AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITIONS. 237 



It must not be assumed that the educational value of the exhibits 

 in the Commerce Building is without commendation. Next to mak- 

 ing a thing, the seeing of it is most important, and surely no one 

 can pass along the aisles of any exposition without noticing much that 

 is new or unusual, no matter what his previous experience may have 

 been. It is in this connection that the foreign section is frequently 

 most instructive. Warm furs from Russia and the north, rich fabrics 

 and strange metal ware from the Orient, rare porcelains from Copen- 

 hagen, and brilliant glassware from Bohemia and Hungary, tell the 

 story with striking vividness of the special products of the Old- World 

 nations. 



As has been shown, the finished products of manufacturers are 

 those that are housed in the building devoted to commerce and 

 manufacturing, but the raw materials require a building or two for 

 themselves. That in which the products of the earth are exhibited 

 is usually designated the " Minerals and Forestry Building." This 

 requires but brief mention, and has its chief interest for the expert. 

 Geological specimens, including paleontological and lithological ex- 

 hibits, show the age and character of the soil, while the rocks further 

 indicate the possibilities of the territory, for they show the geological 

 horizon. In natural order are shown the minerals of the country. 

 At Atlanta and Nashville the richness of the mineral wealth of the 

 Southern States was fully demonstrated. Not only ores such as 

 those of iron and manganese, but the combustible minerals, as coal, 

 lignite, and petroleum, were exhibited. More striking, perhaps, are 

 the great numbers of economic minerals that these expositions show. 

 The materials phosphate rock, sulphur, and nitrates used in mak- 

 ing artificial fertilizers; the marbles; the pigment-yielding minerals, 

 including ochres, umber, and barite; the clays, with their products 

 of earthenware and pottery, bricks, and tiles; and even mineral waters 

 are among the different minerals to be seen. It is from such exhibits 

 that something of an idea is obtained of the enormous wealth that is 

 contained in the earth, waiting only to be excavated and fashioned into 

 articles of beauty and utility. While such exhibits are frequently 

 to be seen in museums, still the average mind is more impressed by 

 the casual examination of these things in expositions, and one's pride 

 of home increased by the rich stores of mineral wealth attractively 

 installed. It is customary also to show models of the machinery 

 used in mining, and even books, maps, and drawings are not uncom- 

 monly seen. 



A similar arrangement is followed in regard to the forest products. 

 Logs and sections of trees, as well as samples of wood and timber 

 of all kinds, are shown. Then come the finished products boards, 

 shingle, and moldings and finally the manufactured articles, such 



