Machinery at the Exhibition. 421 



facts in reference to the early history of money. With this ac- 

 knowledgment the subject of " Money and Moneyers" may be 

 for the present left, although the writer is conscious that much 

 of interest in reference to it remains unsaid. 



MACHINERY AT THE EXHIBITION. 



BY J. W. M f GAULEY. 



Pkoceeding from the western dome northward, along the tran- 

 sept, we catch such a glimpse of the vast collection of ma- 

 chinery to be found in the western annex, and of the immense 

 building itself, that we must assuredly be devoid of all curiosity, 

 and must feel very little interest in arts and manufactures, if 

 we do not experience the most intense desire to explore its 

 wonders. And that such are the feelings of the great majority 

 of those who visit the Exhibition, is evinced by the fact that 

 the machinery department is at all times one of its most 

 crowded portions. The great advantage of such assemblages 

 consists not only in the opportunity which it affords to every 

 one of becoming acquainted with the various machines which 

 are used for industrial purposes, but also in the means it 

 supplies of making comparisons, and thus marking with accu- 

 racy the progress of improvement. At the last Exhibition the 

 specimens of what might be done in the different branches of 

 mechanical art were calculated to awaken the deepest interest ; 

 but South Kensington presents to our view at this moment 

 such a collection of machinery as was never before seen in one 

 place ; and possibly during the existence of the present gene- 

 ration shall never be seen again. Its superiority over every- 

 thing of the kind is manifested not only by the number of 

 specimens exhibited, but by the great size of some of them. 

 In this one vast hall are collected almost every contrivance of 

 practical utility, and the mechanical requisites of almost every 

 art and manufacture. 



Machinery had made great progress at the time of the last 

 International Exhibition ; the skill and ingenuity of modern 

 times had even then devised all the admirable contrivances, by 

 means of which we are at present enabled to perform such 

 wonders in the constructive art, and to work on so large a 

 scale, and yet with such precision. And if we examine the 

 different modes that are used for obtaining motive power, or of 

 applying it to practical purposes, we shall find that we have 

 not, since 1851, either increased their number or, to any consi- 

 derable extent, augmented their capabilities. There is no 

 tol. i. — NO. vi. p p 



