REPORT OF MR. HILL.
59
The great majority of visitors are only temporary, and therefore to render an exposition of its greatest value to such people it must be so arranged as to enable them to make comparisons easily and clearly.
Undoubtedly, the Vienna Exposition was, above all things, intended as a means of education to the Austrians ; but, it is safe to say, that of all the Austrians who visited it, not one in a hundred went away with any clear idea of its va^ness as a whole, or of the relative richness of the different countries, in the twenty-six or more classes into which it was divided.
In regard to the buildings themselves and the material of which they were composed, owing to the nature of the soil in the Prater where the exhibition was held, the principal erections were all placed on piles. The walls were of brick, apparently very heavy and covered with cement. The roof was a semi-circular arch. The main entrances were built with much regard to architectural effect, and adorned above with emblematic figures. The most striking portion of the buildings was the huge dome which stood in the centre of the length of the great industrial palace. This was designed by Mr. Scott Russell, and was a really extraordinary undertaking. It stood on a circle of large piers. From the summit of these, angle-iron beams ran up towards the centre, where they all rested against an iron ring which received their thrust. The ceiling of the dome was attached to the underside of these beams. Its base was eighty feet above the ground and three hundred and forty-eight feet across ; above, it opened through the ring into a cylindrical lantern, one hundred feet in diameter and thirty feet high, and from that into a smaller lantern. The whole height was not less than two hundred and seventy- five feet.
The portion of the park devoted to the Exposition included a hout three hundred and fifty acres. On these were, first, the industrial palace, of which ive have spoken, running east and west, having its seventeen transepts across it, and its great dome in the midst. Parallel to this on the north, and distant from it about five hundred feet, was the machinery-hall, between these two, near either end, were large wooden build- lll gs, each covering somewhat more space tlian the great Coli-