§ THE DUKE OF SOMERSETbegged to ask the Lord President of the Council a Question. A statement which had been made that unless the hieroglyphics on Cleopatra's Needle were preserved by some process, they would be obliterated by the effects of the smoke of London. He therefore wished to inquire whether the noble Duke would consider the abvisability of taking the opinion of scientific men as to the best mode of preserving the inscriptions from the destructive effects of the London atmosphere, either by glazing the monolith, as similar monuments had been glazed in the British Museum, or by other mechanical means?
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONsaid, that he would take immediate steps for making inquiries into the matter to which the noble Duke had referred. There could be no doubt that the preservation of the inscriptions was a question of great interest, and that means onght to be adopted in order to prevent their obliteration,