1874.] Annual International Exhibitions. 335 
trial Exhibitions these annual institutions have lost their 
hold on the public faith, and they have come to be looked 
upon more as bazaars than as International Exhibitions in 
the highest sense. Looking at these Exhibitions from a 
‘South Kensington” point of view,—that is, as media of 
instruction to the public,—we believe that they might be 
made to pay, but then an entirely different arrangement to 
the present must be made for that purpose. Instead of 
inviting manufacturers to exhibit their goods at their own 
cost,—which can but end in an imperfect representation 
after all,—three or four manufa¢tories might be exhibited in 
their most entire completeness, and visitors should be 
allowed to purchase and carry away any articles they may 
have seen manufactured. In order to carry out such a pro- 
gramme the manufacture must be complete in all its details ; 
but for the laying down of the necessary plant and ma- 
chinery the Commissioners would, of course, have in the 
first instance to bear all expenses, and perhaps even pay 
people to set up their factories within the Exhibition; but 
in all cases the manufactory should be complete, and the 
Exhibition should not only consist of a display of manufac- 
tured articles. With what interest would the blowing of a 
retort of Bessemer steel be viewed by the fair inhabitants 
of South Kensington,—at a safe distance from the sparks, 
and viewed of course through a spec¢troscope,—and with 
what delight would the young men of London hasten to see 
a huge casting run direct from the cupola, or a massive bloom 
of iron writhing under the thud strokes of a 50-ton steam- 
hammer? We were fortunate enough to see some of the 
glass manufactured for the Exhibition of 1851, and can tes- 
tify to the attraction which such a display would yield to the 
London public; whilst the manipulation of glass in its finer 
forms—such as in the manufacture of wine-glasses, decan- 
ters, or tumblers, and the subsequent processes of their 
cutting and ornamentation—would contribute no slight en- 
tertainment to the sight-seeing people of London. We are 
perfectly well aware that these sights are all to be seen 
within the great city of London itself, but they are not so 
accessible to the general public as the display of the manu- 
factured articles themselves. The only question for the 
Commissioners to consider is whether such displays could 
safely be carried out on the present site. The public have 
now had over twenty years of exhibitions of manufactured 
articles, and it appears that the time has now abundantly 
arrived when the process of manufacture should also be 
exhibited more fully than has hitherto been attempted. 
