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the trade and manufactures of an entire country. Theimportance of such collections, not only in a commercial,but in a statistical and scientific point of view, is verygreat: and the .Jury, therefore, being desirous of express-ing their approbation of the practical benefits to be derivedfrom the formation and study of such collections, and theadvantages which the commercial and manufacturingcommunity may obtain by their means, have determinedto recommend the award of the Council Medal to theGovernments of those countries the natural produce ofwhich were thus so instructively and completely ex-hibited.
The Jury have, accordingly, recommended the awardof a Council Medal* to the Honoitrarlk East IndiaCompany for the very valuable and important collectionof the raw produce of the Indian empire exhibited bythem (pp. 876-878), which illustrates in a remarkablemanner the vast and natural resources of that empire, andplaces before manufacturers a number of valuable new orlittle-known substances, many of which are likely, here-after, to become considerable articles of import.
The Jury have, on the same grounds, recommended theaward of a Council Medal* to the Ti'kkish Governmentfor the very valuable and important collection of the rawproduce of the Turkish empire (p. 1386), shown in theTurkish Department, and which, from its extent and •completeness, is most interesting and instructive. Boththis collection and that of the Hon. East India Company derive additional value from the fact, that the specimensare not merely picked samples of fine produce, but reallyrepresent the average quality of each article; and alsofrom the exhibition of specimens showing the differentdegrees of goodness, and the comparative superiority orinferiority of the productions of different districts. j
A Council Medal has also been awarded to the Govern-ment of Spain * for the valuable and extensive collectionof raw products, illustrating the natural resources of thatcountry (pp. 1337, 1338).
The Jury have also recommended the award of aCouncil Medal* to the French Minister or War for thevery complete and well-arranged collection of Raw Pro-duce of Algeria (p. 1259', remarkable for excellence inmany respects, and affording a good example of the pro-gress and improvement of a young colony—in the ame-lioration of the native productions, and in the successfulintroduction and cultivation of new branches of industry—by the judicious application of practical science to thedevelopment of the raw materials used in various manu-factures.
After comparing together the various samples ofAmerican cotton, and contrasting them with those ofother countries, the Jury were desirous of testifying theiradmiration of the unrivalled excellence of the long-staplecottons of the United States , depending not merely on thelength, strength, and silky fineness of the fibre, but beingalso due to the improved modes of culture, cleaning, andpacking—the results of long experience and repeatedefforts. The Jury found it quite impossible to decidebetween the minute shades of difference of the individualbales of cotton; besides which they considered that themerit was due not to any one exhibitor, hut rather to thecotton-planters of America generally ; they, therefore,recommended the award of a Council Medal* to theGovernment of the United States for the excellentsamples of long-staple cotton shown, which exhibit suchmarked and superior excellence as to leave hardly anyfurther improvement to be desired (p. 1431).
On the same grounds the Jury were desirous of testi-fying their sense of the peculiar value aud excellence ofthe felting wools (p. 1005), adapted to the manufacture ofthe finest kinds of cloth, which are exhibited in theAustrian Department, by recommending the transmissionof a Council Medal* to the Government of thatEmpire. And with regard to the superior quality of theraw silks shown in the French Department, the Jury, bytheir recommendation of the award of the Council Medal*to the “ Central Society of Sericicultpre of France, ”
* Owing to technical objections, these Council Medalswere not passed by the Council of Chairmen,
have desired to testify their admiration of the specimensexhibited by many members of that Society, aud theirappreciation of the important influence which it has ex-ercised in the improvement of this beautiful and valuableproduct of the animal kingdom.
Two other collections, though not quite analogous tothese, were, for similar reasons, deemed worthy by theJury of the highest commendation, and have been ac-cordingly recommended for the award of the CouncilMedal ;* namely, the collection of Messrs. Lawson ofEdinburgh,f and the series of Liverpool Imports. Theformer consists of a most complete and well-arrangedcollection of the vegetable productions of Scotland , thevalue of the whole mainly depending on the excellentsystematic manner in which the specimens are arrangedand classified ; the careful and accurate information whichaccompanies the different samples ; tiie manner in whichthe practical uses of each raw product are shown andillustrated ; and the valuable catalogues which have beendrawn up by Messrs. Lawson.
The Liverpool collection of Imports (Class XXIX.,p. 803), though it does not of course represent either theexports or the imports of any individual country, is never-theless, owing to the extensive trade of that port, and thelarge number of imports which it includes, a fair repre-sentation of a very large portion of the commerce of thecountry: like the preceding collection of Messrs. Law-son, it derives much of its practical value from itsarrangement, and from the useful information whichaccompanies each specimen. Much valuable knowledge,which no book can give, is to be obtained from theattentive study of this collection, as the different pro-ductions of various countries are, in it, placed side byside, with a memorandum appended to each, showing thequantity of it imported into Liverpool during the last tenyears.
The Jury also recommended the award of a CouncilMedal to the ‘ Royal Society for the Improvement of theCultivation of Flax in Ireland ’ (p. 203*), for their per-severing and successful efforts to improve the growth andpreparation of flax in the British empire. The Jurybelieve that the rapid and progressive advance which,during the last dozen years, has been made in the culti-vation of flax in Ireland , is mainly, if not entirely, due tothe exertions and influence of this valuable institution.
In the class of vegetable raw produce, the followingsubject was found to be of sufficient importance, in theopinion of the Jury, to merit special commendation,namely, Mercer’s Process for Modifying the Fibre ofCotton (Class XVIII., 48, p. 56); this was considered sovaluable and so important a discovery that the Jurydetermined to recommend it as worthy of the distinctionof a Council Medal. The process, itself, consists prin-cipally in steeping cotton in a dilute solution of causticsoda, the effect of which is, to alter the physical andchemical properties of the fibre in a very remarkablemanner, causing each single fibre to reassume, to someextent, its original character and microscopic appearance,exchanging the ribbon-like or flattened appearance whichcotton ordinarily presents, for one of a more or less dis-tinctly cylindrical character. The shrinking of the fibrewhich is thus caused, whilst it produces a most remark-able difference in the appearance of all woven fabrics,does not at all decrease its strength, but, on the contrary,renders it even stronger. At the same time that thesephysical alterations are produced, the chemical nature ofthe cotton is likewise modified, and its relation to colour-ing matter and mordants is changed in an equally remark-able manner: the prepared cotton taking the dyes moreeasily and far more perfectly than that which has notbeen prepared, so that the colour dyed in the same vat isfar superior with the prepared than with ordinary cotton.
Among the vegetable charcoals which this Jury wererequested to examine and report upon, they found worthyof special notice the following series, exhibited in France .
* Owing to technical objections, this Council Medal was: not passed by the Council of Chairmen.
| f This Medal was given conjointly with the Jury ofI Class ill., in whose Award List it is inserted.