Overall Egyptological momentum lagged in many areas during the mid-nineteenth century, but that provided time for consolidation. The British Museum continued to expand its Egyptian holdings, albeit often reluctantly and slowly, spurning many attractive opportunities for acquisition, but that institution provided employment for Britain's lone professional Egyptologist, Samuel Birch, who kept the discipline alive in Britain. Meanwhile, the Louvre in Paris expanded its Egyptian collection much more rapidly. Several museums in the Italian Peninsula, especially the Museo Egizio, maintained good Egyptian collections. Under the directorship of Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden developed an outstanding Egyptian collection. The Neues Museum in Berlin became one of the best in the world. The downside of this expansion was stimulation of the market for antiquities in Egypt and their mining and removal, often under devastating circumstances. An appeal by George R. Gliddon to stop the destruction of Egypt's ancient heritage fell on largely deaf ears.