REPORT OF MR. HILL.
55
ber of the assistant United States Commissioners, whom he selected at Vienna, and, with his well-known vigor, advanced it much more rapidly than could have been expected.
In this connection, the writer’s knowledge of the facts makes it proper for him to speak of the services of Professor E. N. llorsford, of Cambridge, in this State, who, as a member of the scientific commission of the United States, was present in Vienna, and who gave himself unsparingly to the assistance of the Chief Commissioner. Much of the progress which was made, both in the preparation of the exhibits and in the organization of committees, juries, etc., was due to his efforts. Massachusetts exhibitors especially are indebted to him for attention to their interests.
Before the arrival of the writer, Mr. Frank Millett, the secretary of the Massachusetts Commission, who had been despatched by Mr. Adams to Vienna, had secured proper rooms for the use of the Commission. These rooms were at once taken possession of, and the Commission was organized and immediately entered upon the duties assigned to the different members.
As has been said, it was a principal duty of the undersigned to study the details of the Exposition, and, therefore, with the exception of such attendance as was necessary at the office of the Commission, and a week devoted to the Patent Congress, of which mention will be made hereafter, his whole time at Vienna was spent on the grounds.
Upon entering upon the study of the Exposition, the first points which engaged attention were those relating to the general plan of the buildings and their inclosure. This matter seems to have received a great deal of thought on the part of the Austrian authorities, but it is doubtful if they settled it in a way perfectly satisfactory to a majority of vis- dors; and, in fact, it is not easy of solution in an exposition so large as this. The French Exposition of 1867 was built in the form of an ellipse, in which the different nations occupied segments, whose separating lines radiated from a common centre, while the different classes or groups of exhibits m the different nations were placed in the same ring or circle. Thus, in passing from the centre outward, the visitor was always among the products of the same nation, but went