The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-30 00:00:00

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTIVE AND ILLUS.

TRATED CATALOGUE.

The third volume of this work has just made its
appearance. It contains from Class XI. to XXX., thus
finishing the whole of the articles shown by the British
exhibitors. The present volumes contain a large number
of illustrations, the greater number of which arc executed
in first-rate style. Among the best are the beautiful side-
board of Messrs. Poole and Macgillivray, the chess-
table of Messrs. Clay and Co., the porcelain statuettes of
Messrs. Copeland, the vases of Messrs. Meigh and Sons, the
large cabinet made for her Majesty by Mown. Holland and
Co., Mr. Morant's tables, Mr. Turner's paper-hangings, the
large mirror of Mr. ItPLean, Taylor's Oriental towers in
vegetable ivory, the Kenilworth buffet, the Royal cradle by
Rogers, Montanari's group of Mexican figures, Norchi's ser-
peutiae vase, Putter's cathedral spandril, and a large num-
ber of the principal specimens of sculpture—including
Lough's " Arid mid Titauia," Gibson's " Greek Hunter,"
the" Theseus and theAmaxons" by Engel,with " Rosamond,"
" Beatrice," and numerous others well known to the visitors of
the Exhibition. These volumes contain an immense amount
of most valuable information, given not merely iu the de-
scription of the articles exhibited, but in the shape of
annotations furnished by the most eminent practical and
scientific men of the present day. The introduction to each
class curtains valuable general information on the subject
of the particular section to which it refers, while the notes
are clear, lucid, and practical in their character, and calcu-
lated to be of great service to all classes of the community.
A guarantee for the accuracy and value of these unnota-
tioas, and of the other information contained in the Cata-
logue, is afforded by the high standing and position of
those by whom they were furnished. The annotators are—
Profssor Owen, and Baron Liebig; Professors Lindley,
Moyle, Bell, Forbes, Ansted, llosking, and A. de Morgan ;
Mr. Pussy, M.P.' Rev. J. Barlow, Rev. J. Booth, Captain
Ibbetson, Mr. Glashier, Mr. Gray, Mr. Robert Hunt, Mr.
Clegg, Mr. De la Rue, Dr. Spurgin, Mr. Wit-on, Mr. Dibdin,
Mr. Aitken, and Mr. llendrie. The official revision and
sanction for publication was confided to Colonel Lloyd; the
scientific revision to Mr. Robert Ellis; the historical intro-
duction was furnished by Mr. Cole; au ably written account
of the construction of the building was supplied by Mr.
Dighy Wyatt ; the classification et the subjects was arranged
by Dr. Playfair; and the compilation of the whale devolved
upon Mr. Irapp.
A morning cotemporary, referring to this catalogue, says:
"There is one point in connection with this work to which
we are anxious to call attention—that is, that it embodies
to a large extent the science of commerce ; and in a great
number of instances the changing and inaccurate con-
ventional terms of trade have been converted into the pre-
cise and enduring expresaions of science. 'this is more par-
ticularly observable in the first four classes of the Exhi-
bition, including specimens of a large number of raw mate-
rials, in which the commercial names of the materials,
together with their scientific equivalents, are given. The
want of such information as this has been long. and griev-
ously felt among commercial men ; and there is no doubt
that, in consequence, many new materials of industrial
importance, known under a variety of local, changing, and
unintelligible terms, have been prevented from obtaining
their due position in industry and commerce. The classifi-
cation of all the productions of art or industry within the
thirty classes into which the Exhibition is divided, which was
arranged by Dr. Playfair, and is included in the Catalogue,
will also be of great service in assisting statistical or other
inquiries in connection with particular branches of industry.
There yet remains another important purpose which this
edition of the Catalogue will hereafter serve—and that is,
its use as a reference to the producers or manufacturers of
any particular class of goods. This is a point the importance
of which we have more than once urged upon exhibitors;
and so far back as last October, when many of the present
exhibitors were backward in making application for space,
'we suggested the importance of their having their names
daly registered in the honourable muster-roll of British
producers which the' Catalogue Reisman& ' of the Exhibi-
tion would contain. It is well known that buyers of mer-
chandise in France use their Exposition Catalogue as •
guide-book to the manufacturers of eminence, and rarely
trouble themselves to inquire beyond its pages, being under
the full conviction that all the eminent producers of the
country are there fully represented. If this be the effect
with respect to a catalogue of a merely national exposition,
it must be considerably greater in the case of a work which
professes to record all the producers of eminence throughout
the world. In this respect the ' Descriptive and Illustrated
Catalogue' is invaluable, and deserves to occupy a place by
the aide of the ' Directory, an the office or counting-house
of every
,person engaged in trade and commerce in this
country.'
and I

THE SURPLUS.—A SUGGESTION.
20 IRE EDITOR OF TEE ESUIBITION EXPRESS.
Sir,---Seeing from the public prints that a hand-
some balance is already standing at the credit of the Royal
Commissioners for the Exhibition of Industry of all
Nations, the subscriber would beg most respectfully to offer
the following suggestion :—Now that tho Royal Commis-
sioners have determined to remove the Crystal Palace,
should not a suitable monument be erected on the place
where it stood (perhaps the very spot where her most gra-
cious Majesty sat enthroned when she opened the Exhibi-
tion), with a statue of HAIL Prince Albert, the originator
and able supporter of this truly wonderful undertaking ?
Such a monument appeors to be necessary to distinctly
mark to future generations the place and spot where tho
Exhibition was held.—Olutios Citaatza. Edinburgh,
Aug. 2S.

TUE SURPLUS FUNDS AND EDUCATION.—At
meeting on Thursday of the municipal body of Birmingham,
Mr. Lucy (the mayor of the town) brought before the notice
of the members the propriety of establishing, with the aid
of a portion of the surplus funds in the hands of the com-
missioners, a central college, or establishment, for the pur-
pose of affording industrial education to all classes, on the
plan adopted in France. The proposal met with the approval
of all present, and a memorial (given elsewhere) to the !Loyal
Commissioners, embodying their views, was unanimously
agreed upon. In Manchester a similar course is about to
be adapted, the project having already met with the cordial
approval of the mayor ; and the bishop of the diocese has,
we understand, promised to give it all the support in his
power. The towns of Hull and Liverpool will also, we
believe, have an opportunity in a few days of expressing
their opinions upon this important and interesting question.
"A DAINTY Dlnu."—ln the Dutch department is
a curiosity of an extremely different character—one
adapted to the preservation rather than the destruction of
human life. We allude to an enormous partridge pie,
weighing upwards of 400 pounds, and contais
than 200 partridges. It is exhibited by M. W.H.ning. HA. Jan-
sen, who is the purveyor of preserved provisions to the
Dutch government. It is exhibited for the purpose of
showing the great state of perfection to which the in-
ventor has brought the art of preserving for almost any
length of time articles of provisions. The process of pre-
paration is, we are informed, exceedingly cheap. Indeed,
the articles to be preserved do not require to be treated in
any other than the ordinary mode of cooking, alter which
they are packed in cases, exhausted of air, and rendered
air-tight by the proses& of the inventor. The pie in ques-
tion has now been made upwards of six months. The in-
ventor states that he is confident that the large pie will be
ea good My years hence as it is at the present moment.