THE 



ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEEY, 



MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 



THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1862. 



THE second great English Exhibition of the Industry of All 

 Nations having been appointed for the present year (1862), the 

 commissioners intrusted with the direction of the same have made 

 arrangements for opening the Exhibition on a most extensive scale 

 on the 1st of May next. Warned by the experience gained in 1851, 

 at Paris in 1855, the Manchester Art-Treasures of 1857, and the 

 Crystal Palace, the commissioners resolved that the new building 

 should be formed of more weather-tight materials than iron and glass, 

 at least in those portions devoted to the reception of works of art. 

 Without some such provision for the safety of pictures there was no 

 chance of getting loans to any extent, more than one mishap having, 

 reasonably enough, disposed owners against incurring risks of the like 

 nature over again. Accordingly, a very large portion of the new 

 construction is to be of brick, the roofs supported on cast-iron pillars, 

 the roof itself of wood, protected by felt, and painted. Thus much 

 for the materials ; now of the form and architectural characterof the 

 edifice. 



The dimensions of the site of the building are 1,152 feet from east 

 to west, and 692 feet 6 inches from north to south : the measures, 

 however, being exclusive of a wing devoted to machinery, the area 

 of which is 872 feet by 200 feet, going directly north and south, at a 

 right angle, therefore, to the main construction. Looking at the 

 southern fa9ade will furnish the most striking view of the whole ex- 

 terior, which is arranged thus: The whole stretch of the front proper 

 is nearly on a level from end to end, of the height of about sixty feet ; 

 behind this, and overlooking it in some degree, will run the loftier 



