Exhibition Tactics. 377 



sions for a technological display; but its original defects nave 

 been aggravated by corresponding imperfections in the Com- 

 missioners' minds. As a fashionable lounge, in which pro- 

 menaders are sure to find something of interest, and do not 

 care whether it be a bronze gate, an equatorial telescope, a case 

 of mixed pickles, or a diamond necklace, the new show may 

 win considerable praise ; but it is almost as much trouble to go 

 from Regent Street to the Boulevard cles Italiens as to discover 

 and follow any given branch of trade in the English and French 

 portions of the large Babel which Captain Fowkes and the 

 Commissioners have made. 



Not only is the arrangement bad and abominable in its 

 logical conception, but it is, in the main, ill adapted to do justice 

 to specific portions of the contents. Generally speaking, the 

 eye is greeted on all hands with a confusion worse confounded 

 of incongruous objects, and it is quite a relief to turn out of 

 the clumsy bustle to such a tranquil nook as the little court in 

 which the Mintons exhibit their unrivalled porcelain. " Gene- 

 ral Jumble'"'' appears to have been the chief manager of the 

 concern, and when we have had proof of the disorderly brains 

 which have presided over the melee, we shall not be surprised 

 to find minor defects, in full harmony with the confusion which 

 has been so thoroughly attained. Foremost among these 

 lesser grievances is the want of directions where anything is to 

 be found, and the want of labels to explain it when it turns up. 

 At conspicuous and convenient spots, plans of the building 

 should be shown, with references to its contents ; a few sign- 

 posts should add their guiding remarks, and in each leading 

 division the public ought to find tables of its contents. In 

 some cases a sufficient description is appended to each article, 

 but as a rule the information is very meagre, and often confined 

 to Russian, Spanish, or some other little known tongue. It is 

 also important to give prices — which is seldom done — as the 

 appearance or quality of an article is only one condition of 

 industrial merit, and an international exhibition ought to afford 

 an easy mode of ascertaining who will supply our wants at the 

 cheapest rate. The meanness of the Commissioners in re- 

 fusing season tickets to exhibitors has sadly curtailed the 

 number of attendants necessary to display their wares, and 

 give the explanations which visitors require, and in this we may 

 see a warning not to permit private greediness to stand, on 

 another occasion, in the way of the public good. 



The intelligence of the Commissioners is illustrated by their 

 treatment of the scientific collections, which have experienced 

 little respect. Dalmeyer, Cooke of York, and one or two others,, 

 have managed to obtain a limited allowance of ground floor, 

 for a portion of their exhibition of optical instruments ; but on 

 the whole the makers of philosophical apparatus have a right 



