THE  PARIS  EXPOSITION  OF  1867. 
519 
mehtary.  In  order  that  our  pages  may  not  be  entirely  without  some 
record  of  this  great  collection,  we  have  concluded  to  undertake  this  letter. 
Previous  to  1866,  in  the  south-western  quarter  of  Paris,  the  extensive 
level  parade  ground  between  the  Ecole  Militaire  and  the  River  Seine, 
towards  the  north-west,  was  known  as  the  "  Champs  de  Mars."  Here  the 
principal  building  itself  occupied  the  centre,  being  a  vast  oval  struc- 
ture of  iron,  wood  and  glass,  having  an  area  of  35  acres,  and  1640  yards 
or  nearly  a  mile  in  circumference.  Interiorly  it  consisted  of  a  series  of 
concentric  ovals,  the  outer  one  being  far  the  widest  and  highest  with  a 
central  elevated  gallery,  reached  by  stairs  placed  at  intervals,  and  from 
which  a  most  excellent  view  of  the  various  machinery  and  processes  in 
operation  in  this  department  could  be  best  seen,  such  operations  being 
confined  to  this  ring.  The  centre  was  occupied  by  an  isolated  building 
devoted  to  the  collections  of  weights,  measures  and  coins  of  the  world, 
around  which  and  within  the  first  or  smallest  oval  was  an  open  court  or 
garden  ornamented  with  statuary  and  flowers.  Then  a  series  of 
avenues,  named  after  countries,  radiated  from  the  central  court  to  the 
circumference,  so  that  it  was  easy  to  go  from  one  part  to  another  when 
the  visiter  became  acquainted  with  the  topographical  outline.  The  first 
oval  from  the  centre  was  devoted  to  the  statuary,  painting  and  engrav- 
ings, die-sinking,  lithographing,  designs  and  models.  The  Second  oval 
exhibited  the  apparatus  and  applications  of  the  liberal  arts,  book  printing, 
paper,  stationary,  photography,  musical,  medical,  surgical  and  mathemat- 
ical instruments  and  apparatus,  maps  and  geographical  and  cosmographi- 
cal  apparatus. 
The  Third  oval  or  group  included  furniture,  upholstery,  glassware,  por- 
celain, earthenware,  carpet,  tapestry,  and  furniture  stuff,  paper  hangings, 
cutlery,  gold  and  silver  plate,  bronze  and  other  artistic  castings,  clock 
and  watch  work,  apparatus  and  processes  for  heating  and  lighting,  per- 
fumery, morocco  work,  fancy  articles  and  basket  work. 
The  fourth  group,  which  embraces  clothing  and  various  objects  worn  on 
the  person,  includes  cotton,  flax  and  woolen  fabrics  and  yarns,  silk 
and  silk  goods,  shawls,  laces,  embroidery,  trimmings,  hosiery,  clothing 
made,  jewellery  and  ornaments,  travelling  and  camp  equipages,  portable 
arms  and  toys. 
The  fifth  group  more  particularly  interested  the  pharmaceutist,  as  it 
includes  raw  and  manufactured  products  of  mining  industry,  forest, 
fisheries,  and  agriculture,  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  products,  products 
of  applied  chemistry  in  bleaching,  dyeing,  tanning  leathers,  &c. 
The  sixth  group  included  apparatus  and  processes  used  in  the  common 
arts,  such  as  mining  and  metallurgy,  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  appa- 
ratus, weaving,  spinning  machinery,  tools  of  all  kinds  used  in  the  mechanic 
arts,  in  agriculture,  the*chase,  the  fisheries,  together  with  prime  mowers, 
boilers  and  engines,  etc.  This  vast  collection  was  embraced  in  the  central 
part  of  the  large  exterior  oval,  and  when  in  active  operation  toward  the 
