^8 



NA TURE 



[May 25, 1876 



owing to classification, " a point kept dibtincily in view in 

 arranging the Exhibition of Scientific Apparatus," The 

 article then proceeds :-^ 



" The problem of classification has been triumphantly- 

 solved Success is absolute and complete. 



" The institution of conferences during the Exhibition 

 can hardly be regarded as other than a most valuable 

 innovation, and precisely what was wanted— not to popu- 

 larise the Exhibition, but to give it that life and movement 

 without which the best institutions are apt to become 

 stagnant, and be passed heedlessly by in an age of hurry 

 and bustle. . . . There is no slackness at South Kensing- 

 ton, and conferences form an interesting and important 

 part of the programme of the Scientific Exhibition which 

 it is rumoured will probably prove the nucleus of a Scien- 

 tific Museum analogous to the Conservatoire des Arts et 

 Metiers at Paris. It would certainly be shortsighted 

 pohcy to allow the splendid collection of objects now 

 brought together for the first time in the world's history 

 to be redistributed— scattered all over Europe, in odds 

 and ends which teach little or nothing apart, but are of 

 inestimable value when togelher. The want of a perma- 

 nent national institution devoted to science can now be 

 suppHed in the least costly and most efficacious manner, 

 that is to say, the vital part composed of the scientists 

 and their instruments. As for the showy part— the out- 

 ward and visible sign— the Central Hall of Science, it 

 will come in time. If Albert Hall, after having failed as 

 a music-hall, fails also as a circus and as a skating-rink, 

 the country may one day be able to buy it up cheap, and 

 convert it to a legitimate use." 



The British Journal of Photography says :— 

 *' There is now open in the Exhibition Buildings, South 

 Kensington, London, a large, varied, and most valuable 

 collection of scientific apparatus and appliances. Its in- 

 trinsic value is great, its historical value much greater, 

 but in its educational importance is to be found the chief 

 value of this unique collection." 

 The Gardeners' Chronicle speaks thus :— 

 " The splendid collections of Scientific Apparatus now 

 on view at South Kensington may not have any great 

 interest or attraction for the general pubUc, for whose 

 taste the display is too technical and unintelligible. To 

 the more thoughtful visitor, and especially to the student, 

 the collection is rich in interest and suggestiveness. . . . 

 The whole thing has been organised and got together so 

 quietly that even among scientific men little or nothing 

 was known about the proceedings till the last moment, 

 and the extent and value of the collections has come 

 upon them as a surprise." 



PubUc opinion thus far, it will be seen, has nothing but 

 admiration for the Loan Collection. The Athenceum is 

 on the other side. We give its article without note or 

 comment, as the collection can hold its own. 



"The galleries containing the Loan Collection of 

 Scientific Instruments are at length open to the public. 

 Apparently no expenditure has been considered too great 

 by those who have been engaged in bringing together in 

 the course of a few weeks from every part of Europe all 

 the relics of science that could be begged or borrowed 

 from public institutions or private collections. Gentlemen 

 have been sent on special missions from South Kensing- 

 ton, and their movements have been duly chronicled in 

 Renter's telegrams amongst the most important news 

 from Italy and Germany. Where these gentlemen could 

 not find time to go, ambassadors and their attaches have 

 been pressed into the service of collecting. Special rail- 

 way trains have, we are informed by our contemporary. 

 Nature, been built for the transit of instruments, and 

 the result is a collection of brass, glass, and old iron relics, 

 which has driven the daily press wild with enthusiasm. 



" According to the ordinary law of chances, a certain 

 proportion of these instruments will be returned to the 

 places whence they came all the worse for their journey 

 across Europe, and we feel inclined to inquire whether it 



is certain that the worker in science will be the wiser for 

 having seen them. The old and celebrated instruments 

 have been repeatedly described and figured, and the new 

 instruments, if useful, a man engaged in scientific research 

 knows better than he knows the way to South Kensington. 

 As to the curiosity-loving public, it will surely not be 

 pretended that it is worth while to form such a collection 

 for its amusement, but if it be the duty of government to 

 gratify the craving of idlers, let us by all means at once 

 appoint a Barnum to be Minister of Science ; he will 

 know how to make such exhibitions as this, and the 

 School of Art needlework, a commercial success. But, 

 no doubt, real instruction is intended, and if so, let us 

 stop and ask whether the present is the best and cheapest 

 plan of obtaining our object. The * general public,' so 

 far as can be judged from the experience of the first few 

 days, regards the whole affair with indifference. 



" In order to afford the means for studying the history of 

 a science there is needed a continuous series of objects 

 that will illustrate the development of thought step by 

 step ; such a collection cannot be brought together in a 

 few weeks. It needs the patient labour and study of a 

 lifetime devoted to it ; but in this exhibition, as in col- 

 lections made by the nouveaux riches, the extremely old 

 and extremely curious have been brought side by side 

 with the comphcated results of modern workmanship ; 

 and we find none of the connecting links, to gather which 

 requires a man well versed in the history of his subject, 

 and the labour of a lifetime. ... In fact, the collection 

 required the control of a hand familiar with the history of 

 astronomy. Objects that would have illustrated the 

 development of the telescope during the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries should have been sought after more 

 diligently than relics connected with great and popular 

 names with which every one is familiar. 



" The general ' Handbook to the Exhibition,' which has 

 been published, is a remarkably good shilling's-worth of 

 information, but, as might be expected, it contains trea- 

 tises of very different merit. After some general consi- 

 derations on instruments by Prof. Clerk Maxwell, which 

 will possibly be above the heads of most of his readers, 

 follow some interesting though rather general disquisi- 

 tions on various subjects, which have evidently in most 

 cases been written without reference to the instruments 

 brought together. The names of Prof Clerk Maxwell, 

 Prof Smith, Prof. Clifford, Mr. Spottiswoode, Prof. Tait, 

 and others, will be a sufficient guarantee of the trust- 

 worthiness of the information given. The article on 

 Astronomy is not equal to the others, and considering the 

 opportunity that the author had of illu«^trating the history 

 of his subject, it is particularly poor and superficial. The 

 ' Handbook' in general will well repay more than a casual 

 perusal." 



We did not state that " special railway trains" had been 

 built for the purpose referred to above. 



NOTES 



The Challenger is expected home daily, and arrangements 

 are being made for the ship being welcomed on its arrival at 

 Sheerness by the Royal Society and the foreign men of science 

 now in this country. 



The visitation of the Royal Observatory is fixed for Saturday, 

 Junes. 



The Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 was held on Monday. The total number of ordinary Fellows 

 on the list at the end of April was 3,125. Sir H. Rawlinson, 

 the President, presented the Founder's Medal to Lieut. Cameron, 

 and the Patron's Medal to Mr. Lowther for Mr. J. Forrest, the 

 Australian explorer. The annual geogra>ph)cal medals offered 

 by the Society to the chief public schools were presented to the 



