A FEW NOTES FROM PARIS. 
51 
may still be room in so large a field for a few remarks of the unsystematic, 
rambling sort. Nor need these remarks be confined to Pharmacy pure and 
simple—who shall say what are the bounds of the heterogeneous compound 
science we, for convenience, speak of as “ Pharmacy ”P—or how it stands 
in respect to applied chemistry and economic botany P Nay, what if we dis¬ 
miss physic altogether, and gossip only over outlying objects that would 
scarcely be comprised in more elaborate papers ? But, firstly, let us introduce 
our readers to the general arrangements of the Exhibition. 
The various correspondents of the newspaper press have so fully set forth 
the external ugliness of the building that it is scarcely possible for an English¬ 
man to be taken unawares in his first view of it. Anything with less beauty it 
would have puzzled South Kensington itself to have devised. Nor is the nature 
of the structure, and the disposition of the parts, calculated to disarm criti¬ 
cism by any of those captivating general views in the interior, that are so 
well remembered in connection with previous Exhibitions ; the visitor must 
seek his consolation in the theoretical excellence of the ground-plan—an ex¬ 
cellence only marked by shortcomings inseparable from the nature of the 
undertaking. The consolation is sufficient for those who go there to learn ; 
but there is some reason for the complaint of loungers and holiday-makers, 
that there is no covered promenade comparable with the main avenues of the 
former buildings. The construction may be best described as a great ellipse 
formed of seven concentric “ galleries,” enclosing a small central open sward, 
or garden. We use the word “ gallery ” because it is the one employed on 
most of the French plans. With us, a gallery is generally understood to 
imply an up-stairs platform ; but in this sense there is no gallery in the Ex¬ 
hibition, except in the machinery department. The term “ zone ” would have 
been less open to misunderstanding. Badiating avenues, or “streets,” cross 
the galleries at right angles, and form the direct communication between the 
central garden and the grounds. The segments bounded by the streets re¬ 
present nationalities, whilst the course of the galleries is that of kindred 
classes of objects. Thus, to make our meaning plain, the outer-gallery (VII.) 
is devoted throughout its whole circuit to machinery ; the visitor, entering 
at Porte Bapp, finds himself amongst French machines ; and if his object be 
to see all the objects of this class, he will, by continuing his course in the 
same gallery, successively come to those of Holland, Belgium, Prussia, etc. ; 
but if, on the other hand, his desire is to see all the productions of any indi¬ 
vidual country, instead of proceeding by the galleries, he must work the seg¬ 
ment from the circumference to the centre, or vice versa. This sort of ar¬ 
rangement answers admirably as a whole, and, where objects are bulky and 
prominent, they are easily found ; but, unhappily, chemical and pharmaceu¬ 
tical specimens are not conspicuous, and hence the smaller collections sent 
by some of the Continental countries are likely to be missed. There is, 
however, no difficulty in finding the two most important displays,—those of 
Great Britain and France,—but more trouble ma)? - be encountered in the 
search for one or two German collections of great interest, such as the series 
of opium products and rare alkaloids, shown by Merck, of Hesse, and the 
remarkable case exhibited by TromsdorfF, of Erfurt. The latter especially is 
worth the labour of seeking, for it contains about seventy specimens, not one 
of which is commonplace. They consist chiefly of salts of rare metals, such 
as thorium, erbium, rubidium, lanthanium, and yttrium, and a number of 
.organic principles equally seldom met with ; not as minute tube specimens, 
but in quantities that could only have been expected of commercial articles. 
But for these exhibitors the German laboratories would have been but poorly 
represented. Nothing of much value is shown from Belgium, and the con¬ 
tributions from the United States scarcely deserves serious consideration. 
