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Page 9
Independently of the exhibit indicated by its name and character, the
Palace of the Liberal Arts encloses one of the great curiosities of the
Exhibition of '89; that is the "retrospective history of labor and
anthropologic science." "The aim of this exhibit," said M. Jules Simon,
in a report which he made as the president of the Superior Commission,
June 15, 1888, "is to instruct the public in the history of the
processes of manual and mechanical labor, which in the passage of
centuries have resulted in the modern industrial utensils used in the
arts and trades." This exhibit has a particularly historical and
technical character. It is far from excluding objects of art, for in
several ages the utensils, those especially which were used in the
liberal arts, were veritable jewels, either from their elegance of form,
or from the richness of their material, or the grace of their details.
We find chefs-d'oeuvre, for instance on a geographical map, on the
handle of a chisel, on the barrel of a musket. Our ancestors were not
possessed with the same passion for speed and cheapness that possesses
us. Industry lost, perhaps, but the arts were the gainers. The aim of
the retrospective exhibition is well defined. It is to retrace with
broad strokes by means of the reproductions of diagrams and authentic
monuments the stages of human genius. To achieve this result it was
necessary to associate with the retrospective exhibition of labor that
of anthropologic science, in order to show in the outset what man was
when he left the hands of nature in the different physical forms of
different races. The exhibit of anthropological science and history of
labor comprises then five grand divisions--first, anthropologic and
ethnographic science; second, the liberal arts; third, arts and trades;
fourth, means of transportation; fifth, military arts.
The central nave of the Palace of the Liberal Arts is wholly occupied by
this exhibit. Grand porticos and galleries of woodwork with platforms in
the lower story, form four grand divisions with interior courts that
approach by monumental staircases opening under the dome upon each side
of the rotunda, which occupies the centre and shelters the theatrical
exhibit. All around the porticos and galleries full panels were reserved
upon which M. Charles Touch� placed decorative compositions broadly
treated in aquarelle illustrating, so to say, the history of labor.
* * * * *
AN INGENIOUS PLAN FOR STRAIGHTENING WALLS.--Yankees, as a rule, are
equal to any emergency; what the average Yankee mechanic fails to
conjure up at a time when his wits are most needed, leaves very little
room for foreign genius to think and work in. Yet it remained for M.
Molard, a French architect, to contrive an original and ingenious plan
for straightening the walls of the Conservatoire des Arts et M�tiers,
which threatened an absolute collapse owing to the extreme weight of the
roof. A series of strong iron bars were carried across the building from
wall to wall, passing through holes in the walls, and were secured by
nuts on the outside. In this state they would have been sufficient to
have prevented the further separation of the walls by the weight of the
roof, but it was desirable to restore the walls to their original state
by drawing them together. This was effected in the following manner:
Alternate bars were heated by lamps fixed beneath them. They expanded,
and consequently the nuts, which were previously in contact with the
walls, were no longer so. The nuts were then screwed up so as to be
again in close contact with the walls. The lamps were withdrawn and the
bars allowed to cool. In cooling they gradually contracted and resumed
their former dimensions; consequently the nuts, pressing against the
walls, drew them together through a space equal to that through which
they had been screwed up. Meanwhile the intermediate bars were heated
and expanded, and the nuts screwed up as before. The lamps being again
withdrawn, they contracted in cooling, and the walls were further drawn
together. This process was continually repeated, until at length the
walls were restored to their perpendicular position. The gallery may
still be seen with the bars extending across it, and binding together
its walls.--_Philadelphia Record and Guide_.
LOSS OF POWER BY RADIATION OF HEAT.[3]
[Illustration: The Martyrs Column, Naples, Italy.]
To him who holds the purse and pays for the coal consumed, it is of
importance that between the energy of the burning fuel and the power
developed by the engine there should be the least possible loss. Every
unit of heat radiated by boiler-pipe, cylinder or heater is absolute
loss, and must come out of that purse. In an electrical plant this
matter is of great importance. There is less opportunity to have results
obscured. There is, proportionally, a large possible loss between the
coal on the grate and the far end of the cylinder, and this loss should
be reduced to the minimum. Is it not always the best economy to throw
away as little as possible, to save from waste _all_ that can be saved?
Is not the very _reason far being_, of the architect, the mechanical
engineer, in fact of every man who is paid for his advice and direction,
just this: that he shall bring to bear upon the subject, and impart to
his client honest knowledge concerning the various matters about which
he is consulted? That he shall keep abreast of the tide of discovery and
improvement, and that upon these subjects he shall _know_, not trusting
to mere hearsay or to unintelligent prejudice for his impressions.
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