Nature and Art, February 1, 1867.] 
THE PARIS EXHIBITION, 1867. 
47 
organized as some of those at French railway 
stations, will be an estimable boon to those whose 
time is precious, and who have some respect both for 
their purses and stomachs ; and, lastly, a Strasbourg 
beer-house. The counters for the managers of 
these establishments are now being set up, and, 
before this comes under the public eye, some of 
the establishments will be in operation for the con- 
venience of those whose fate compels them to spend 
much of their time within the yet inhospitable 
building and its pleasure grounds, where Boreas, 
Aquarius, and Jack Frost at present revel and 
reign alternately, and use weak mortals most 
unceremoniously. On the English side there is no 
silver gridiron yet, nor any corner even for a snack 
or a draught, but there is a promise of something 
to come, in the form of a strip of Avliite calico on 
which appears the word Buffet , in conjunction with 
the names of Spiers & Pond, and Bass & Co. ; the 
space thus marked is not so extensive as those 
covered by the French establishments, but its 
frontage is not much less than a hundred feet in 
length. But this is only one of three or four 
British places -of refreshment to be provided. The 
Russian and the Swiss restaurants are also being 
built. 
Out of doors the work is naturally not so much 
advanced as it is within the building, and it is 
extremely fortunate that the walls of the most 
important buildings are nearly all completed, for 
the sharp frost which has set in renders mortar and 
cement very intractable servants as well as in- 
efficient. Of all the novelties to be found in the 
gardens of the Exhibition, the aquariums will be 
amongst the most remarkable, and particularly that 
to be devoted to “ herrings and other salt fish,” as 
a comic French writer once described the denizens 
of the ocean. The tanks in which they are to be 
exhibited are constructed entirely of iron and glass. 
A large artificial cave was first formed by throwing 
up a talus all round the spot ; the sides of this cave 
were then lined with rockwork, and a number of 
pillars of the same placed at intervals on the floor. 
Over all this was laid a roof composed of iron and 
glass, leaving two openings through which flights 
of steps lead to the cave, and a central space for 
the visitors. The aquariums are placed all round, 
and on the glass roof of this central area. There are 
also terraces near the upper level of the tanks, while 
at the two ends the roof of the cave forms, are plat- 
forms of considerable size ; it will be seen that by 
this arrangement visitors will be able to watch the 
movements of the fish from almost every position, 
above, beneath, and around. The large contents of 
this aquarium rendered the supply of sea water a 
matter of serious consideration, and therefore a 
system of aerating it has been adopted ; the water 
of the aquarium will run over and form a cascade, 
it will then be received in a well and pumped back 
into the aquarium, and by this means it is hoped 
that the creatures will be maintained in good con- 
dition without a very large supply of fresh sea water. 
The arrangements for the exhibition of fresh 
water fish and reptiles are of a totally different 
nature ; in this case the building is of stone, the 
whole of both sides being divided into compart- 
ments which will be glazed only in front, like those in 
the Jardin d’Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne. 
This aquarium is connected with a lake, and from 
the latter starts a small canal which pursues a . 
tortuous course through the grounds passing secretly 
beneath the roads and pathways, crossing and en- 
livening the plantations and flower-beds by the flow 
and sparkle of its silvery stream, till it reaches the 
great lake at the other extremity of the pare. 
At the further end of this lake is a large mass of 
artificial rock, over which a cascade will fall, and 
upon it stands an iron lighthouse of considerable 
height : this is for the exhibition of the electric light 
and it is now ready to receive its lantern. Another 
lighthouse erected in the grounds at no great 
distance from the former will allow of a comparison 
being made between the old dioptric and the new 
electric system. 
The small model church, which stands in tbis 
quarter of the grounds, is finished exteriorly, and 
presents a very pretty object : complaints have 
been made that it exhibits no style, or rather a 
mixture of all styles, bitt this is an unfair charge, as 
the mixture of style is one of its objects ; there are 
semicircular, Early Pointed, and other shaped 
windows, brackets, niches, and colonnettes belong- 
ing to various periods, and the same is the case 
inside as well as out; but then it must be re- 
membered that the object is to show ecclesiastical 
construction, decoration, fittings, and furniture of 
all styles, though in normal positions. In spite of 
the mixture, the architect has produced a pleasing 
general effect, — that is to say, as regards the ex- 
terior, for the interior is not yet in a condition for 
criticism — the principal thing to be complained 
of being, that the most ornamental face of the 
building is so near the lake that there is some little 
danger of taking an unintentional bath while 
studying architecture. There is no doubt that this 
model church will be one of the most attractive 
objects in the grounds. 
On one side of the main avenue leading to the 
chief entrance of the building, and opposite the 
Oriental Pavilion of the Emperor of the French, a 
solid rectangular building, with pointed gables, 
which, in the language of the place, is the Pavilion 
de la Peine d’ Angleterre, is rapidly approaching 
completion. This royal lodge consists of one large 
apartment in the rear, with two smaller ones at right 
angles to the former in the front, and presents one 
of the most positive contrasts imaginable to the 
Byzantine structure opposite to it. They are neither 
of them yet far enough advanced to describe more 
particularly, except that one structure consists 
entirely of right angles, while the outline of the 
other has scarcely an angle in it, and while one is of 
wood, to be highly decorated, the other is of solid 
stone, relieved by red bricks, and covered by 
three decorated timber roofs. Near the English 
Pavilion stands the chimney-shaft and the foun- 
dation of the boiler-house — a very large one, to be 
fitted with the patent conical tube boilers of Messrs. 
