AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.—CONVERSAZIONE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6097, 2 June 1881, Page 5

AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.—CONVERSAZIONE.

Borixg the last few weeks prcpavations have been in progress by the Council of the Auckland Institute,, and the scientific friends ■whose aid they have secured, arranging the details of the conversazione and the exhibition of seientiSe and other instruments, which begin this evening. The council have received help from various quarters, and the arrangements which have been made are regarded as very complete. In fact, not only will the main building, from the basement to the gallery, be utilised for the benefit of the visitors, and the ground between the museum and Major Mair's office, which has been enclosed, and will be utilised for ' various purposes, but a considerable portion of Major Mair's office has been kindly placed at the disposal of the iinstitute for the occasion. Yesterday a small hoarding was erected enclosing all these buildings, leaving only one way of entrance. The following brief notice of the preparations being made to entertain visitors, may be interesting to our readers :—One side of the gallery will be devoted to a rare collection of works and implements of the savage nations of various countries. The collection sent some time ago by Mr. J. T. Mackelvie, of African curios, will be publicly shown for the first time. Many of these articles possess more than a passing interest. There are warlike implements of various kinds, some made of different kinds of wood, and many fabricated of steel by natives living in districts bordering on the river Niger. These are in the shape of spears, darts, daggers, swords with scabbards, &e., the workmanship of which is surprising. Some of the spear-points show no little skill in the manufacture of iron, and the swords are not only well made but well tempered. There is a great variety of articles of native manufacture, including cloth of various kinds, which show that, however rough their lives may be, the natives who made them possess no little ingenuity. One article in this collection will be interestingly examined by many. It is a small native loom for weaving cloth, with a. web partly completed, together with all the articles used in the fabrication of cloth. There is a large collection of Fiji and other South Sea Island curiosities. On the gallery will be placed the oxy hydrogen lantern, by which representations of natural history objects will be thrown on a screen suspended j from the roof. The lecture hall will be devoted to scientific apparatus, and the experiments performed by Messrs. Pond, Martin, &c. At intervals through the evening, experiments with the electric light will be conducted, the decomposition of water with the bisulphide of carbon prism, the polarisation of light with Iceland spar, association and dis-association of water by the electric current, and experiments with rarefied air, &c, will be conducted. On the ground floor, in the central hall, will be the representations of two large rocky mountains. On the top of one will be shown an ibex, and on the other a newly prepared chamois. A large ravine will be shown between the two hills, and all the niches, &c, in the rock will be judiciously filled with natural history | objects. On one side of one mountain will be shown on trees, &c, a large collection of i purely New Zealand birds, on the opposite side those peculiar to Australia. On one side of the other rocky mountain will be shown a large collection of North American birds, and on the opposite those peculiar to Europe, especially of the Alpine districts. In one of the front rooms a large and valuable collection of rare old books from the celebrated library of Sir George Grey will be shown, together with many works of art. On the main hall will also be fitted up a number of electric fire alarm bells, which will be shown in action during the evening. On the basement floor will be fitted up one of Price Brothers water engines, which will be connected with the town supply. This will drive a large number of machines of various kinds, amongst which will be a potter's throwing wheel shown by Mr. G. Boyd, of the Newton Pottery, self-acting screw cutting iron turning lathe, wood turning lathes, lapidary's wheel, numbering and paging machine, fret-work machines, &c. This collection is likely to be very interesting, and as the motive power will be supplied by water no danger of fire need be apprehended. In the space between the main building and Major Mair's office will be arranged a large collection of astronomical and other telescopes. Amongst these will be the large equatorial telescope belonging to Messrs. Porter and Co., which will be available for the examination of the comet, the moon (which is at present in a better state for observing than when nearer full moon), or any of the other planetary bodies that visitors might desire to examine. In Major Mair's office will be erected the Edison-Bell telephone which Mr... Furby has kindly placed in communication with Onehunga, so that a conversation may be carried on with the inhabitants of Onehunga, songs sung at Onehunga and repeated at Auckland, &c. This part of the evening's entertainment will no doubt prove very attractive. Mr. S. Percy Smith will also be present in charge of a large collection of geodctical and trigonometrical instruments, heliograph, &e. Magnesium lamps will be exhibited from the upper portion of the Museum Building, and the public will thus have an opportunity of witnessing the intense light which the combustion of this metal produces.

Altogether the present entertainment is expected to largely excel the one last year in interest and usefulness, and a good attendance may therefore be reasonably expected. The reason for getting up the entertainment is to provide funds to supplement the members' subscription to be devoted to stuffing and mounting objects of natural history. The use of these are not confined to a select few as in some places, but rendered a source of instruction for the public at large. It is therefore to the interest of the public to aid the members of the Institute with fuuds for this work, so that the museum shall be a place of pleasure and instruction. Recently large collections of prepared skins of birds and animals have been received from Canada and Europe, which remain at present in the cases for want of the requisite funds to make them useful to the public. Many of these birds are rare and pretty, some large, and some the smallest of living birds. The proper mounting of them would largely increase the attractiveness of the museum, and when the funds are wanted for such a purpose, a purpose in which the public at large have an equal interest as the members of the Institute, by whose subscriptions the museum is maintained, we trust the attendance will be large, and the addition to their funds considerable.