The French Exhibition was closed on Monday, and has left
behind it in France a certain feeling of disappointment. Though the crowds which flocked to it were enormous, it has not been a financial success, and it has not been to the degree expected the cynosure of the world's eyes. The great Kings did not go, even the Czar abstaining, the English thought their Queen insulted and stayed away, while the Americans were much preoccupied with their quadrennial election. The collections of objects were very wonderful, but the Press in many countries had more pressing things to discuss, and there was a marked falling off in the long descriptions and essays on special objects which have marked most of these great shows. It seems probable, therefore, that they will not become decennial, which, though a relief in some ways, will probably prove something of a discouragement to invention. The experts learnt a good deal, if the public did not, from these vast collections, and it is they rather than the public who push forward the heavy machine of industrial civilisation.
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