The first portion which we enter, before reaching that part of the gallery immediately over the Stationery Court, is appropriated to the exhibition of photographic pictures both British and foreign, several important water-colour pictures by the most eminent members of the two Societies, and a selection of remarkable pastel pictures.
The long gallery which stretches from this point to the south end of the building has been properly fitted for the exhibition of pictures. The glass wall toward the road has been covered, and a partition wall erected on the opposite side over the courts, excepting over the passage ways between the courts. The light comes from the roof with duly modified intensity, and the effect on the pictures is singularly beneficial and clear. Thus a magnificent gallery of pictures is formed, sweeping in one uninterrupted line, from the centre to the end of the building, or for a distance of 700 feet. The effect is very grand and at the same time beautiful, while the convenience and ample space will be noticed as a contrast to many picture galleries. There are upwards of 900 pictures of the British, French, Dutch, Belgian, and German Schools, being all by living artists, and for sale; the titles, prices, and Painters’ names are affixed to each picture.
As we near the south end we shall notice some very fine examples of the ancient masters, several of them being from the galleries of Marshal Soult, and the Lucca, Orleans and other celebrated collections. The specimens of the Gothic art of Flanders and Germany are very remarkable, and many of the early Italian pictures most worthy of particular notice. The early Gothic collection is one of the finest ever seen in England, and is only surpassed by the Boisserée and Ertborn galleries of Munich and Antwerp. These curious works keep the full lustre of their original colouring, and in this respect form a great distinction to many modern works. Mr. C. W. Wass is intrusted with the management of this department.
We may now proceed through the South Gallery and the Industrial Bazaar on the other side to the garden end of the Great Transept, where, in the gallery above, which we may reach by the spiral staircase, we shall find one of the most interesting departments in the Palace, as it is one of the most instructive—
THE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM AND TECHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION.
The object of this collection is to convey by means of actual illustration that instruction in the modes and various stages of industrial manufactures, and of the arts, which cannot be so accurately gained from books or descriptions; as well as, by the same plan, to trace the original plants, ores, or annuals, from which the material manufactured is derived, and to illustrate by products the several stages of its manufacture. This plan of arrangement therefore escapes the monotony which is usual in ordinary museum collections, and will be found equally interesting as instructive. It is not possible in this book to particularise by any long description any of the series comprised in so extensive a collection; it is not therefore attempted, but the leading features and positions of the gallery are indicated to direct the investigation of the visitor himself, who will find very accurate, and in many cases detailed notices appended for his instruction, to the objects themselves.
We enter the gallery by the spiral staircase in the Central Transept Gallery on the garden side of the building, and shall find that division devoted to the minerals, which we will explore first, at the left-hand extremity of the gallery. The vegetable division is naturally the largest, and occupies all the central cases and some portion of the right hand or northern extremity, where the third and last—the animal division—is situated. A plan detailing plainly this arrangement will be found suspended against the first case on the left as we enter. The first cases of the mineral division, which are those in front of the gallery on the left-hand, are devoted to what are commonly termed the non-metallic elements and their most important compounds, that is to say, those compounds in which the non-metallic element is the one technically important, arranged in the order in which they are generally treated in works on Chemistry. It may be necessary here to observe, that in order to avoid needless repetition in the classification of the chemical compounds, this plan has been adopted throughout. Thus, for instance, Bleaching Powder, which might be arranged under the heads of both its constituents, Chlorine and Lime, as it is used only on account of the Chlorine, is classified under that element. In these cases we find varieties of Carbon, Products of the Distillation of Coal, Peat, &c. (Naphtha, Ammoniacal Salts, Paraffin, Dyes, &c.), and a beautiful series illustrating the manufacture of Sulphur. Succeeding these are shown the varieties of Silica, under which head a rich case of English Agates from the Sussex coasts must be particularly noticed. The Silicates embrace the different manufactures of glass, amongst which are some beautiful artificial gems. Etching upon glass is also illustrated here. We now come to the Alkaline Metals,—Potassium, Sodium, and their salts. The next are the minerals of the Alkaline earths, Barium, Strontium, Calcium (Lime), and Magnesium, and their sundry preparations. The cements come under this division. The next cases are devoted to Aluminous products, and in this class will be found complete illustrations of one of the most important and interesting of British manufactures—the Ceramic. The series commences with a collection of the clays from different formations, and the process by which the Devon, Dorset, and Cornish clays, which are those used in earthenware and porcelain manufactures, are fashioned, decorated, and finished, is shown together with the materials used for glazes. The preparations of Alum by different processes, Emery, &c. are also in this division.
We now come to one of the most important series in the collection, and one in which the greatness and importance of this country is most emphatically illustrated. These are the Metals, properly so called. The arrangement adopted with these is first to show the ores from each district, next the mode of smelting those ores, the metal procured, and generally the manufacture of the metal. The Iron, of course, assumes the first importance. The Pig Iron is the first state in which the metal is obtained; it is then submitted to the refining and “puddling” processes; then rolled into bars, nails, and plates, or drawn into wire; we then see it converted into steel, by various processes including Bessemer’s, and this leads us to the manufactures of Sheffield. The series, of course, includes Copper, Zinc, Tin, Antimony, Gold, Silver, &c.
The central stands at this end of the gallery are occupied with a collection of the coals and building stones of England and Scotland, with a set of maps indicating the geological formation from which each is obtained.
The cases down the centre of the gallery are devoted to the Vegetable Kingdom. These are arranged as follows:—Products used as food, in the arts, and in manufactures, and in medicine. In the first class is a collection of British agricultural produce, made by Messrs. Peter Lawson & Son, of Edinburgh. The Cereals and Grasses will be found arranged in the upright cases, facing the garden and on the octagonal tables. In the cases beneath are the Roots and Fruits modelled in wax. The various growths and manufactures of Tobacco, of Hops, Spices, and aromatic Seeds, as well as Cocoa, Teas, Coffee, and their substitutes, and the articles used as food, should be specially noticed, being most completely illustrated. It will be noticed here, and also with most of the vegetable specimens in this collection, that reference is made upon the explanatory cards, which are in all cases affixed to specimens, to the fact that growing trees and plants of the various kinds may be found in the beds downstairs; and this will be found specially alluded to where the Botanical collection is described; it should be carefully borne in mind, and will, on being followed by inspection, yield an ample repayment of interest. We should now return down the side of the cases and commence our inspection of the other side, proceeding from the south end. We shall find the first set of cases illustrating the materia medica. The upper parts contain the plants, while in the lower divisions the drugs, seeds, and applied parts are shown. Next come the cork and other manufactures, including paper and paper-staining, those of Fats and Oils, India Rubber and Gutta Percha, with their various applications, Resins, Dyes and Dye-woods, these being further illustrated as with the materia medica by the plants from which they are procured. The illustrations of the Cotton, Flax, Hemp, the Pine Apple, China Grass and other fibres which are manufactured, will, with some other interesting articles in the cases opposite, conclude our rapid survey of the vegetable division, although we must not omit to notice a rich collection of the various woods, British, foreign, and Colonial, especially the large polished sections from Tasmania, collected and presented by the Royal Society of the Colony, arranged on stands at the North End.