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INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. a' stand-still the supporting ropes are cut simultaneously, and the mattress sinks between its guiding-piles. 23. The private exhibit of Mr. Jacob Paulus, Amersfoordt, of a model of the bottom of the southern part of the Zuyder-Zee, with soundings and indications of the underlying soil, etc., as it illustrates the project for the drainage of this immense sea, which is shown in one of the public charts, and is fully described irr accompanying documents, deserves mention in this connection. This project con templates the reclamation of over 480,000 acres of land, the total of all previous reclamations in the Netherlands being over 293,000 acres. Its estimated cost, not including interest on loans, is 123,000,000 guilders (about $50,000,000). THE FRENCH ENGINEERING SECTION. BY GEORGE E. WARING, Jr. The engineering department of the French Government—"Fonts et Chaussees"—made one of the most notable exhibits of its class at the Centennial gathering. This exhibit was displayed in, and indeed it included, a well- designed and appropriate building, of iron and colored bricks, near the northeasternmost entrance of the grounds. The building, designed by M. de Dartein, Engineer of the “ Ponts et Chaussees,” and Professor of Architecture in the Ecole Polytechnique, consisted of a single large hall with an architectural vestibule flanked by small offices. The advantage of adapting the size and arrangement of an exhibition building to the objects which it is to display was well evidenced by the completeness with which every model and plan was shown, and by the successful utilizing of all space not needed for the somewhat restricted public which is attracted by engineering subjects. As a necessity arising from the intermixture of models and plans, and of the variation in scale among the different objects, there was more or less incongruity of arrangement. Had the models and plans been prepared expressly for the occasion, this slight difficulty might have been avoided. On the other hand, no collection made with a single view to exhibition could have been so complete, nor could it have had so great a technical instructive value as this, in which actual working plans and original models were shown in profusion. It constituted, on the whole, an admirably complete index to the engineering practice and system of France, wherd the visitor was enabled to study principles and processes in the most easy and effect ive way. For those who really cared to study detail, the capital