Passing into the “Gallery in the Great Hall,” we did not fail to derive a momentary amusement, from observing the very different objects which seemed most to excite the attention, and interest of the different sight-seers. Here, stood obviously a country farmer examining the model of a steam-plow; there, a Manchester or Birmingham manufacturer looking into a curious and complicated weaving machine; here, we noticed a group of ladies admiring specimens of elaborate carving in ivory, and personal ornaments esteemed highly fashionable at the antipodes; and there, the smiling faces of youth watching with eager eyes the little boats and steamers paddling along the Water Reservoir in the central counter. But we had scarcely looked around us, when a bell rang to announce a lecture on Voltaic Electricity by Dr. Bachhoffner; and moving with a stream of people up a short stair-case, we soon found ourselves in a very commodious and well-arranged theatre. There are many universities and public institutions that have not better lecture rooms than this theatre in the Royal Polytechnic Institution. The lecture was elementary and exceedingly instructive, pointing out and showing by experiments, the identity between Magnetism and Electricity—light and heat; but notwithstanding the extreme perspicuity of the Professor, it was our fate to sit next two old ladies who seemed to be very incredulous about the whole business. “If heat and light are the same thing,” asked one, “why don’t a flame come out at the spout of a boiling tea-kettle?” “The steam,” answered the other, “may account for that.”