GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 387 



NEW SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 



During the past year, an institution of somewhat singular character 

 has been established by a company in London, incorporated under the 

 title of "The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art." The objects of 

 the Institution are somewhat similar to the w r ell-known Polytechnic 

 Institution, of London. A building, of a Saracenic structure of the 

 14th or loth century has been erected, which is thus described in the 

 Literary Gazette. " The building appears to the visitor, on entering, 

 to be a lofty, star-domed, galleried temple, sparkling with all the gold 

 and colors of the Alhambra, but characterized by an admirable taste 

 and uniformity of style. It is lit from the top, and from a few side 

 windows in two octagonal galleries, and all the glass is either colored, 

 ground, or enamelled. In order to darken the building for exhibition 

 purposes, an apparatus has been fitted to the windows by which they 

 can all be closed simultaneously. For artificial light, the gas is to be 

 used in chains of single suspended argand lamps of Saracenic char- 

 acter, 200 to 300 in number, and an electric stream of light will ex- 

 pand its rays, if practicable, from the dome. In the centre of the 

 ground-floor is constructed a fountain of very novel pattern, suggested 

 to the architect by one at the Castello di Ziza, Palermo. It has a 

 large centre jet, with eight surrounding disc jets, and, like the magic 

 bottle of M. Houdin, it will throw up streams of different colored 

 waters at the will of the exhibitor. Around the fountain will be placed 

 various pieces of machinery in motion, and occasional instruction will 

 be offered, with the aid of these, in different processes of mechanical 

 engineering. The remainder of the ground-floor will be occupied by 

 casts of eminent works of British sculptors. 



The galleries are to be let off for bazaar counters much of the 

 space has already been secured but no articles are to be exhibited or 

 sold, unless they are manufactured publicly on the spot. The crafts 

 will be of the most miscellaneous description, in order to furnish a 

 variety of subjects. One counter, for example, has been taken by an 

 ivory turner ; another by an artificial flower maker; a third, strange to 

 say, by a hatter, who speculates, with some acumen on the principle, 

 that the public will be most interested in the manfacture of articles 

 familiar to them. 



The principal feature in the way of pictorial illustration, will be an 

 Optical Diorama on a very large scale ; and to this, a spacious central 

 recess on the eastern side of the building, facing the entrance, is appro- 

 priated. Scenic representations are to be here given, exceeding in 

 dimensions anything of the kind yet exhibited. There is scarcely any 

 movement in nature, says Mr. Clarke, the inventor, which may not be 

 portrayed by this kind of Diorama ; and it is already contemplated to 

 give a representation of Handel's Ads and Galatea, with moving fig- 

 ures of the size of life. In the recess, behind the sliding field of the 

 Diorama, an enormous organ is being erected, equal in power to any 

 instrument in Europe. 



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