Penny Magazine

No. 229 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - Oct. 31, 1835

ADELAIDE GALLERY.

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WE have been much gratified by a visit to a collection of curiosities which has been some years established in London at Adelaide Street, and which contains a great variety of interesting objects, though of a more heterogeneous description than are usually met with at such exhibitions: this is not said as a censure, but rather otherwise, as visitors at such places seek as well to be amused as instructed; and for those who have any particular object in view, there will be found quite enough to interest for the time usually devoted to a visit.

The lover of science, although he may not find anything to increase his store of knowledge, will surely see objects which he would find it difficult to meet with elsewhere, and may witness experiments in the large way, which he would scarcely be able to perform so satisfactorily on a smaller scale. Amongst other things, there are some very powerful electro-magnets, which show the Voltaic light with great intensity, and others which communicate such a rapid succession of electric shocks, that few persons can withstand them above a few seconds, although each separate shock is but slight. A bar of soft iron, weighing 34 lbs., becomes such a powerful magnet when in communication with a small galvanic battery, that it will support a weight of above 400 lbs. A very pretty illustration of the power of the dry galvanic pile is shown in a glass bell, where four little figures on horseback are constantly riding slowly round, forming a perpetual motion, at least as long as the galvanic action lasts, which may certainly be several years. The writer has seen a watch, constructed by Singer, set in motion by a powerful combination of a similar description, which was in motion at least sixteen years, and is so probably at this moment.

The great power of steam at a high pressure is shown in the steam-gun, which discharges a number of bullets (said to be seventy in four seconds) against an iron target placed at the end of the room. Of the actual power of this instrument we have no means of judging, nor of its manageability as an implement of war. A target is shown with several holes in it, said to have been pierced by bullets discharged from the gun, but it is difficult to estimate its power as a gun by its effects when so near. The noise of this instrument appears to be rather an objection to placing it in a room where there are so many objects requiring a quiet contemplation.

The middle of the Long Room, which contains the chief part of the collection, is occupied by a canal or trough 70 feet in length, and containing 6000 gallons of water, for the exhibition of models of steam-boats, which traverse it by the help of clock-work. The boats are driven by paddles of different construction from those in use on our rivers, and are stated to be superior from not causing so great a disturbance in the water. We apprehend, however, that the comparison is hardly fair between little boats slowly revolving in a tub of still water, and a great vessel running at a rate of twelve miles an hour on a rapid river: to judge of the improvements both boats should be placed in the same circumstances.

Persons who are desirous of witnessing the processes of our great manufactures may see some of them exemplified on a small scale. The Jacquard loom, which effected such a change in the manufacture of figured silks, and the ribbon loom which enables the weaver to move twenty shuttles at once, are both at work in a room above the gallery. Working models of steam-engines are also shown, with some of their gradual improvements from the time of Newcomen, who first used a piston at the beginning of the last century, to the condensing and high-pressure engines of the present day.

The antiquarian will find models of some of the ancient edifices of Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Britain, and the naturalist a few specimens of fossils, minerals, birds, and insects: but our limits preclude a notice of one-twentieth part of the objects collected. A great many articles are novelties sent by the inventors for the sake of publicity, which will account for the mingling of patent anchors, chains, rudders, fids, and keels; cupping-glasses and stomach-pumps; locks, mangles, ploughs, clogs, filters, blowers, bread-cutters, &c. &c.

The engraving represents a South American hut, of which there is a model in the gallery. The model is 2 ft. 4 in. in length, and 1 ft. 4 in. broad: its height in the middle is 1 ft. 8 in. It is merely a roof of broad leaves, supported upon nine poles. The middle row is composed of long poles for the highest part of the roof, the outer ones are shorter. It is quite open to the air on all sides, though probably the mats which are hung up within may be occasionally used as a means of shelter from bad weather. Long hammocks of net-work, in which the inhabitants sleep, are suspended under the sloping roof, and the implements of their occupations are hung all round. Two long canoes are fastened under the roof, and six heavy paddles suspended between the upright poles. A large well-woven basket of rushes stands on four legs in the middle of the hut, intended probably to contain food and the utensils of their cookery. The scenery in the engraving is adapted from Prince Maximillian's 'Travels in the Brazils.'

It is not stated by what tribe of natives these huts are constructed; probably by some of the great Guarani family, spread over the South American continent from the Amazon to the Plata, and forming nearly the whole of the native population of the Brazils. They are described by travellers as living in a very pacific and simple manner; they reside in thick woods, and subsist chiefly on the produce of the chase. They believe in a good and evil spirit, and in a future state. If they act in this world as becomes good hunters and faithful friends, they hope to find in the next thick woods abounding in game, which will not require to be hunted more than enough for healthy exercise; but those who are deficient in those virtues will be condemned to perpetual starvation in a barren region without a tree.

These people rarely visit the large towns on the coast, but inhabit the interior, where they find the greatest abundance of the means of subsistence. They often build their huts in the neighbourhood of the whites, in remote villages, though they rarely intermarry with Europeans. Many of them became nominally Christians under the influence of the Jesuits; but very few traces of religion remained with them after the suppression of that order, unless we refer the simple belief noticed above to that source. Little regular labour can be had from them, though foreigners have found their aid very valuable in procuring specimens of natural history. All attempts to enslave them have failed. When reduced to a state of captivity, they have either pined away or waited with indomitable patience until they have found an opportunity of escaping to the woods. The manner in which the Pampa Indians, farther to the south, build their huts is described by Azara, and, with the exception of the material of which the roof is constructed, it would apply well to the hut the model of which we have described. "They drive into the ground," he says, "three stakes, as big as a man's wrist, about four feet distance from each other. The middle stake is about six feet high, the others are shorter, and each is terminated at the top by a fork; about twelve feet from these, three other stakes are driven of the same form and height. They then place horizontally on the forks three long sticks or reeds, on which they stretch the skins of horses. When the weather is cold they add also horses' skins to the sides."

On a future occasion we may probably notice some other objects of interest in this collection.