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FRENCH EXHIBITION. 



FRENCH EXHIBITION, THE (IS Exposition 

 Uhiversette). The French claim that they were 

 the originators of Industrial Exhibitions, the 

 first of which took place during the Revolution 

 in September, 1798, on the Champ de Mars, 

 the site of the present exhibition. It contained 

 the productions of 110 exhibitors, and con- 

 tinued only three days. Three years later 

 (1801), the First Consul opened the second ex- 

 hibition at the Louvre, at which there were 

 229 exhibitors, and 80 prizes of gold, silver, 

 and bronze medals distributed. The Society for 

 the Encouragement of National Industry, cre- 

 ated by the First Consul, was charged with 

 the duty of preparing and holding yearly ex- 

 hibitions. The one of 1803 took place at the 

 Louvre, with 540 exhibitors, but political events 

 prevented the assembling of another till 1806, 

 which was held on the Esplanade des Invalides, 

 had 1,422 exhibitors, and: continued during 24 

 days. Exhibitions were held in 1819, 1823, 

 and 1827. The eighth took place in 1834, on 

 the Place de la Concorde, having 2,447 ex- 

 hibitors, and continued two months. From 

 this time exhibitions took place every five years, 

 the eleventh being held in 1849, all France and 

 its departments, with Algeria, being represented 

 by 4,532 exhibitors. In 1851 the first Interna- 

 tional Exhibition was held in London, in the 

 Crystal Palace designed by Paxton, and con- 

 tained the productions of 18,000 exhibitors, of 

 which about one-half were English. In 1851 

 an International Exhibition, on a comparatively 

 small scale, was held at New York, in Reservoir 

 Square, Sixth Avenue. The first French Ex- 

 position Universelle took place in 1855, in the 

 Champs Elysees, with 24,000 exhibitors. The 

 second English International was held at Lon- 

 don, in 1862 ; and the second French, this year, 

 in the Champ de Mars. At every successive ex- 

 hibition the number of exhibitors has increased ; 

 the quantity, quality, a"nd variety of articles 

 exhibited have marked great progress, the last 

 outstripping all preceding, in which the produc- 

 tions of the world are represented by 42,237 

 exhibitors. The Champ de Mars is a nearly level 

 area of about 100 acres, of which the exhibition 

 building covered 200,000 square yards, or near- 

 ly one-third ; but the whole was occupied for 

 the purposes of the exhibition, and in addition 

 the island of Billancourt, which was devoted to 

 the display of agricultural implements. 



Seen from the neighboring heights, the Ex- 

 hibition of 1867 presented the aspect of a uni- 

 versal camp. The products of nature and of 

 art of all nations were gathered within it, and 

 the park presented a strange contrast to it, 

 especially in architecture. Here were mas- 

 sive Egyptian temples, there colossal statues, 

 sphinxes, and pillars, and yonder again a repre- 

 sentation of the palace of the Bey of Tunis glit- 

 ters in the sunlight, and reminding one of the 

 glories of the Alhambra. Here and there the 

 workmen were busily engaged in their several 

 avocations. Every nation and every state 

 was represented in its own peculiar manner. 



In the English and American park, separated 

 by an alley, there were vast collections of rail- 

 road material, while side by side with an Eng- 

 lish monster gun stood an unpretentious model 

 of an American school-house. In the Oriental de- 

 partments there were relics that carried the mind 

 back through centuries, when Egypt was the 

 mistress of civilization and of the world. There 

 were jewels buried with the mummy of a queen 

 of Thebes who lived when Joseph, the son of 

 Jacob, was prime minister to Pharaoh. The 

 water supply of the Exhibition was abundant. 

 Five stationary engines, together with the 

 engine of the French frigate Friedland, which 

 alone drew up 1,000,000 gallons per hour, raised 

 this water from the Seine, forced it into a reser- 

 voir from whence it was distributed throughout 

 the grounds, and, having served its purpose, 

 returned again to the river. That portion of 

 the Exhibition devoted to machinery was 3,936 

 feet in length; then came a gallery for raw 

 products. Each class of manufactures or 

 works of art made the entire circuit of the 

 building in the form of galleries, the inner 

 one, or No. 1, being devoted to works of art ; 

 No. 2 to materials for and applications of the 

 liberal arts, such as printing, books, stationery, 

 scientific, surgical, mathematical, and musical 

 instruments; No. 3 to furniture and house- 

 hold goods; No. 4 to clothing of all kinds; 

 No. 5 to raw materials, the products of mines, 

 collieries, forests, etc. ; No. 6 to machinery and 

 tools in general; No. 7 to cereals, vegetables, 

 and other kinds of food in different states of 

 preservation; and another gallery, with the 

 title of museum, was devoted to the history of 

 labor. In the central pavilion was a col- 

 lection of coins, weights, and measures, of all 

 countries. All the galleries were traversed by 

 avenues radiating from the centre, like the 

 spokes of a wheel. Each of the spaces thus 

 bounded was devoted to the products of a na- 

 tion, thus enabling the visitor easily to compare 

 the progress of one nation with that of another 

 in agriculture, arts, sciences, etc. 



The catalogue of the Exhibition fills a large 

 8vo, and the description and illustration of 

 articles worthy of note occupy many volumes. 

 It has been the aim in this article to give with- 

 in our limits as brief a description as possible, 

 and of as many things as possible, without even 

 attempting to make it universal. 



In general it may be said of the manufactured 

 goods, and machinery and processes of manu- 

 facture, that the progress shown by this Ex- 

 hibition consists rather in improvements in 

 workmanship, than in novelty and originality 

 of design. 



In regard to architecture, which alphabeti- 

 cally may be considered the first subject to be 

 treated, the Exhibition itself, apart from its 

 mere adaptation to its purpose, has but little 

 merit, consisting of convenient sheds, suitably 

 arranged for the reception and exhibition of 

 the articles to be shown. Of the buildings 

 scattered around the parks, whether as repre- 



