The problem of securing sufficient accommodation for the collections at the British Museum--a problem which constantly recurs, as the collections increase, and the requirements of scientific men expand--at one time occupied Sir C. Barry’s most anxious thoughts. The simplest method of enlargement, by advancing the building towards Great Russell Street, was rendered impossible by the existence of the grand portico. Little could be done except to raise the building, unless additional space were occupied. This could only be done at considerable cost, larger in fact than would have been at that time contemplated, though not larger than will probably at some time or other be found necessary. Accordingly a plan was prepared, confining the building to its actual site. It was Sir Charles’s opinion, an opinion which he strongly maintained in public before a Parliamentary Commission, that the collections of Natural History were out of place in the Museum. It appeared to him, that they should be associated with “Zoological Gardens;” so that the dead and living specimens of the animal creation might be seen in connection, and the relations of the present to the past, in contrast or similarity, be distinctly traced. On the present site of the Museum this would be impossible; but, were the collections removed, as for instance to South Kensington, room could be found for any number of live animals, and for museums large enough to content Professor Owen himself. This being done, he would have devoted the whole building in Great Russell Street to literature and art. He proposed to meet the requirements of the former by surrendering the Natural History Rooms to the Library, and providing for readers, not in one great hall, as at present, but in a series of rooms of moderate size. The claims of art and antiquities were to be satisfied by forming a magnificent hall, which was to be nothing less than the whole central area of the building, roofed with glass, capable of containing even the Egyptian colossi, and unsurpassed in any building in Europe. There were some objections to it in detail, which he thought might be easily overcome. The idea was a grand one, and would have been carried out without serious difficulty. But M. Panizzi proposed a different scheme; the Government yielded to his authority, and the great Reading Room was formed.