Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Museums, Government, Politics, Natural History, Zoology, Military Technology, Mental Illness, Engineering

    Includes a discussion of the debate on the British Museum Bill, in which William E Gladstone proposed sending the 'beasts' to Kensington where they could be housed for £680,000, a move opposed by William H Gregory who sought to retain the animals in the museum. Notes that Henry C G G Lennox 'would not put his opinion against' that of Richard Owen whose 'demand for space for whales' was ridiculed by Ralph Bernal Osborne. Concludes by noting that the government was defeated on this bill 163 to 71. Later discusses debates on the 'shot-proof ships', the Lunacy Bill, and the attempt by the engineer John Hawkshaw to 'save England from the sea'.