ABSTRACT
There have been in former years, both in this country and elsewhere, exhibitions including some of the then newest inventions of the day; but none have been so exclusively devoted to scientific objects, nor any so extensive in their range as this. To enumerate even the chief of the individual instruments of historical interest would be a task beyond the limits both of powers and of patience. In reviewing the series of ancient, or at least now disused, instruments, one thing can hardly fail to strike the attention of those who are accustomed to the use of the modern forms. In making such a suggestion, it must of course be assumed that the custody of property so valuable in itself, and so delicate in its nature, would be confided to a curator thoroughly competent for such a charge, but the author abstain from entering prematurely into further details.
