24 
THE PARIS EXHIBITION, 1867. 
[Nature and Art, June 1, 1866. 
industrial and ornamental purposes. These water- 
ways will afford admirable opportunities for the 
exposition of anything connected with maritime 
art, fisheries, and aquatic sports ; and this is 
another class in which it is to be hoped English- 
men will occupy a worthy place. Will not some 
enterprising individual — if not our noble National 
Life-boat Institution — - undertake to send an 
English life-boat with its crew and all accessories 
complete ? Few things would do us greater 
honour, or be likely to confer greater benefit in 
the way of example. 
Another feature, interesting to the whole world, 
is that of the illustration of the purely manual 
trades, including, however, not only those which 
defy the application of machinery — if, indeed, 
it be safe in this mechanical age for any one to 
forbid the intrusion or limit the powers of the 
lever, the inclined plane, and their offspring, — 
but also others which are now running a competi- 
tive race against those giants of the nineteenth 
century, the steam-engine, the steam-hammer, the 
power-loom, and the electric battery. It is the 
iutention of the Imperial Commission to give all 
possible prominence to this group. They will show, 
if possible, the Indian weaving his exquisite shawls 
and fairy muslins ; the Arab embroidering cloth 
and leather, and weaving camels’ hair ; the Maltese 
making those fairy chains and that minute filigree- 
work which are the despair of other nations ; the 
Chinese carving their ivory balls, fans, and artistic 
woodwork ; the American Indian fabricating bis 
skin dresses and mocassins, decorated with beads 
and porcupine quills ; and the natives of Panama 
plaiting those well-known hats, in presence of which 
the Italian straw-worker and the French basket- 
maker, able as they are, must yield the palm. In 
short, the Commission will do their best to exhibit 
all the manual arts, as practised by Asiatic and less 
civilized people, side by side with the most ap- 
proved methods of working adopted by the artisans 
of Europe. This is a grand scheme, and although, 
doubtless, many links will be wanting, it cannot 
fail to supply a series of most interesting and in- 
structive industries. In order to finish the picture, 
to render the story and the means of comparison 
more complete, the manual workers will be brought 
as far as possible face to face with those who com- 
pete against them with the aid of machinery. 
Around the grand gallery of manufacturing ma- 
chines will be constructed a series of small work- 
shops, in which the purely manual artisans will 
pursue their industry in their own manner, while 
their rivals, with the aid of the subdued monster, 
steam, will exhibit to the world how far they 
excel or fall short, as regards excellence of work- 
manship on the one hand, and rapidity of execution 
on the other. 
Another new feature is the introduction of the 
historic element into the industrial department. A. 
magnificent exhibition of retrospective art, founded 
upon that wonderful collection seen at South Ken- 
sington in 1862, was held last year in the Champs 
Elysees, when the great collectors of France con- 
tributed a most extensive and valuable series of 
specimens in metal, moulded, and woven wares, 
dating from the Flint Age to the centiiry imme- 
diately preceding our own. Feeling that a great 
exhibition of modern art productions would be in- 
complete without the means of comparison with 
those of the past, the Commissioners have added 
another class to their programme, under the title of 
the “ History of Labour,” which, it is hoped, will 
comprise choice specimens of ancient art workman- 
ship of every age and almost every country on the 
globe. The French section has been placed under 
the able management of the Comte de Nieuwerkerke, 
the Superintendent of the Louvre and of the Fine 
Arts ; and the following are the subdivisions said to 
de decided on : — 1. Gallic Art before the Metallic 
Period ; 2. Independent Gaul ; 3. Gaul under the 
Roman domination ; 4. Productions of the Franks 
to the Coronation of Charlemagne in the year 800 ; 
5. The Carlovingian Period, from the ninth to the 
eleventh century ; 6. The Middle Ages, from the 
thirteenth century to the death of Louis XI. in 
1473 ; 7. The Renaissance, from Charles Till, to 
the death of Henry IV., in 1610; 8. Reigns of 
Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. (1610 to 1715); 
9. Reign of Louis XV. (1715 to 1774) ; and, 10. 
Reign of Louis XVI., the Republic, the Directory, 
and the Consulate, to 1800. This retrospective 
class will occupy a special locality — a gallery im- 
mediately surrounding the central garden already 
mentioned, — and is likely to be one of the most 
attractive features of the Exhibition. 
Literature and Science are also to have their 
place in the grand concourse. The Minister of 
Public Instruction, whose administration has been 
an unbroken series of strenuous and enlightened 
endeavours towards the improvement of all kinds of 
education — ordinary, ornamental, and professional, 
— suggested the admission of the scholar, the man of 
science, and the teacher, to the great gathering ; 
and it has been arranged that reports shall be 
made by a select number of eminent professors in 
all the classes of intellectual acquirement, to be 
published by the Government as the contributions 
of Literature, Education, and Science. The object 
is to show not only what progress France has made 
in letters and the abstract sciences, but also what 
position is due to her, in comparison with the rest of 
the world, as respects her collegiate, professional, 
and common systems of education. Other nations 
are invited to take like steps, and Italy, for one, 
has determined to respond to the appeal, and put in 
her claim for one of the Academic wreaths. 
Perhaps one of the most decided and generally 
recognized results of Exhibitions, great and small, 
is the fatigue of the visitor. The Imperial Com- 
mission intends to try the experiment of mixing 
the clulce with the utile to an extent not hitherto 
dreamt of, and thus to charm away at once mental 
and bodily weai’iness. As we have already said, 
the Exhibition building will stand in the midst of 
a large park, adorned with plantations and inter- 
sected by a canal. All the arts of the sculptor, 
the architect, the engineer, the iron, bronze, and 
