THE PANOPTICON.
The Saracenie building which has for some considerable while been an object of curiosity and attraction to the passenger through Leicester Square, opened to private view on Thursday in its completed state as "the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art." It promises to be some- thing between the Polytechnic, the Pantheon Bazaar, and a minor "Crystal Palace" ; though just at present it assimilates chiefly to the Pantheon cha- racter. The building itself is a new and a pleasant feature of London Streets; in a graceful style of architecture of which it is the first example here, and of quite sufficient merit as an example to do no discredit to that style. The interior effect is light, warm, and rich with profuse and many-hued decoration, the proportions good, and the style consistently maintained. By gas-light especially, when the daylight is excluded and the central fomitain sends its great jet leaping the full height of the build- ing even to the glazing of its roof—a space of 97 feet—the effect is ex- tremely enticing. The object.of the institution, which numbers among its members many ennuent names in science, art, and social position, is stated to be the ge-
neral promotion of the application of science to the useful- arts, the delivery of lectures, and the exhibition of works of art and manufacture. The morning half is to be more especially scientific, the evening artistic. A patent optical diorama, stated to surpass any previous effort of the kind, is announced. The organ, whose form has been skilfully harmonized with the Saraeenic style of the edifice, is constructed by Messrs. Hill and Co., the builders of the Birmingham instrument, which it professes even to excel An electric machine, of size unprecedented, stands grim in slumbering power. The photographic department, which has been in operation for some time, is conducted by Mr. Henneman ; and the ser- vices of eminent men are secured for the lectures, the laboratory, and the displays of fine art.
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