the British Museum grown to be the larpest in the world. Originally the reading-room oyild only accomodate live |H'isons, now it can seat five hundred, By a cunning arrangement, forty-one miles of shelves have been found for the two million odd books that minister to the enlightenment of the univers". The next largest, the Hibliothrqtie National? in Paris, can boast of only thirty-one miles.