INTRODUCTION. Xlil 



the General Committee, should form special Sub-Committees 

 charged with the due representation of the science of their 

 respective countries. 



It was necessary to take special precautions to prevent 

 misunderstanding as to the character of the Collection. 

 The mention of internationality at once suggested the idea 

 of an International Exhibition similar in its character and 

 arrangements to the numerous Industrial Exhibitions which 

 have been held in various countries. A wrong impression 

 of this kind would have entailed serious inconvenience. 



In International Exhibitions a certain amount of space is 

 allotted to each country. These spaces are then divided by 

 the Commissioners of each country among its exhibitors, 

 who display their objects subject to certain general rules 

 of classification as they consider most advantageous, retain- 

 ing the custody of their own property. The expenses of 

 transport, arrangement, &c., are borne by the countries who 

 exhibit. And the Exhibitions appeal naturally, more or 

 less exclusively, to the industrial or trade-producing interests 

 of those countries. 



This was not the idea of the proposed Loan Collection at 

 South Kensington. For that Collection it was desired to 

 obtain not only apparatus and objects from manufacturers, 

 but also objects of historic interest from museums and 

 private cabinets, where they are treasured as sacred relics, 

 as well as apparatus in present use in the laboratories of 

 professors. The transport of all objects was undertaken 

 by the English Government, and they were to be handed 

 over absolutely to the custody of the Science and Art 

 Department for exhibition ; the arrangement being not by 

 countries but strictly according to the general classification. 



So soon as the object and scope of the Collection were 

 thoroughly understood, the Committee of Council on Edu- 

 cation met with the most gratifying responses to their 

 invitations, which were communicated officially through 

 the Foreign Office. Her Majesty's Ministers at Paris, Berlin, 

 St. Petersburgh, Vienna, Florence, Brussels, the Hague, 

 Stockholm, Madrid, Berne, and Washington, have personally 

 interested themselves in the matter. And the Foreign 

 Governments have afforded every facility and encourage- 

 ment in forwarding this strictly international undertaking. 



