Volume 1

Cyclopaedia of useful arts, mechanical and chemical, manufactures, mining, and engineering / edited by Charles Tomlinson.

  • Tomlinson Charles, 1808-1897.
Date:
[1852-1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cyclopaedia of useful arts, mechanical and chemical, manufactures, mining, and engineering / edited by Charles Tomlinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    INTEODUOTOEY ESSAY. ON THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS, 1851. In taking a leisurely survey of a well-stored and well-arranged museum, the thoughtfid obsei-ver cannot fail to be struck with the endless variety of forms, and the wonderful adaptations of means to certain pre-appointed ends, which abound in the kingdoms of nature. Every single specimen, whether it be of an animal, a plant, or a mineral, has a history to tell, full of design, abounding in instruction, and replete with beauty. AU these varied forms, gathered from all parts of the earth, grouped with the method and order of a scientific mind, are, to a certain extent, exponents of the method and order of the Divine Architect, who, in planning the fabric and willing the existence of the meanest of His creatures, had in view certain wise and benevolent ends, which it is our duty and our privilege to study, and as far as possible to understand. It may in many cases be difficult to see the uses of the beings and objects on which so much care has been bestowed, and for whose propagation and preservation so many precautions have been taken; but we must bear in mind, that the u^e of an object does not always mean its direct application to the wants or the pleasm-es of man. It doubtless has its uses in the great scheme of nature, and as such the naturalist regards its economic application as of secondary importance. Hence if rightly viewed there is not a single object, however mean, which does not in some way or other appeal to our sympathies, excite our interest, and confirm our belief in the constant care of a protecting Providence. The majority of mankind, however, feel most interest in that which appeals to their daily experience, and to their human sympathies. The intellectual is not so likely to be popular as the practical. The fine arts have but a limited range; the useful arts are unbounded. Science can only be cultivated by the few ; the applications of science can be, to some extent at least, appreciated by all. Moreover, the products of the useful arts, wherever practised, are full of meaning and suggestion to the unlearned as well as to the skilful. They are connecting links between the various scattered members of the great human femily. The savage in the forest wild bakes his bread, brews a fermented drink, tans his leather, weaves his cloth, or carves his spear, by processes which are familiar to ourselves, and which form the basis of our more perfect and more extensive operations. In addition to the distinctive features impressed upon industrial products by climate, soil, political institutions and other causes, there is always impressed upon them the stamp of humanity—the action of the human mind, and the work of the human hand ; and this excites our interest and awakens our regard. It was a grand idea to provide for the industrial arts that which had been so long and so well done for natm-al history and the fine arts, namely, a museum; to collect into one vast enclosure, and under one vast roof, the industrial products of aU nations and of all chmes ; to group and arrange these, as far as possible, according to a systematic method calculated to arrest and inform the observer. Our country has done this; and while she has pursued, with respect to her own products, her own plans of classification and airangement, she has also allotted to other nations certain spaces to fill up and arrange, each according to the taste and fancy of its contributors. Such an idea, we repeat, was a grand one, and the carrying of it out has, under the Divine blessing, been no less grand, satisfactory, and we trust beneficial to the cause of peace and civilization.