this was no common undertaking, but one, however, that must and should be done.

The first column was raised on the 26th of September, The castings were made at the Smethwick Iron-works, near Birmingham, and were often on the ground and in progress of being placed, in eighteen hours after they were out of the hands of the foundrymen, and as much framing as would have made a shed the length of the Birmingham railway station was on many occasions fixed in a single day. A simple pair of shears and the Derick crane was all the machinery used in hoisting the materials, and the building arose from story to story without a single scaffold pole. The principle which obtained throughout the structure, of making every measurement a multiple of 8, greatly facilitated the progress. Thus the columns are all 24 feet high, and 24 feet apart, and the centre aisle is 72 feet, or 9 times 8. The infinite repetition of a simple form is also a peculiar feature in the palace; one single area bounded by four columns, and their crowning girders might be taken as the type of the whole building; thus the busy hive of men, like so many bees adding hexagon after hexagon, constructed the building by the simple aggregation of so many cubes; the courts and passages being obtained by the omission where required, of the cell walls. The building, it should be added, consists of a framework of wrought and cast iron, firmly braced together, and based upon a foundation of concrete.

The exact length of the building seems to have been determined by the date of the year in which it was completed, as it is 1851 feet in length, having a width of 408 feet.

The semi-circular roof of the transept is the design of Mr. C. Barry. In Mr. Paxton's plan the roof was flat. The change was occasioned by the preservation of the fine old elms so strongly called for by the public, and in themselves most graceful additions to the building; so beautiful indeed is this crystal vaulting, that we only regret the nave has not a similar translucent arch. The lifting of the semicircular ribs of the transept was the most hazardous portion of the whole building; measuring 70 feet in span, and having to be lifted to a height of 108 feet. Some dire mishaps were on all

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hands prognosticated; nevertheless, the whole 16 ribs were hoisted without accident of any kind, and in 8 working days. While the skeleton of the building was yet in progress its framing and glazing were commenced and carried forward. To make the wooden sash-bars and gutters, of which there are no less than 200 miles length, and to cover 18 acres of ground with a film of glass extending to nearly a million superficial feet, was a task so gigantic as to demand the aid of machinery to multiply the productive power of even the industrial army employed. Accordingly, the visitors who watched the progress of the building were astonished to see machinery take the place of the carpenter, to see the planing, grooving, drilling, sawing, and cutting into length of the woodwork performed by machines improvised for this special occasion. The glazing, in like manner, was conducted on an entirely original plan. Platforms of 8 feet square, (each capable of containing two men, with a canvas tilt over head to keep them dry,) were mounted on wheels which travelled in the Paxton gutters of the roof. A square hole was left in the centre of each, through which the glass was hoisted from below. The materials thus received were spun out from behind, and as the cloud of machines advanced slowly along the roof, their trail was marked by films of gleaming glass. Eighty men in one week glazed 62,600 superficial feet, and one man in one day put in no less than 108 panes, measuring 367 feet 6 inches in length. The glass is sheet glass, and the size of each pane is 4 feet 1 inch by 10 inches, the largest, we believe, ever blown.

The glazing completed, the work of internal decoration commenced under the superintendence of Mr. Owen Jones, by applying the primitive colours, red, blue, and yellow, upon narrow surfaces. The eminently artistic method adopted by Mr. Jones met with much opposition. His triumph, however, was, in the end, complete, and nothing in the whole building charms more than the converging opal of the interminable nave. The process of ornamental painting was carried on with perhaps a greater speed than any other portion of the building. An army of 500 painters, suspended in the air from the iron trusses, swept simultaneously from end to end with incredible swiftness.

The rain-fall on the roof is conducted into sewers through the cast-iron columns, which are hollow; thus, in rainy weather, an enormous body of water falls harmlessly from roof to floor, through every portion of a building stored with the most costly products of the earth.

To prevent the glare of light from becoming oppressive, and to cool the atmosphere at the same time, the whole roof is covered with calico. The ventilation is provided for by means of Louvre boards running round the whole base of the ground-floor and galleries and repeated under each ceiling. The simple form of the palace, consisting of three stories, imposed one upon the other, and narrowing from the base so as to form steps, is familiar to every one. The treble range formed by the nave and side-aisles is crossed in the centre by the transept, which, gleaming in the sun, forms through the surrounding trees the most prominent object from distant points of view.

To complete this extraordinary building by the day appointed for its opening, the most gigantic efforts were made, and during the months of December and January upwards of 2000 workmen were daily employed. By this press of labour the national faith was kept, and on the 1st of May, 1851, Her Majesty, accompanied by Prince Albert and two of her children, ascended the platform erected in the middle of the transept, and proclaimed the opening of the Great Exhibition. The scene-and it was a striking one-will be long remembered,

Contents of the Crystal Palace.

