TUE GREAT EXHIBITION BUILDING.
The Society of Arts held their first meeting for the session on Wednefl- day the 13th; when Mr. Paxton read a paper descriptive of the inven- tion, design, and construction, of the great building in Hyde Park. Nu- merous illustrative drawings were hung round the room; which was filled in all parts, when, at eight o'clock, Lord Overstone took the chair.
Such full information, communicated piecemeal through various chan- nels, is now abroad relative to the details,of the blinding and its gigantic statistics, that it is unnecessary to recapitulate here the numerous points of interest touched upon by Mr. Paxton. One-striking feature of the in- vention, however—its spontaneity, the natural growth with which it has been evolved " from small beginnings," multiplying hundredfold in pro-
'ens but remaining ever simple and uniform. in principle—wax brought forward so clearly in the course of the description as to call for a word of acknowledgment. From the first application of metallic roofs to horti- cultural purposes in the structure of pine-houses, to the' erection of the conservatory at Chatsworth, and thence to the design of the-great build- ing for the exhibition, is traced "a chain of experience pointing alwayi in one direction ; and the latest is found to be but the folltiiving out of the first to its remote consequences. Nature, aided by exit eailperating in the design, seems to have indicated the last step. A specimen of the stupen- dous Victoria Regia lily, which for the first time in this country flowered in Mr. Paxton's lily-house at Chatsworth, was produced ; and the fibrous reticulation at the back of the leaf was pointed out by the lecturer as pre- senting a singularly exact suggestion of the plan of his present under- taking. Not less remarkable than the uniformity of the building seems to be the independence of its various parts, and the sufficiency with which they combine to knit the whole structure together into a stability to defy all chances. Nor should we overlook the completeness with which—aided in rapidity by a machine of Mr.. Paxton's own invention, rewarded some years ago by the Society of Arts—the design of the building is carried into execution by Messrs. Fox and Henderson, the contractors ; to whom the lecturer took occasion to pay a tribute of the warmest praise. It was stated that Mr. Paxton's plan had received the cordial approba- tion of Sir Robert Peel, for its lightness and durability. And it may be interesting to many to know that the view of the designer himself as to the ultimate disposal of his creation, would be its conversion into a per- manent winter-garden, intersected with carriage-drives, and containing two miles of pathway for pedestrians ; and that he looks forward to a day when his system of construction may be recognized as eminently adaptable to many of the ordinary purposes of dwelling-houses.
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