300 



KNOWLEDGE. 



August, 1913. 



it would be sufficient to secure the ceiling, a fireplace, 

 a panelled room, or the main staircase, and to instal 

 these in rooms in the Crystal Palace. 



Besides domestic buildings, other structures would 

 be treated in the same way, such as ancient barns 

 and water-mills. It might even be possible to save 

 some abandoned and decaying English church 

 whose preservation is demanded by its age or 

 importance. Such a church would form the most 

 appropriate home for the display of ecclesiastical 

 art. No doubt many people would find it hard to 

 assent to the removal of a church from its parish, 

 but such removal and preservation are better than 

 decay and final ruin. 



The scheme provides for the assignment of a 

 portion of the grounds for our great national games 

 and pastimes ; here would be a maypole for the 

 children and a bowling green for their elders. A 

 dancing floor would be laid out for national dances, 

 and an open-air theatre prepared for the performance 

 of historical pageants and stage plays. At Skansen, 

 spacious enclosures are reserved for living examples 

 of Swedish mammals and birds. This might be 

 imitated by a miniature British " Zoo." 



As to the Crystal Palace itself, it would serve for 

 the exhibition of objects of all sorts illustrating the 

 daily life, occupations, and amusements of the 

 peoples of these islands. One room could be 

 devoted to children's toys, another to objects used 

 by women in indoor amusements, another to the 

 apparatus and methods of producing fire in past 

 times (a most seductive subject), another to inven- 

 tions, another to models to enable the blind to 

 gain, by tactual means, a knowledge of some of 

 the more interesting objects in the various depart- 

 ments. Space would further be required for 

 developmental series of English metal-work, wood- 

 carving, pottery, glass, furniture, and textiles ; also 

 for such things as hand-looms, vehicles, old surgical 

 instruments, inn-signs, the regalia of guilds and 

 other societies, stocks, gibbets, clocks, tallies, 

 charms, cheese-presses, and a multitude of others. 

 Special stress would be laid upon objects typified 

 by ornamental lace-bobbins, carved bone apple- 

 scoops, and costumes, as it is just such things as 



these that best illustrate the trend of native culture. 



The framers of the scheme point out that it would 

 be particularly appropriate if a number of rooms in 

 the Crystal Palace could be devoted to collections 

 relating to past and present members of our Royal 

 house, such as portraits, ceremonial robes, and 

 personal relics. The present writer had hopes at 

 one time that Stafford House might be converted 

 into a royal museum after the fashion of Rosenborg 

 Castle at Copenhagen, but the future of that building 

 has been settled otherwise. 



A national folk-museum like this would illustrate, 

 by means of actual objects, historical continuity. 

 After all, the present can only be measured in terms 

 of the past, and, unhappily, in England our past is 

 rapidly disappearing beyond recall. If the project 

 is delayed much longer its effectual accomplishment 

 will become impossible. Other European countries 

 are fully alive to the importance of preserving 

 unbroken the records of national life. There is 

 little in our past to be ashamed of ; there is much 

 of which we may justly be proud. 



Through the patriotic action of Lord Plymouth, 

 Sir David Burnett, and of The Times, the Crystal 

 Palace grounds are now available for some public 

 purpose. It is desirable, from every point of view, 

 to take advantage of so unique an opportunity for 

 promoting the establishment of a permanent and 

 comprehensive national folk-museum. The central 

 feature of the situation lies in the fact that, if these 

 grounds are assigned to some other use, no other 

 open stretch of land so near London of such 

 magnitude can ever again be forthcoming. It is a 

 duty we owe to posterity no less than to our for- 

 bears, to preserve, while it is still possible, the fast 

 dissolving links that bind us with the past. 



I wish to express my indebtedness to Mr. 

 Bernhard Olsen, of the Dansk Folkemuseum, Mr. 

 Hans Aall, of the Norsk Folkemuseum, Mr. 

 Bernhard Solen, of the Nordiska Museet, and Dr. 

 Anders Sandvig, founder of Maihaugen Open-air 

 Museum, for kind permission to reproduce the 

 accompanying illustrations ; also to Dr. F. A. 

 Bather and Professor Henri Logeman for valued 

 assistance. 



THE ARTIFICIAL RIPENING OF FRUITS. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle for July 19th points out that 

 the Arabs have for centuries ripened dates artificially by 

 exposing them to the fumes of vinegar ; and refers to the 

 ripening of persimmons by the Japanese, who store them in a 

 closed cask in which the national alcoholic beverage known as 

 sak6 has been kept. Professor Francis Lloyd's method of 

 exposing unripe fruits under a pressure (of from fifteen to 

 forty-five pounds to the square inch) to the action of carbon 

 dioxide for fifteen to thirty-six hours is also discussed. 

 What happens in the process is not altogether clear, but 

 we quote the following remarks : — 



" Astringency is due to the action on the tongue of the 

 tannins contained in the unripe fruit. It disappears if the 

 tannins are destroyed, or if these bitter substances are 

 prevented from acting on the tongue. Carbon dioxide seems 

 to produce the latter effect, and in the following way: 

 Associated with the tannins in plant tissues are coagulable 



substances. Such substances when caused to coagulate 

 hold the tannins very strongly, so strongly, indeed, that the 

 latter substances are prevented from giving rise to an 

 astringent taste when the fruit containing them is eaten. In 

 short, the coagulated substance plays the part of the coat of a 

 bitter pill, enabling the latter to be taken untasted. The 

 explanation may be that which has been given ; but we are 

 inclined to think that other changes are induced by carbon 

 dioxide. For example, it is possible that the effect of carbon 

 dioxide is to hasten the oxidation processes of the tissues, and 

 hence to cause a partial or complete destruction of the 

 astringent substances. Whatever be the precise interpretation 

 of the process the important thing is to ascertain whether a 

 similar process may be induced in our common large fruits ; 

 for although artificial ripening is primarily of importance to 

 the grower of tropical fruits — dates, bananas, persimmons, 

 and the like — it may prove also of service to the home grower." 



