se 
San. 23, 1873] 
States. He then opened his collections in London and 
Paris. He was occupied in their display until 1852, when 
he went to Venezuela, and visited the Oronoco, Amazon, 
and Essequibo, taking a great number of pictures on his 
route. He afterwards crossed the continent to Lima, and 
_ going northward visited the mouth of the Columbia River, 
Nootka Sound, Alaska, and Kamtschatka. From Van- 
couver Island he went to the Dalles, and up the Columbia 
_ River to Walla Walla, thence to the Salmon River Valley, 
- and across the mountains into Snake River Valley at Fort 
‘Hall, thence to the Great Falls of the Snake River, and 
_ returning to Portland, proceeded to San Francisco and 
_ San Diego. From San Diego he crossed the Colorado of 
the West and the Rocky mountains, and descended the 
’ Rio Grande del Norte in a canoe to Matamoras. 
From Matamoras he set out for Sisal, in Yucatan, and 
thence proceeded to Havre. Returning from that place 
in the fall of the same year (1855), he went to Rio Janeiro 
and Buenos Ayres. Ascending the Paraguay and the 
Parana, he crossed the “ Entre Rios” mountains to the 
head waters of the Uruguay, which he descended to the 
mouthsof the Rio Negro, and returned again to Buenos 
Ayres. From this place in 1856 he coasted the whole 
length of Patagonia, and then north to Panama; thence 
to Chagres, to Caraccas in Venezuela, to Santa Martha, 
and Maracaibo. It is probable that this closed his 
active explorations, as he soon went back to Europe, 
where he stayed until a year or two ago,when he returned 
to thiscountry. Continually accumulating paintings in all 
his expeditions, their aggregate was very great, and on 
opening an exhibition of the greater part of them in the 
museum of the Smithsonian Institution in the winter of 
1871 and 1872, they attracted great attention from visi- 
tors. They are now boxed up in that institution, 
awaiting disposal. Mr. Catlin’s object in bringing them 
to Washington was to secure an appropriation from Con- 
gress for their purchase, this to include the remainder 
of his collection, which is now in Philadelphia. 
The paintings of Mr. Catlin, although far from being un- 
exceptionable as works of art, are of very great value as 
ethnological representations ; and it is very much to be 
hoped that some measures may be taken to get the entire 
collection permanently preserved and studied. Espe- 
cially in view of the fact that by far the greater number 
of the North American tribes included in his represen- 
tations have either become exterminated or have changed 
their habits of life, the interest and value of Mr. Catlin’s 
faithful portraitures may well be realised. 
The first work published by Mr. Catlin was entitled, 
“ Tllustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition 
of the North American Indians, written during Eight 
Years of Travel and Adventure among the wildest and 
most remarkable Tribes nowexisting.” This was illustrated 
With over three hundred steel-plate engravings from his 
gallery, and has long been a work of reference on sub- 
jects connected with the American aborigines, having 
passed through a number of editions. Some of his other 
works were, “ North American Portfolio of Hunting 
Scenes,” “Notes of Eight Years’ Travel and Residence 
in Europe,” “Life among the Indians,” “Okeepah,” 
: a Subsided and Uplifted Rocks of North America,” 
—&e. 
OLD AND NEW LABORATORIES AT 
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION* 
4 TIME when, through temporary absence from one 
: chair, and through a change of occupancy of the 
other, we are deprived of the presence of our two Pro- 
sssors, seems to offer an opportunity for reviewing the 
t history, the scientific results, and the future prospects 
of our laboratories. A time when, through circumstances 
_* Alecture delivered on Friday evening last by William Spottiswoode, 
LL.D. Treasurer R.S. and R.I. 
ON THE 
NATURE 
223 
which cause us much regret, we are deprived, at our even- 
ing meetings at least, of the presence of our Secretary, 
offers perhaps the only occasion when the task of such a 
review could fall to other hands than his. The fact that 
it has fallen to mine is attributable to the office in which 
your votes have placed me, rather than to any individual 
qualifications of my own. And it would have been im- 
possible for me to undertake the task, had he not placed 
at my disposal his wide-spread information upon many 
branches of science, as well as his intimate knowledge of 
the history of the Institution, to the well-being of which 
his care and devotion have so largely contributed. 
The first dawn of our history is to be sought among 
those stormy years with which the last century drew 
towards its close, and out of which many new thoughts 
and aspirations of men took their birth. 
Its character, in accordance with the views of its early 
promoter, Count Rumford, was at first far more industrial 
than it eventually became. Its two great objects were 
“the general diffusion of the knowledge of all new and 
useful improvements, and teaching the application of 
scientific discoveries to the improvement of arts and 
manufactures, and to the increase of domestic comfort 
and convenience.” The Institution was to contain models, 
or actual specimens of fire-places and kitchen utensils for 
cottages, farm-houses, and large dwellings; a complete 
laundry for a gentleman’s family; grates and chimney 
pieces ; brewers’ boilers ; distillers’ coppers ; ventilators ; 
limekilns ; steam-boilers ; spinning wheels; agricultural 
implements ; bridges, &c.; and at one time some eighteen 
or twenty young mechanics were actually boarded and 
lodged in the house.- The records of our early proceedings 
give an instance, illustrating the views of the founders. 
In January, 1800, when the designs for the theatre, 
model-room, and workshops were formed, the architect 
proposed that the laboratory should occupy the position 
which it ultimately held. But, with a view to giving 
more room to the workshops, the proposal was set aside 
in the very next month, and the space in the basement 
under the theatre assigned to the purpose. Happily, 
however, before the building had reached the first floor, 
this position was found unsuitable ; and further consider- 
ation devised the laboratory, which we have all known so 
well as that of Davy, of Faraday, and of Tyndall. A 
staircase leading to it from the front hall, although long 
since closed, was removed only in 1866, to make room for 
Prof. Tyndall’s smoke chamber. 
From Count Romford’s final departure from England 
in 1802 we may date the decline of the industrial element, 
some echo of which still rings in our motto, “ Illustrans 
commoda vitz ;” and early in the following year a definite 
proposal to give up that part of the original plan was 
made. 
From a report to the managers in 1803, it appears that, 
although chemistry had always been a primary olLject of 
the Institution, yet from motives of economy nothing 
more had been done in the way of either laboratory or 
apparatus than was necessary for the immediate purpose 
of the lectures. It was consequently proposed that the 
workshop should be added to the laboratory and fitted 
with seats for 120 persons, and the forge adapted to 
chemical purposes. The report ends as follows :—“ This 
laboratory will be equal, or indeed superior, to any in this 
country, and probably to any on the Continent.” 
The chemical laboratory was altered in accordance with 
that report, and remained unchanged until 1863, when, on 
the appointment of Dr. Frankland to the Professorship 
of Chemistry, the lecture seats were removed so as to 
adapt the room more properly to purposes of scientific 
research, 
It is interesting to contrast the verdict of 1873 with 
that of 1803. “Originally built,” to quote Dr. Bence 
Jones’s own words, “as a workshop for blacksmiths, fitted 
with a forge, and furnished with bellows which only last 
