May 1, 1SC7.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



97 



A VOICE FEOM PAEIS. 



OWN the Champs 

 Elysees flows the 

 tide of fashion- 

 able Paris, and a 

 pair of solitary- 

 rooks have built 

 their nest on the 

 top of a plane-tree at the 

 corner of Rue de Moray, to 

 contemplate at their leisure 

 the ever-flowing human stream 

 between the Tuileries and the 

 Arc de l'Etoile. I wonder what 

 these rooks think of Paris, 

 and how they came to establish 

 themselves in such a spot. 

 That may be a problem, but 

 there is a greater problem yet 

 unsolved in the Champs de Mars. It is the Great 

 Exposition of IS67. Let the stranger cross the 

 Pont de 1'Alma, and obtain his first glance at the 

 extraordinary mausoleum in which lie entombed so 

 many of the fondest hopes and the rarest achieve- 

 ments of Science and Art which the Great Fair of 

 1S67 has collected together from all parts of the 

 civilized globe, and he may well ask himself if that 

 is indeed the temple which the most artistic of 

 civilized nations has dedicated to universal genius. 

 It might have been designed for a big gasometer, or 

 an elliptical railway station, but, spoilt for both 

 these purposes, it has become the Great Exposition. 

 What is it possible to say, even yet, of the 

 contents of such a chaos as the interior exhibits ? 

 And yet there are a few objects of interest which 

 have already emerged from the packing-cases, to 

 which an allusion may be acceptable. Everybody 

 knows that, although the " show " is opened to the 

 public, it is not half complete; and what is 

 unknown and hidden always acquires a mysterious 

 importance ; hence it becomes a feasible excuse to 

 plead that the most wonderful things are not yet 

 exhibited. It is reported that the Chevalier Bonelli, 

 No. 29. 



of Milan, has produced or invented a novel optical 

 instrument, called a Photobioscope, which depends 

 for its effect upon the property possessed by the 

 retina of the eye of retaining for a brief space the 

 image of any object after the withdrawal of the 

 latter from the visual range. But its great efficacy 

 is said to result from the alliance of microscopic 

 photography, which, by reproducing the delicate 

 gradations of any given movement, produces mar- 

 vellous effects. The Photobioscope is a stereoscope 

 which in addition to the appearance of solidity 

 imparts that of life and motion to the object seen 

 through it. " Ships are seen gliding on the surface 

 of the deep, the waves twinkle in the merry sun- 

 light, the cataract descends in glittering spray and 

 foam from the brow of the jutting rock, cattle roam 

 in search of pasture on the mountain skirts, the 

 leaves are trembling in the breeze. Hands and 

 arms are never still, mouths open and shut, the 

 very eyelids wink." Such marvellous results are 

 attributed to the Photobioscope, but as many of the 

 treasures of Art and Science from Italy still slumber 

 in then - packages, it is impossible to verify the 

 glowing account from actual observation, or even 

 to affirm whether such a thing as a Photobioscope is 

 exhibited in the Italian department of the Exposi- 

 tion of 1867. 



Amongst the things that are really worth seeing 

 may be mentioned one of the great attractions of the 

 Rue des Indes— that is, the avenue of the building 

 in which the contributions from British India are 

 exhibited. This is a most masterly and lifelike 

 group of stuffed animals, consisting of the body of 

 a deer, over which a Hon and tiger are engaged in 

 deadly conflict. The grouping is happy in con- 

 ception, and in execution leaves nothing to be 

 desired. All day long a crowd blocks up the 

 passage in front of this group, the work of Mr. 

 Edwin Ward, of Wigmore Street, London ; and it 

 promises to be literally one of the "lions" of the 

 Exhibition. Nearly opposite are Messrs. Smith and 

 Beck's and Mr. Ross's microscopes, almost the 



