Oh ye, the wise who think, the wise who reign,
From growing commerce loose her latest chain,
And let the fair white-winged peacemaker fly
To happy havens under all the sky,
And mix the seasons and the golden hours,
Till each man find his own in all men's good,
And all men work in noble brotherhood,
Breaking their mailed fleets and armed towers,
And ruling by obeying Nature's powers,
And gathering all the fruits of peace and crown'd with
all her flowers.

Auber's "Grand March" followed. After the conclusion of the special music, the bishop of London, with much fervency of manner, read an impressive prayer.

Handel's mighty choral hymns-the "Hallelujah" and Amen," from the Messiah-followed.

After the "Amen" the National Anthem was again sung, and with this the music to the religious part of the ceremony came to a conclusion.

The Duke of Cambridge then rose, and in a loud voice said: "By command of the Queen, I now declare the Exhibition open."

The trumpets of the Life Guards saluted the announcement with a prolonged fanfare, and the crowd echoed it back with a cheer, which was taken up and speedily spread from one end of the building to the other. This ended the official ceremonial.

OBJECTS AND ARTICLES EXHIBITED.-Mining, Quarrying, and Metallurgy.-A case devoted to aluminium, showed the progress already made in the application of that valuable metal and of its alloys. The metal is obtained from the double chloride of aluminium and sodium by fusion with sodium. Amongst its advantages, besides non-liability to tarnishing, is the lightness. By its use, a sextant which in brass would weigh 3 lb. may be made to weigh 1 lb. 9 oz. It costs 40s. per lb. troy. The alloy of the metal with copper, called aluminium-bronze, contains five per cent. of aluminium, and costs 4s. 6d. per lb. avoirdupois. This alloy resembles gold in appearance; whilst it is stronger than iron. Keys are made of aluminium alloyed with two per cent. of nickel to increase hard

ness.

Of copper, in the Exhibition, there were specimens of ores from nearly every part of the world. The Connoree Mining Company, Ireland, exhibited calamine, the ore of zinc, from a new locality. Ores of nc were also shown in the Belgian, Zollverein, Austrian, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, and United States depart ments. In the Belgian department, Muller and Co. exhibited spelter produced in a blast furnace; a process long attempted in vain.

Cadmium, generally found in zinc ores, was shown in the Polish and Zollverein departments, in foil and cylindrical sticks. Cadmium, combined with sulphur, forms a fine yellow, opaque, durable pigment, much prized by artists. It is much in request for Wood's newlydiscovered fusible alloy, which melts at a temperature far below boiling water.

Of tin, the Exhibition presented nothing remarkable or novel.

Lead (galena) was shown in nearly all the departments, the Italian and Portuguese being especially interesting. There was, however, nothing in the Exhibition to indicate that prog ress has been made toward the solution of the great problem of condensing lead fume. In one year a large smelting establishment in the north of England obtained 800 tons of lead from the dust accumulated in their long flues.

Arsenic was sufficiently represented. Nickel is now much used for electro-plated articles, and the nickel manufacture was first brought to its present perfection in Birmingham. Nickel is now employed in the coinage of Switzerland, Belgium, and the United States. Ores of nickel were exhibited by several manufacturers of German silver.

Cobalt, valuable for its forming blue color, was found in the Zollverein department, and the United States. Oxide of Cobalt is now largely employed by the potter and glass-maker in Bir mingham: the fine "flowing blue" on our china was the result of the first application of this oxide.

Antimony was well represented in the Exhibition. Its chief ore is sulphide, which has during many years been regularly and largely imported into this country from Borneo.

The Exhibition contained several interesting and important illustrations of mercury or quicksilver. It chiefly occurs in nature in combination with sulphur, constituting the well-known mineral, native cinnabar. Magnificent speci mens of this mineral from the Almaden mines were found in the Spanish department in the nave.

All galena contains silver, though not always in sufficient proportion to allow of its profitable extraction. It is generally admitted that only lead containing more than two ounces of silver to the ton can be subjected to Pattinson's wellknown process of desilverization with advantage. By this simple and important invention an enormous amount of silver has been saved to the world.

Rich sulphide of silver has recently been discovered in Cornwall, but hitherto it has not been possible to procure even a specimen, as the adventurers are desirous of attracting the notice of the crown as little as possible; for a mine of which the ore is sulphide of silver would undoubtedly be a mine royal, and belong to the Crown.

Gold was displayed in marvellous profusion in various departments. All native gold contains silver, which varies much in proportion, and tends to render the gold pale in color. All lead contains gold in addition to silver, but in quantity generally so minute as to be valueless. But there it is, and it may invariably be ex tracted from lead, so as to be distinctly visible.

A series illustrative of the extraction of gold by chlorine water from the residua obtained at the arsenic works at Reichenstein, in Silesia, was exhibited in the Zollverein department.

