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20 the central block. This plan admits of complete isolation of the books from all other parts of the building, and as they are shelved in two stores, one half of the stock is separated from the other half, and so the contingency of the total destruc

tion of the library is further diminished. A dread of fire is by no means unnecessary, for history gives us many examples of almost irreparable loss. Without going far back, there may be mentioned the destruction of the Cottonian MSS. at Ashburnham House in 1731; and the Central Library at Birmingham in 1879, with its priceless