vering the sculpture with
glass?--I have never considered it. I did not know until a very few days
ago that sculpture was injured by exposure to our climate and our smoke.

_Professor Faraday._ But you would cover the pictures, independently of
the preservation, you would cover them absolutely for the artistic
effect, the improvement of the picture?--Not necessarily so, because to
some persons there might be an objectionable character in having to
avoid the reflection more scrupulously than otherwise. I should not
press for it on that head only. The advantage gained is not a great one;
it is only felt by very delicate eyes. As far as I know, many persons
would not perceive that there was a difference, and that is caused by
the very slight color in the glass, which, perhaps, some persons might
think it expedient to avoid altogether.

Do you put it down to the absolute tint in the glass like a glazing, or
do you put it down to a sort of reflection? Is the effect referable to
the color in the glass, or to some kind of optic action, which the most
transparent glass might produce?--I do not know; but I suppose it to
be referable to the very slight tint in the glass.

118. _Dean of St. Paul's._ Is it not the case when ladies with very
brilliant dresses look at pictures through glass, that the reflection of
the color of their dresses is so strong as greatly to disturb the
enjoyment and the appreciation of the pictures?--Certainly; but I should
ask the ladies to stand a little aside, and look at the pictures one by
one. There is that disadvantage.

I am supposing a crowded room--of course the object of a National
Gallery is that it should be crowded--that as large a number of the
public should have access to it as possible--there would of course be
certain limited hours, and the gallery would be liable to get filled
with the public in great numbers?--It would be disadvantageous
certainly, but not so disadvantageous as to balance the much greater
advantage of preservation. I imagine that, in fact, glass is essential;
it is not merely an expedient thing, but an essential thing to the
safety of the pictures for twenty or thirty years.

Do you consider it essential as regards the atmosphere of London, or of
this country generally?--I speak of London only. I have no experience of
other parts. But I have this experience in my own collection. I kept my
pictures for some time without glass, and I found the deterioration
definite w