Clay and terra-cotta manufactures were rep

resented chiefly by fire bricks and retorts for various purposes.

Building stones were exhibited in great variety.

Slate was shown in plain slabs, roofing forms, and decorated, that is, enamelled. The Llangollen Slab and Slate Company exhibited slabs of great size and good quality, 16 feet and 20 feet in length. The Rhiwbryfdir Slate Company showed that a block (18 inches by 10 inches) which is an inch and a half thick, may be split and dressed into 39 slates; and that out of a block (20 inches by 10 inches) half an inch thick, 8 slates can be sawn, the waste in such case being hardly perceptible. A model of a slate-dressing machine, consisting of knifeedges placed obliquely on a revolving drum, so as to work like the down-cut of a carpenter's saw, was exhibited by one of the PortMadoc contributors, Mr. J. W. Greaves; and the company there, above named, seem to have a machine that will dress 12,000 to 15,000 slates per diem, accurately and completely.

M. Alibert exhibited in the Russian portion of the nave blocks of graphite or plumbago, from an extensive bed recently discovered in Siberia. It takes so high a polish as to be mistaken for steel. In travelling through Eastern Siberia M. Alibert found some traces of this mineral in a remarkably pure state, and knowing its value and importance, he set himself to work to search for the vein, which he felt satisfied must be in the neighborhood. For fifteen years, at considerable expense, he persevered, and was at last rewarded by arriving at a bed of graphite.

The French geological maps of France were numerous and important. Among the more remarkable was an atlas of twelve sheets, forming a map of the ancient principality of Dombes in the department of the Ain, a curious district of about 100,000 hectares, of which area more than one sixth has been converted into fishponds, which are in number about 1,600, and are emptied every two years to obtain the fish, and to be planted for cereals, and afterward again filled with water and stocked with young fish. The insufficiency of the population and other causes led to the method of cultivation. The method has, however, been most injurious to health in the district. An instalment was shown of a great work, that of ascertaining the levels of principal spots over the whole of France continental, suggested in 1857, by Mr. Bourdaloue, who had already completed a similar work for the department of the Cher. The object is to render more easy and certain the operations having relations to new routes, watercourses, drainage, and irrigation. Great detail and exactness therefore were required, which would involve much expense. The first part of the undertaking, comprising the fixing the principal points, was commenced at the end of September, 1857, and will be finished before the end of the present year.

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PHARMACEUTICAL

PROCESSES.-The display of chemicals in the Exhibition was the finest yet collected together. Not only were the exhibitors more numerous than in 1851, but there were more first-class names on the list, hardly one manufacturer of eminence being absent. In the leading branches of chemical manufactures the show was wonderfully good. The specimens of alkalies, alum, and the coal tar dyes generally, constituted the great bulk of the Exhibition.

One of the great features in the class was the splendid collection of drugs formed by the Pharmaceutical Society, which filled one of the finest cases in the whole building.

A new product, for the first time, was exhibited-the silicate of alumina-a beautiful crystalline substance resembling glass. It is formed by mixing two alkaline solutions of silica and alumina; from the great affinity of the alumina for the silica a union is formed between them of a most permanent character. The bases in the mixed solutions, however, showing a most energetic action in strong solutions, when diluted with water have that action so retarded that they remain in the form of a liquid for some hours, admitting of many useful applications, such as the preserving of stone by induration, and the manufacture of artificial stones, which processes were exemplified.

White wine vinegar is obtained, in the form of acetic acid, from the smaller branches of the oak and other hard woods, and it is now also obtained from-sawdust. This dust now finds itself entering the mouth of a long retort through a hopper, is coaxed forward by an endless screw occupying the whole diameter of the retort, and brought under a heat that implies destructive distillation, thus parting with its volatile products.

Cundy, of Battersea, exhibited the permanganate of potash, a most powerful and innocuous deodorizer and disinfectant: its oxidizing powers are beautifully shown by treating pure and impure water; with a small quantity of the fluid, each water may be perfectly pellucid or clear; but if organic matter be in solution, it will instantaneously be oxidized and precipitated as a powder to the bottom, leaving the water colorless; but if nothing of the kind exists in the water, it remains tinged with the pink color of the fluid.

Paraffine was well illustrated. In the Great Exhibition of 1851 Mr. James Young exhibited specimens of paraffine and paraffine oil, and one candle, the product of the distillation of coal. Mr. Young has been fortunate enough to make what Liebig some years ago said would be one of the greatest discoveries of the age-viz., the condensation of coal gas into a white, hard, dry, solid, colorless, odorless substance, portable, and capable of being placed upon a candlestick or burnt on a lamp.

