THE TECHNOLOGIST. [April 1, 1864 



392 FRENCH COLONIAL PRODUCTS IN 



Of course this species cannot be considered as of any value as an 

 esculent on account of its very minute size, and it is only included here 

 to render the paper complete as a record of the genus, its interest being 

 solely botanical. I am not aware that any figure has been published, or 

 that any specimens are to be found in Europe, except those in the Paris 

 Museum, from which the diagnosis of the species was drawn up. 



FRENCH COLONIAL PRODUCTS IN THE PALAIS DE 

 LTNDUSTRIE, PARIS. 



BY EDMUND GOEZE. 



The industry of the present day represents a branch of human 

 knowledge and action, the details of which appear so perfect that one 

 would scarcely think it possible that its field could be so continually 

 extended by new inventions and improvements. 



England and France, undoubtedly the two most powerful nations 

 on the sea, are of necessity at the head of all important industrial 

 enterprises. The Great International Exhibitions of London and Paris, 

 to which the numerous and fertile colonies of both countries so largely 

 contributed, afforded good evidence of this. There are some economists 

 who consider colonics rather in the light of a burden than a benefit 

 but their number is small ; and in reading the ingenious remarks of a 

 French writer, M. Alfred Maury, on this subject, we easily per- 

 ceive the advantages, moral, political, and commercial, which their 

 colonies offer to the European powers. No one will deny that they 

 furnish military points and ports, and prevent over-population in the 

 mother- country. Commercially the advantages are still more striking, 

 and the different colonial products exhibited in the Museum I am about 

 to pass under notice will fully prove this . 



Having lived several years in Paris, I had the opportunity of 

 paying frequent visits to this interesting and instructive exhibition, 

 and I propose to give a short account of it for the benefit of those who 

 take an interest in such collections. The arrangement of the specimens 

 in the museum allows of the division of the description into two parts : 



1. That which embraces the products of Algeria, undoubtedly the 

 richest and most important of the French possessions. 



2. That which treats of the productions of her other colonies, 

 namely : — 



In Africa : Senegal, Goree, Gabon, Mayotte, Nossi-be, Sainte Marie de 

 Madagascar, and the Island of Reunion. 



In Asia : The French establishments in India, Pondicherry, Karikal, 

 Make, Yanaon and Chandernagore. 



