AS INSTRUMENTS OP EDUCATION. 



not but be stirred by tbe reflection that such, after all, were the ultimce 

 rationes of European diplomacy. Rossini's hymn, too, composed for 

 the occasion of the distribution of the awards at this Exhibition, and 

 there rendered with orchestral accompaniments and appliances of the 

 grandest description, wound up, ominously, as was observed at the time, 

 with the tolling of bells and the booming of cannon. 



But to proceed. The Palace itself, the Exhibition proper, was a 

 structure of iron, having the appearance of being an ellipse in outline, 

 but in reality it was a square, with semicircles attached to the north 

 and south sides. Its circumference measured just a mile. The 

 whole was only of one storey. Fatigue in visiting its parts was thus 

 diminished. To examine cursorily the contents of the Palace, it was 

 necessary to perform the circuit of it at least eight times. It was 

 divided into zones or bands, concentric, so to speak ; and these zones 

 or bands were cut into sections by passages radiating from the middle 

 area of the building. Each of these radiating passages had a distin- 

 guishing name. Associations unthought of in 1867 would now attach 

 to some of the titles on the French side of the Palace, as, for example, 

 Rue d' Alsace, Rue de Lorraine. The central area of the building was a 

 beautiful ornamental garden-plot, with flowers, fountains, and an abun- 

 dance of statuary in marble. Its dimensions were 460 by 180 feet. In 

 the middle of the garden was a pavilion or temple, in which centred, 

 of course, the apices of all the areas occupied by the several nations, 

 bounded respectively by the radiating passages and segments of the 

 elliptical circumference. The use to which this temple was put will be 

 presently mentioned. 



To one passing through the zones or bands, the objects exhibited 

 appeared arranged according to the place of production of each ; but 

 to one passing up or down the radiating passages, the same objects 

 appeared arranged according to the nature of each. This was an inge- 

 nious and very interesting contrivance. 



Nine-tenths of the east half of the building was occupied by France, 

 the remaining tenth by Belgium and the Netherlands. 



The west half was occupied, largely, by England and her Colonies ; 

 by the States of North and South America; by Spain and her colo- 

 nies; by Russia, Austria, North and South Germany; and, in slips, 

 narrow as compared with the spaces occupied by the other nations, by 

 Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Rome, 



