Useful ores and their
products, building stones, soils, salt, petroleum--indeed, everything that
man furthers from the dark entrails of the earth, was offered to
inspection.
Besides the mineral resources of the world in their original state, the
displays embraced many devices of mining machinery; such as pumps and
engines used in mining, moving, and delivering ores; apparatuses for
breaking out ore and coal; for crushing and pulverizing; for reducing
metals, for instance the extraction of gold and silver by milling,
lixiviation, and fire; furthermore, boring and drilling tools; grinding
and polishing substances, etc.
The galleries containing especially the metallurgical collection, had the
appearance of the scientific department of a museum combined with the
laboratory and library of a university.
Moreover, there were offered to view many interesting and instructive
working models, various unique exhibits, and thousands of geological
specimens.
Germany, France, and New South Wales were the leading foreign countries in
this building. Great Britain and her numerous colonies occupied the
largest collective space. The brilliant outlay of the Cape Colony included
40,000 rough diamonds, and illustrated the method of polishing them.
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