ABSTRACT
The monster Conservatory Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, as they call it at Paris is roofed in and glazed a tautology in the present instance. The treasures which it is to receive within its vast and brittle circumference, are pouring in from every quarter. The most distant contributors, the Chinese, are first on the spot, determined not to be too late with their wares. The Commissioners are beginning to feel the pressure of the weight which they have taken upon their shoulders, and the public are speculating upon the chances and mischances which the rashly conceived and rapidly executed design may involve. The interval of time left before the opening of the Exhibition scarcely sufficient to finish the structure and to arrange its contents is too brief to prepare measures of precaution, to guard against contingencies, or to make provision for repairing possible mishaps. If all goes right, the Commissioners will hardly be able to master their task; if anything should go wrong, it may be easily foreseen that they will lose their heads.
