l of these several groups and classes were united in order
to form a collective exposition for the whole department.

To the above groups there were added the following: Spinning and
rope-making machinery and weaving machinery and materials. The latter
groups included machinery that could also have been placed in the
department of general machinery.

In compliance with a suggestion made by the head of the engineering
service at the fair, all machines and mechanical appliances exhibited in
the Palace of Machinery were distributed, not in accordance with the
nationality of exhibitors, but in accordance with the character and
nature of the machinery.

French manufacturers had nothing to fear from the fact of their
machinery having been placed in the immediate vicinity of other similar
machines made by foreign manufacturers. On the contrary, a closer
contact only resulted in setting off in a better light those particular
qualities that have made France so successful in that branch of industry
on previous occasions.

Outside of the Palace of Machinery there were exhibited in the boiler
buildings five steam generators made by French manufacturers. These
boilers contributed to the generation of the steam required for the
power houses of the fair.

The distribution of exhibits all over the Palace of Machinery has made
it impossible to arrange any decorative devices for the whole group of
French exhibitors.

Another manifestation of the French mechanical industry was found in a
pavilion which was built on ground between two of the main gates leading
to the main entrance to the Hall of Machinery.

The French department of electricity was located on the left of the main
entrance to the Palace of Electricity, occupying an area exceeding 2,000
square meters. In the center of the exhibit there was a space 350 square
meters in area, used as a resting room for visitors. There were to be
seen in a circular arrangement the show cases that made up the
retrospective and modern exhibits sent by the French department of
commerce, industry, post, and telegraph.

The decorative frieze arranged around the room bore, between laurel
wreaths, the name of the most illustrious French physicians or
electricians from the eighteenth century to this date.

The French exhibit in the Palace of Agriculture occupied an area of
nearly 2,800 square meters. It was located in the northern corner and
next to one of the main gates, fronting the French