MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 39 



we may mention two large cisterns, the one cylindrical, the other 

 rectangular. Both were built of hollow blocks, glazed on both sides, 

 and fitted together with a double dove-tail laid in a fine water-proof 

 cement, and forming a solid wall. They were clean and excellent, 

 and probably cheap and durable, as was stated of them. At the same 

 stand were large kegs of the stoneware so grained and colored as to 

 require close inspection to convince one that they were not really made 

 of oaken staves with hoops of brass, as they seem to be. They were 

 neatly fitted also with faucets of earthenware. These last are much 

 in favor in England for general purposes, being most perfectly fitting 

 and trustworthy. 



The display of ornamental tiles, made by the well-known firm of 

 Minton & Co., was especially interesting, as showing the great variety 

 of uses to which these colored plaques of various materials have been 

 applied. In addition to their use for the flooring of door-steps, con- 

 servatories, and halls, they are now applied for the adornment of the 

 fronts of shops and houses and for inner walls of apartments. In bath- 

 rooms, particularly, the use of these tiles for overlaying vertical sur- 

 faces is most desirable, inasmuch as they are impervious to wet, and 

 give to the wall a highly ornamental appearance. 



Furniture. Chairs in which painted panels were introduced in 

 imitation of medieval work appeared quaint, but rich and beautiful. 

 It may fairly be questioned whether it is judicious to place pictorial 

 works in a position in which they are hidden when the object which 

 they adorn is in use ; but, allowing such to be legitimate, these were 

 placed in a very skilful manner, for the panels were small and deeply 

 sunk, so that the projecting styles fully guarded them from injury, and 

 the large central panel against which the back rests was filled up by a 

 projecting cushion. Cabinets and chairs enlivened with plaques of 

 colored stones, and others which had the curved surfaces of their 

 mouldings enriched with inlays as well as the flat surfaces, were other 

 noticeable objects. Library furniture in the Pompeian style was both 

 novel and beautiful. 



Jewelry and the Precious Metals. One of the generally acknowl- 

 edged gems of this department of the Exhibition was a silver table in 

 repousse* work exhibited by the famous electro-platers, the Eiking- 

 tons, and executed by M. Morel Ladeuil. Repousse' work, we may 

 premise, is the slowest and most difficult mode of working in silver. 

 The relief on the metal is all beaten out from the inside by means of 

 an iron rod, one end of which is placed in contact with the plate, 

 while the other is struck by a hammer. When skilfully performed, 

 the labor is repaid by the superb effect obtained. The value of 

 the table under notice, L e., as a work of art, was sixteen thou- 

 sand dollars, and the time consumed in its manufacture was three 

 years. The subject of the work is Sleep, the drowsy divinity, the 

 terminal figure at the top, scattering poppies over three statuettes, 

 from which the stem of the table springs, a minstrel, a soldier, and 

 a husbandman. The varied dreams of these three are represented 

 in the circumference of the table above, and represented with such 

 power, and such breadth and depth of shades, that, with the soft tone 

 of the oxidized silver, the effect of this portion of the work rather 

 resembles the proof of a fine engraving than a design hammered out 



