COMPANY FOR THE PROPAGATION of the Gospel in New England.

330

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

331

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS...

332

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

THE British Museum on Great Russell Street is open every day in the
week except Sunday, and except Good Friday, Christmas day, and any fast
or thanksgiving day appointed by authority; except also the first four week-
days of March and September. The Reading Room or Round Room is
open from nine in the morning until eight in the evening from September
to April, inclusive, and till seven during the other months. The Manuscript
Room or Students' Room is open from ten in the morning till five in the
afternoon.

Manuscript volumes must normally be used in the Students' Room, but
by special permission ordinary manuscripts may be transferred to the Read-
ing Room after the Students' Room is closed. Printed books may be
brought from the Reading Room to the Students' Room, if sufficient reason
can be shown therefor. Manuscripts cannot be obtained after four o'clock
nor printed books after half-past three in January, February, November
and December, half-past four in March and October, half-past five in April
and September, and half-past six in May, June, July and August. Books
may, however, be called for at any time during the earlier hours of the day
and will be held at the central desk in the Reading Room until wanted, if
the student will write "At Bar" upon the call-ticket (reproduced below) in
place of the "Number of the Reader's Seat". Or the student may apply in
advance by letter addressed to the Superintendent of the Reading Room.
Should the student in the Reading Room wish to keep out a volume from
day to day, he must proceed as follows: placing in the volume a slip bearing
his name and the words "kept out ", he must return the book in the usual
manner, receiving back his call-ticket. This ticket he must retain until the
next day or after a reasonable time, when he will receive the book on placing
his ticket in the "kept out" basket. In the Students' Room it is sufficient
if the student place in the volume a slip similarly marked and notify the
attendant in charge that he wishes the book reserved.

Persons desiring to be admitted to the Reading Room and Students'
Room must apply in writing, at least two days before admission is required,
to the Director of the British Museum, W. C., specifying his profession or
business, his place of abode, and the particular purpose for which he seeks
admission. He must accompany his application with a written recommen-
dation from a householder, who is a person of recognized position and is

able to state from personal knowledge of the applicant that he will make proper use of the Reading Room. The recommendation of hotel-keepers or of boarding-house or lodging-house keepers in favor of their lodgers will not be accepted. The ticket of admission, for three months or six months as the case may be, is not transferable and must be produced if required. On the expiration of the period of issue or when no longer needed the ticket must be returned to the Director, who will renew the same if requested or will keep the same on file subject to renewal should the student return at some later date. Renewal is, of course, dependent on a proper regard for the rules governing the use of books and manuscripts and on a statement by the student that his object is still such as to warrant a continuance of the privilege.

To reach the Reading Room the student passes straight ahead from the entrance of the Museum; to reach the Students' Room he turns to the right, passes through the Grenville library, into the saloon of manuscripts, at the right of which is an open door with a slip-bar across it bearing the words "For Students only". Beyond this door at the end of a corridor to the left is the Students' Room.

Once admitted the student will find the procedure very simple, involving merely the choice of a seat, the finding the press-mark of the printed book (from the Catalogue in the Reading Room) or the number of the manuscript volume (from the catalogues of manuscripts in the Reading Room or the Students' Room), the filling-out of the ticket furnished, and the placing it in the receptacle provided. It is important to know that large numbers of printed books (including all the Calendars of State Papers, other government publications, publications of private societies, reference books such as the Dictionary of National Biography, etc.) are directly accessible to the student on the shelves of the Reading Room. A catalogue of these books entitled List of the Books of Reference in the Reading Room of the British Museum (including a subject-index) stands in the Reading Room, and copies can be obtained at the desk at the entrance to the Museum for six shillings.

The tickets provided for the Reading Room and Students' Room are as follows: