DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0112
84 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
referred with unhesitating satisfaction to this collection of Scotch vegetable products.
Of the agricultural produce, generally, exhibited in this department, we may say that
there were very fine specimens of wheat and barley, also of malt. The Messrs. Gibbs
and Co. had a large space devoted to them for the display of various agricultural seeds.
We did not observe anything new in this collection; but it was found of interest to the
practical agriculturist, as affording a view of the seeds employed in British agriculture
at the present day. We were sorry, however, to be obliged to find fault with the un-
sightly appearance of the table on which these seeds were spread, and with the enormous
loss of space attendant on their arrangement, which, far from assisting in their exami-
nation, almost entirely prevented it. From barley and malt we naturally turn to hops;
and here we found several specimens from various parts of England. In this depart-
ment we observed some enlarged drawings of the hop fungus—a very destructive growth
on the hop—by Dr. Plomley, of Maidstone. Had a like plan been generally adopted,
we might have had some interesting observations on the diseased conditions of food which
sometimes play such dreadful havoc, as in the case of the potato disease. In the chemical
department we found a glass case illustrative of the making of beer in this country. It
would, indeed, be a blessed time for this beer-drinking country if all its beer were made
from the materials exhibited here. Malt on one side, hops on another, a glass cask of
porter on another, and a glass cask of ale on the other, revealed the true receipt of how
to make good beer. Beer reminds us of the section of " intoxicating drugs, fermented
liquors, and distilled spirits;" which, although some persons regard them as belonging
to the class of poisons, were placed by the executive committee under the class " Food."
The distilled liquors and wines exhibited here must have been from " unusual sources/'
There were, however, a few bottles of what, judging from the outside, looked like genuine
champagne. Whether the grape be an unusual source for champagne or not, there are
few persons who will deny that rhubarb is: and amongst the few wines of the Exhi-
bition, this rhubarb champagne deserves a passing notice. Vain, however, must be the
hope of wine-makers to get any substitute for the juice of the grape until they shall meet
with something which contains the same compounds as the berry of the grape. In this
department, the lovers of tobacco might regale their eyes and nostrils with an exhibition
of the various forms which that substance assumes for the indulgence of its admirers.
Of course, smoking was not allowed; and the tobacco on the British side, in the form
of snuff, was not in a condition to be applied to the olfactory nerve. But the snuffers
were better off than the smokers in the Exhibition: for there were no frowning notices
in seven different languages forbidding them to indulge in their favourite luxury,—and
the liberality of the Portuguese exhibitors of snuff had provided for every visitor a pinch.
We understand from those who are judges that this Portuguese snuff was very excellent,
and likely to produce a sensation in the snuff-taking world.
From snuff and tobacco the transition is natural to tea, coffee, and chocolate. The
exhibition of tea was quite on a small scale:—a few samples of the different varieties of
black and green from Assam constituting all that was to be seen in Class III. We have
not yet sufficiently explored India and China, to say what these countries might exhibit.
The specimens mentioned are, however, interesting, as indicating that tea may be grown
in our Indian possessions, and may ultimately become a source of great commercial
advantage to ourselves, and benefit to India. In coffee there was more than was novel.
One exhibitor separated a quantity of useless vegetable tissue from the coffee, and thus
secured a purer form of the raw material. Dr. Gardiner, of London, has discovered that
the leaves of the coffee plant contain caffeine, a principle identical with that obtained
from tea-leaves, called theine. It is generally admitted that these principles are the source
of the utility of both coffee and tea as articles of diet. Dr. Gardiner proposes to dry the
referred with unhesitating satisfaction to this collection of Scotch vegetable products.
Of the agricultural produce, generally, exhibited in this department, we may say that
there were very fine specimens of wheat and barley, also of malt. The Messrs. Gibbs
and Co. had a large space devoted to them for the display of various agricultural seeds.
We did not observe anything new in this collection; but it was found of interest to the
practical agriculturist, as affording a view of the seeds employed in British agriculture
at the present day. We were sorry, however, to be obliged to find fault with the un-
sightly appearance of the table on which these seeds were spread, and with the enormous
loss of space attendant on their arrangement, which, far from assisting in their exami-
nation, almost entirely prevented it. From barley and malt we naturally turn to hops;
and here we found several specimens from various parts of England. In this depart-
ment we observed some enlarged drawings of the hop fungus—a very destructive growth
on the hop—by Dr. Plomley, of Maidstone. Had a like plan been generally adopted,
we might have had some interesting observations on the diseased conditions of food which
sometimes play such dreadful havoc, as in the case of the potato disease. In the chemical
department we found a glass case illustrative of the making of beer in this country. It
would, indeed, be a blessed time for this beer-drinking country if all its beer were made
from the materials exhibited here. Malt on one side, hops on another, a glass cask of
porter on another, and a glass cask of ale on the other, revealed the true receipt of how
to make good beer. Beer reminds us of the section of " intoxicating drugs, fermented
liquors, and distilled spirits;" which, although some persons regard them as belonging
to the class of poisons, were placed by the executive committee under the class " Food."
The distilled liquors and wines exhibited here must have been from " unusual sources/'
There were, however, a few bottles of what, judging from the outside, looked like genuine
champagne. Whether the grape be an unusual source for champagne or not, there are
few persons who will deny that rhubarb is: and amongst the few wines of the Exhi-
bition, this rhubarb champagne deserves a passing notice. Vain, however, must be the
hope of wine-makers to get any substitute for the juice of the grape until they shall meet
with something which contains the same compounds as the berry of the grape. In this
department, the lovers of tobacco might regale their eyes and nostrils with an exhibition
of the various forms which that substance assumes for the indulgence of its admirers.
Of course, smoking was not allowed; and the tobacco on the British side, in the form
of snuff, was not in a condition to be applied to the olfactory nerve. But the snuffers
were better off than the smokers in the Exhibition: for there were no frowning notices
in seven different languages forbidding them to indulge in their favourite luxury,—and
the liberality of the Portuguese exhibitors of snuff had provided for every visitor a pinch.
We understand from those who are judges that this Portuguese snuff was very excellent,
and likely to produce a sensation in the snuff-taking world.
From snuff and tobacco the transition is natural to tea, coffee, and chocolate. The
exhibition of tea was quite on a small scale:—a few samples of the different varieties of
black and green from Assam constituting all that was to be seen in Class III. We have
not yet sufficiently explored India and China, to say what these countries might exhibit.
The specimens mentioned are, however, interesting, as indicating that tea may be grown
in our Indian possessions, and may ultimately become a source of great commercial
advantage to ourselves, and benefit to India. In coffee there was more than was novel.
One exhibitor separated a quantity of useless vegetable tissue from the coffee, and thus
secured a purer form of the raw material. Dr. Gardiner, of London, has discovered that
the leaves of the coffee plant contain caffeine, a principle identical with that obtained
from tea-leaves, called theine. It is generally admitted that these principles are the source
of the utility of both coffee and tea as articles of diet. Dr. Gardiner proposes to dry the