June 1, 1867.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



121 



EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE, 1867. 



For me, the genial day, the happy crowd, 

 The sport half-science, fill me with a faith. 

 This fine old world of ours is but a child 

 Yet in the go-cart. Patience ! Give it time 

 To learn its limbs : there is a hand that guides. 



T/ic Princess. 



'NOT HER and filial 

 stroll through the 

 Paris Exhibition ena- 

 bles me to add a few 

 memoranda to the 

 notes which appeared 

 in the May number. 

 It must be premised 

 that everything approaches as 

 much towards completion as it 

 is likely to attain, and now it 

 would furnish plenty of occu- 

 pation for a week to see all 

 that is to be seen in the Palace 

 and Park. The fresh- water 

 aquarium is in operation, but 

 the marine was still unfinished, 

 and consequently unfurnished, 

 when I left. In one of the 

 German courts (XXXVII. ), in the outer circle, 

 are two full-length life-size portraits of Napoleon 

 and Erederic the Great, which at the distance 

 of a few yards appear to be oil paintings, but on 

 approaching closer they are seen to be composed 

 entirely of dried " everlasting " flowers. These 

 are exhibited by J, C. Schmidt, of Erfurt, and the 

 only drawback connected with them is, that they 

 are placed in such an out-of-the-way corner, that it 

 would be difficult to find them, unless by devoting 

 some time in hunting for them. Not far from hence 

 (Sal XXXVI. ), a number of small cases are ex- 

 hibited, which contain a most complete series of 

 " Bees and their enemies," which well deserve 

 notice. In the Russian department, inner court, 

 near the Eine Arts, is a small collection of consider- 

 able interest, though not occupying much more than 

 a square foot of space; it consists of spiders and cater- 

 pillars, both very difficult objects to preserve well, 

 No. 30. 



and yet here they are as plump and nearly as 

 brightly coloured as when alive. The caterpillars are 

 crawling over artificial green leaves, and look as 

 though they were "all alive," enjoying a meal. Ask 

 me not how they are done, for I cannot tell ; there 

 was not the slightest intimation, not even of the 

 name of the exhibitor, and not a soul present who 

 could tell me. Not far from this spot, in the same 

 court, are groups of dried flowers, especially pansies 

 and pelargoniums, looking as fresh and natural as 

 the caterpillars. 



In the Austrian department I was attracted 

 towards a picture about twenty-seven inches long, 

 by a kind of presentiment that the subject was 

 familiar, and so it was, though not scrupulously 

 exact, but a very good representation of West- 

 minster Abbey, done in straw mozaic, by E. Otto, 

 of Linz, and priced at 1,500 francs. It required 

 close observation to detect that it really was all 

 straw. One is often led by association into a 

 curious train of thought, as I was on this occasion. 

 Passing into the Bavarian court, a quantity of wool 

 recovered from old garments, under the well-known 

 names of "mungo" and "shoddy" was exhibited, 

 and beside it the catalogue, or trade list — not in 

 German, nor in Erench, but in English. Of course 

 one might imagine that the lists were printed in the 

 language of the country in which the goods were in 

 greatest demand. With the consolation that there 

 was still plenty of " shoddy " in the world, I passed 

 on, and found myself in the Rue d'Espagne, where a 

 long row of cases against the wall, by different 

 exhibitors, contained a very large collection of the 

 remains found in the Swiss Lacustrine habitations. 

 Here was a day's work to examine the hundreds of 

 objects, well displayed, named, and with the extra 

 advantage of a gentleman then on the spot, probably 

 one of the exhibitors, ready and willing to afford 



G 



