50 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
uninitiated. Tliere is no sequence. All is disorder and con- 
fusion ; little assisted by any of the published descriptions — 
not at all assisted by arrangement within the building. 
After a general review of all the objects in the Exhibition 
belonging strictly to the department of mines and quarries, 
minerals, metals, and mineral manufactures ; and after carefully 
considering what is meant by progress in such subjects and what 
is deserving of reward in such a department, we think it may 
be both useful and interesting; to the readers of the “ Popular 
Science Review” to know the conclusions arrived at by 
an independent observer somewhat accustomed to examine and 
compare such matters. Whatever opinions may be expressed, 
the facts on which they are founded will, at any rate, be 
stated, and the student who has also examined the collections, 
may compare his impressions with the opinions here given, 
while those who have not been so fortunate as to see for 
themselves will be better off by reading this connected outline 
than by any study of the disjointed catalogues. 
The great value, if not the only use, of collections such as 
have been placed in the International Exhibition must be to 
show, for the purposes of comparison, the sources of material 
wealth provided by Nature in various countries or districts. 
And this wealth must be shown, in order that, where it exists 
and lias been hitherto neglected, it may be made available ; 
and where, in two districts, it lias been treated differently, 
the methods may be compared, and the best adopted for the 
future. It is desirable also that where new contrivances have 
been introduced, they should be made known to those concerned; 
and, generally, that the peculiar conditions of minerals and the 
varieties of wealth of different districts should be prominently 
presented for investigation. When, in the course of years, new 
discoveries of material or new applications of old material have 
been made, these, of course, mark progress. When new contri- 
vances of working or manipulation have been invented, these 
should be clearly reported; and they also mark progress. 
When, as in raw material, there is no novelty, and the case 
hardly admits of anything of the kind, the raw material from 
different districts may still be so placed as to allow of better com- 
parison. When a raw material is important, not for itself but 
for some manufactured material of which it is the foundation, 
then should the raw and manufactured materials be placed side 
by side. 
Bearing in mind these principles, let us conduct the reader 
to the Exhibition, not confining ourselves to Class I., but ex- 
tending our investigation to those other departments that include 
the same kind of objects ; of these Class X. a, may be considered 
the most important. 
