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During the 1850s, many optical sight rooms proliferated in Buenos Aires, in which images were presented from optical devices such as magic lanterns, dioramas, or cosmoramas. The events programs were announced in the local newspapers, which were updated weekly. Views of European and American cities were presented, as well as current events views and inventions or scientific experiments. This article analyzes optical, mechanical and luminous spectacles that took place in optical views saloons as a differential offer that emerged during 1850s among Buenos Aires public entertainment scene, that facilitated visual experiences of light, movement and space.It is noted that these spectacles emerged caused because of more accelerated times in production and distribution of merchandise and people internationally, of an already stated legitimacy of the new as a valuation criterion, and because of the commercial development of gas lighting. Also, it is stated that optical and luminous apparatus functioned as a reflection around these more intense experiences of movement, space and light that were developing in the city. They were technologies put at the service of a multisensory experience of virtual displacement, fun, and knowledge.

Tis article analyzes the environmental deterioration of forest resources resulting from the introduction of technical innovations in street lighting in the mid-19th century. It shows how, in the 1850s, the growing use of turpentine, obtained by distilling the natural resin secreted by some tree species, replaced the burning of animal fats and oils in street lamps. Tis change had a damaging impact on the forests of the volcano La Malintzi, which towers above the two cities.