i873-j Scientific Aspect of the International Exhibition. 387 



scientific, artistic, or commercial, our exhibitions have 

 thrived best, and not as a place of recreation. So that one 

 is not astonished at the serious, business-like aspect of the 

 now familiar galleries, which present amongst their contents 

 perhaps not so much novelty, but certainly quite as much 

 interest as the exhibits of former years. 



It is perhaps premature to speak of the effects of these 

 institutions upon the industrial classes, but doubtless many 

 of our readers will have remarked, — and nowhere is it more 

 apparent than at the exhibition itself, — the increased interest 

 and desire for information. It should be remembered that 

 the number of visitors attending the exhibition of the 

 present year represents very nearly the proportion who 

 attend for the purposes, not of recreation, but to satisfy the 

 desire to acquire knowledge. The novelty has long ago 

 worn off. The largeness of the attendance is most 

 encouraging, and evinces a permanent and wide-established 

 wish to maintain our national commercial standard. 



Another and not less important feature is the increased 

 value of our colonial exhibits, regarded from an artistic and 

 adaptable point of view. These exhibits have been follow- 

 ing a steady course of development, especially in inde- 

 pendence of character. And if we look upon our colonial 

 possessions as outposts in the English army of civilisation, 

 we shall derive much profitable pleasure from the contem- 

 plation of their improvement. 



Considering the attractions of the Vienna Exhibition, the 

 portion of our exhibition absorbed by continental exhibitors 

 is most creditable to the industry and perseverance of our 

 authorities, for many very interesting works and processes 

 come from abroad. 



The portion of the exhibition possessing the greatest 

 interest to the general scientific visitor is the machinery 

 departments and their adjuncts. And here there is this 

 year an exhibit of the highest order of merit, — the rearing 

 of the silkworm, and the processes of preparing, spinning, 

 and weaving silken fibre. Immediately outside the ma- 

 chinery department is a quiet, neat tent, containing, on 

 trays supported by a framework in the centre of the struc- 

 ture, many thousand silkworms. Here the development of 

 this wonderful and valuable insect is witnessed upon a com- 

 mercial scale, as exhibited by M. Alfred Roland, of Orbe, 

 Switzerland. Returning to the machinery department, we 

 stand in front of M. Jouffray's (Rue Vimaine, Vienna) appa- 

 ratus for unwinding the cocoon of the silkworm. The 

 establishments in which the unwinding is carried on are 



