24

INTRODUCTION,

sioners, on or before the 1st of September, what space would be likely to beoccupied respectively by its raw materials, its machinery, its manufactures, andfine arts; but only Austria, Belgium, Zollverein , and North Germany compliedwith this request, and furnished the information in sufficient detail. The greatdistance of other countries rendered the transmission of the information impossible,and practically it was not known what articles many very important countriesran^em&nt for^" wou ld send, until they actually arrived. No choice remained but to adopt ania^axticies Co, °" geographical arrangement; and it was not until so late a period as the month ofDecember that the Commissioners were enabled to decide the principles uponwhich the articles should be arranged in the Building. Circumstances connectedwith the form of the Building itself, the absence of the necessary informationfrom Foreign countries, the great pressure for time, and above all the vitalimportance of punctually opening the Exhibition on the first of May, inducedthe division of the ground floor of the Building into two parts—the one beingawarded to Foreign countries, and the other to the British colonies and theUnited Kingdom .

The productions of the United Kingdom and the British colonies are generallygrouped westward of the central transept. The productions of each foreign countryare placed together eastward of the transept—except machinery in motion, which,on account of the motive power being at the north-west end of the building, is placedin that part of the building. The productions of each country are classifiednation by nation, and as far as practicable into the thirty classes already mentioned.The position of each country is determined in the building by its own latitude. Asa general rule, machinery is placed at the north side, and raw materials and pro-duce brought to the south side of the building. The intermediate parts areoccupied by manufactures and fine arts. There is hardly any choice in respect oflight, which is nearly the same in all parts of the building. The south side, aswell as the roof of the building both in the north and south sides, is coveredwith canvas. The sides of the upper and the gallery tier on the north are not soAllotment of _ covered. As a general rule applicable both to foreign countries and the UnitedbuiEg?” Kingdom, space was allotted on the following data:—on the ground floor, eacharea of 24 feet by 24 feet containing 576 feet superficial, was accounted as yieldingexhibiting area of 384 feet, it being considered that 192 feet would be a sufficientallowance for passages. The width of these was determined by experiments inthe building and by experience of those in the British Museum , in the Soho Bazaar,&c. In the gallery, half of each area was deducted for passages, and the otherhalf, or 288 feet, assigned as exhibiting space. If the exhibitor wished to havemore passage-room, then he was obliged to obtain it by deducting it from hisexhibiting space: and every exhibitor, desiring to attend himself, or by hisrepresentative, during the Exhibition, had to deduct the sitting or standing spacefor such attendant from the superficial floor or counter-space allotted to him.

System of A glance at the plan shows the adoption of a simple system of main passages.

p s There is a central avenue 72 feet wide running from east to west, which is

partially used to display both works of art and remarkable specimens of manu-facture, and likewise to afford sitting room ; parallel to this on each of the northand south sides are two uninterrupted passages 8 feet wide, one extending thelength of the building and the other taking the circuit of the walls on each side.Besides the transept there are six main passages 8 feet wide, running from north tosouth . These were established as passages which must not be infringed upon :