In proceeding with our visitor through the courts and avenues of the Crystal Palace, it is not our intention to weary him with minute descriptions, or to supply the place of the Exhibition Catalogue. It is our wish to point out articles which, for their rareness, beauty, or originality, he must not overlook, and to indicate, as far as possible, the most systematic way of seeing most with the least expenditure of time.

For this purpose it is best to enter by the Eastern Entrance, and to proceed along the nave westward the

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whole length of the building. By this means a general idea of its immense extent will be obtained; and the most valuable works of art arranged in a line along the centre of the promenade, and the richest manufactures, placed at the entrances to the side-courts devoted to the different nations, will be seen at one view.

The whole of the ground floor and the major portion of the galleries from the east end of the building to the transepts are devoted, it should be borne in mind, to foreign works of art and manufactures; whilst from the transepts westward, Britain and her Colonies occupy the entire space. Entering, then, at the Eastern end of the building, we find ourselves in the American portion of the nave, the only objects worthy of notice in which are the statues of the Dying Indian Warrior, the Greek Slave, and the Boy with a Shell, the last two by Hiram Powers. An enormous block of zinc opposite the Russian department next attracts notice, the weight of which is 16,400 lbs. In the Zollverein portion the gigantic Bavarian Lion, one of four to be placed on the top of an arch leading into Munich, is interesting both from the nobleness of its model and the clearness and beauty of its casting, no file or tool having touched it since it came from the mould. The Amazon and Tiger, by Kiss, of Berlin, the finest modern group of statuary which Europe has produced, should be examined thoroughly. Not far from this is a very characteristic statue of Marshal Radetsky. The beautiful stained glass Dante window, executed at Milan, must not be forgotten; nor the noble, though somewhat heavy, heroic equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, by Simonis, a Belgian artist. Two little statues, the Happy and Unhappy Child, close at hand, also attract much attention. Opposite the Roman department are two very elegant statues by the late Richard Wyatt, of Rome. A long howitzer and a gigantic earthen wine-jar mark Spain's contributions to the nave. The next article of striking interest is the exquisitely wrought shield presented to the Prince of Wales by the King of Prussia. The great Koh-i-Noor, or "Mountain of Light" diamond, captured at Lahore, and valued at 2,000,000l., is conspicuous in its gilded cage. Several attempts to give a greater brilliancy to the jewel have been made, by

lighting it with gas, but they have all failed. The manner in which it is cut, is said to be the cause of its dulness-a defect which Runjeet Singh made the lapidary pay for with his head. On a spring being touched, the platform on which it is mounted sinks down into an iron safe imbedded in masonry. The key of this safe is every night given into the custody of a Crown officer.

The double Transept, with its arched roof, 108 feet high, here cuts the nave. The Crystal Fountain, by Osler, of Birmingham, 28 feet in height, and composed of the finest cut flint-glass, stands in the centre, and divides it into two equal parts. The vast Elm trees, tropical plants, and blooming flowers, arranged at the north and south ends of the transept, and interspersed with various statues in plaster and marble, give this portion of the building an aspect of enchanting beauty.

The British portion of the nave is not nearly so varied in its contents as the Foreign portion, art giving place to manufactures, and works of a scientific nature. The Trophy of Spitalfields Silks rears its mass of somewhat gaudy colours at the entrance. A huge pile of Canadian and Van Diemen's Land timber succeeds: and then "the largest Looking-Glass in the World," cannot fail to strike the eye. Then follow church ornaments, and a very beautiful design for Hereford Cathedral. Models of all kinds are very rife at this point, and, towering over everything else, are the gigantic, seated, portrait statues of the Lords Eldon and Stowell, executed by the late M. L. Watson, at a cost of 10,000. The ornamental Rustic Dome is a fine specimen of casting, exhibited by the Colebrook-Dale Company. Here an improved Light-bouse; Ross's gigantic Telescope; and a model of the Britannia Tubular Bridge, showing the method of raising the tubes, are conspicuous objects. The most beautiful models, however, are those of the Docks and Town of Liverpool, and of the Suspension-Bridge, erected by the English engineer, Vignoles, at Kieff, in Russia; the former is really a gigantic work. Close at hand is a beautiful Jewel Case, designed by Grüner, manufactured by Elkington, of Birmingham, and exhibited by Her Majesty. Portraits of the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Royal Children, executed