Among the substances shown was a new material, called "Parksine," from the name of its discoverer-the product of a mixture of

chloroform and castor oil, which produces a substance as hard as horn, but as flexible as leather-capable of being cast or stamped, painted, dyed, or carved, and which, above all, can be produced, in any quantity, at a lower price than gutta percha.

Here may be mentioned the principal improvements during the past ten years in France, in chemicals and pharmaceutical products and perfumery, including colors. Such improvements are, the use of pyrites in place of sulphur, which has caused reduction in the price of sulphuric acid; the extension of the indigenous production of potash by the calcination of the residues of the distillation of beet-root juice; and the preparation of potasse du suint; the development, in the process of extraction from the waters of saltmarshes, of the sulphate of soda and the salts of manganese which are contained in them; the improvements in the production of ammonia, and its salts, from the condensed fluid collected during distillation of coal; the development of the industries of the distillation of coal tar, and the preparation of Benzine and certain acids; the application, more and more frequent, of the silicates of soda and potash, to the conservation of monuments and sculpture; the new industry of the salts of alumina with a soda base, and of pure alumina; the experiments for the industrial production of the prussiates and ammoniacal salts by ammonia and carbonate of barytes; increase of the production of pyroligneous acid and its compounds; development given to the fabrication of the vegetable alkaloids; extension in the manufacture of white lead, and artificial ultramarine; introduction of the yellow, red, violet, and blue coloring matters, resulting from the transformations of aniline; and the use of sulphuret of carbon for the extraction of fatty substances and perfumes.

Coal Tar and Lichen Dyes.-Strange and curious were the illustrations exhibited of the coal tar dyes, and their wonderful effects already mentioned. Coal tar is the basis of all the new colors we have lately got, such as mauve and magenta, and this field of chemical research seems boundless in extent. Thus, coal tar is gradually refined upon and improved till the dirty mass becomes a liquid of glowing tints, the dye of which is shown by exquisite silks, feathers, and moiré antiques, tinted of the now so fashionable colors. The way in which the color is produced may be told in a few words. Coal tar, when distilled, yields a colorless fluid called benzole, much used for removing grease stains from silk or cloth. This when mixed with nitric acid forms nitro-benzole, which when again distilled with acetic acid and iron filings forms those exquisite green crystalizations called aniline. This when distilled again with different salts, produces dyes of different colors, such as mauve and magenta; and thus the coal tar, which was of such little value that it almost puzzled gas-factories to get rid of it, has become the basis of a most impor

tant manufacture. Aniline was but a few years ago so rare as to be known among chemists almost only by name. Now it is an article of commerce. A few grains of it suffice to dye many yards of fabric, and it is well that it has this power, for two gallons of coal tar only yield ten grains of aniline. One circular block of aniline about twenty inches high by nine inches wide was shown, which was the whole product of no less than 2,000 tons of coal. This specimen is sufficient to dye 300 miles of silk fabric. Where two quantities are given it is easy to find a third. With the data which we have stated, therefore, as to two gallons of coal tar yielding ten grains of aniline, and the product of 2,000 tons of coal being capable of dyeing 300 miles of silk, any lady of a calcu lating turn of mind can reckon to a bushel the precise amount of coal consumed to color the mauve dress in which she is attired. A grain of the aniline dissolved in water tinges it at once of that reddish violet, the delicate color of which can only be compared to the brightness of a flash of electricity.

Near these were shown the products of the lichen dyes, the beautiful blues and purples which are made from the common mosses and lichens. This was accidentally discovered, for the mosses have to undergo a particularly offensive course of treatment before they yield their tints. Where the specimens of the mosses used were shown, the fabrics dyed with their colors were displayed above them, so that, except in witnessing the actual process, the whole modus operandi was told to the visitor clearly enough. Near these were shown some specimens of indigo and indigo dyes; while round about were displayed all the wonderful forms of crystallization, from masses of alum as big as grottos, down to groups of crystals of soda, of salt, and saltpetre. Some of the single block crystals of alum weighed from five to seven tons.

Substances used for Food.-The collection of these articles was numerous and interesting. Sugar, long considered a neutral substance without congeners, has, in consequence of chemical research, become the parent of a numerous and increasing family. Fourteen specimens were exhibited by Derby and Gosden, including not only beautiful forms of cane and grape sugar, but also sugars derived from acorns, &c., muscular fibre, beets, and other animal and vegetable substances.

Mr. Hallett exhibited his wonderful examples of "pedigree wheat." He has applied to the growth of wheat the rules which every stockbreeder in the country knows-namely, that from the largest and best animals the largest and best progeny may be expected, and that, therefore, the agriculturist should proceed to develop the productive powers of wheat as if it were altogether a new species of cereal which he was trying to bring to perfection for the first time. Mr. Hallett, in 1857, planted only from ears 44 inches long, containing 47 grains. In 1858 his finest ear was 6 inches long, con

taining 79 grains, and there were 10 ears from the finest plant. In 1860 the ears were imperfect, from the wet season, but they appear only to have reserved and husbanded their productiveness for a more auspicious occasion, as in 1861 the finest ear was no less than 84 inches long, containing 123 grains, and the number of ears in the finest single plant had risen from the starting number of 10 in 1857 to 52 in 1861. The various ears and their dates of sowing were shown.

Mr. Spence, of Manchester, has devised a process whereby he is able to produce sixtyfive tons of ammonia alum from fifty tons of coal shale.

Valuable improvements have been made in the preservation of meat and other articles of diet. Jones and Trevithick exhibited a raw leg of mutton and other meats, which appeared perfectly fresh after a long interval of time. In their process the meat is introduced into a tin vessel, the air is exhausted, and a small quantity of sulphurous acid gas is introduced, which is quickly absorbed by the juice of the meat. Nitrogen (or azote), which is incapable of exerting any putrefactive action on it, is then permitted to enter the vacuum, and the can is sealed. Should this process prove successful a great step will be gained. Mr. M'Call exhibited meats preserved in the old method-viz., expulsion of the air by boiling. The speciality of his process consists in a plan for the absorption of any oxygen remaining in the case. In the top of his can is a small capsule in which he places a button of fused hypo-sulphite of soda; this, when exposed, as the can is soldered, is supposed to take up the oxygen left in the vessel. The opened case of beef appeared quite fresh.

The increasing demand for agricultural produce necessitates the application of manure to restore to the ground the elements taken from it. Mr. Whitworth, of Bermondsey, has endeavored to make still further use of fish for the purpose, and exhibited specimens of his concentrated fish manure for cereal crops.

Indian Products.-Three hundred samples of tea were shown, and more than one hundred of cotton, with some tobacco; and of starchy products were two or three novelties. The elastic gums contained some novelties obtained from the Mudar plant (Calotropis gigantea), and also from the milk-hedge (Euphorbia antiquorum), and other species of Euphorbia (E. tortilis). Of woods there were from twelve to fifteen hundred specimens. Amongst the curiosities of food, we had, in addition to the usual contribution of sharks' fins. birds' nests, trepang, agaragar, &c., some potted fish gnapie, dried mushrooms from China, dried fungi, and other delicacies.

The most suggestive, but least attractive, portion of the Indian display was at its entrance, where one of the great tests of a country's value was shown by a collection of its raw materials and natural products. Beyond these came its

manufactures-native locks that would puzzle Hobbs to pick; cutlery from Salem that should astonish Sheffield. Beyond these were weapons damascened in gold, and then gold and silver work, and enammelled jewelry. Among a curious collection of articles from Darjeeling and Thibet are the prayer cylinders-a common brass cylinder, filled with printed prayers, which the natives spin and turn round, and every revolution counts as so many prayers said. In some parts near Thibet, where the strictest Buddhism prevails, these prayer cylinders are made of great size, and turned by water power, so as to do the praying of the whole village in which it works without a moment's cessation. This easy method of invocation is so extensively practised by all the natives, that printing in Thibet is confined almost exclusively to the production of the innumerable prayers that are required by the people. The printing blocks used for this purpose in Thibet and Darjeeling were shown in one of the cases. They are cut in coarse wooden blocks, and in workmanship are apparently on a par with what Caxton's first failures must have been.

MACHINERY.-Of locomotive engines there was a magnificent rank, eight or nine at least, with tenders attached, in complete working order. Mr. Ramsbottom exhibited an admirable invention for watering tenders of trains while at full speed. This was originally invented to facilitate still further the rapid progress of the Irish express train between Holyhead and London. The plan simply consists of a sunk trough filled with water, laid at certain stations between the rails, and into which, as the engine approaches, a slanting, trumpet-shaped shoot is lowered, up which the velocity of the engine forces the water with such power as to fill the tender tanks in a single minute. The Great Northern (of France) Railway Company sent a monster locomotive engine, which has its boilers, cylinders, water tank, and coal bunk built up one above another to such a height that the wonder is how it can pass under an ordinary bridge. Its chimney, instead of standing straight upright, as is the manner with ordinary locomotives, has to be curled over its back like an elephant's trunk. It is intended for heavy traffic only. Among other improvements it is fitted with a superheating apparatus.

Traction Engines.-Bray's traction engine, considering its great capabilities, is a remarkably compact and simple piece of locomotive machinery. A specimen exhibited was built for Woolwich Dockyard. It combines many improvements upon the earlier contrivances for the purpose of transporting heavy weights by steam power; but the feathering principle of the wheels, as originally introduced by Mr. Bray, is retained. This principle consists in the circumference of the wheel having a number of small apertures through it. These apertures are the media which allow of the protrusion and withdrawal, by means of an eccentric,