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great measure to deprive them of their value for manufacturing purposes. In order save labour, the useful practice has been to steep the plants till the sap and vegetable juices are thoroughly decomposed, and the fibre can then in most instances, be easily beaten or washed out, but this method, though applicable to a certain extent, in cold climates, where decomposition takes place slowly, is found to be very injurious to the fibre, and to be almost inapplicable in warm climates, where fermentation often passes into putrefaction within three days, and the decomposed sap acquires acid and other properties which not only deprive the fibres of their strength but discolor them in such a way as to render them quite unfit for manufacturing purposes. Most vegetable substances contain besides the fibrous tissue, sap, cellular tissue, and a little coloring matter; the sap consists usually of water, gum, fecula and alkali with occasionally tannin.

"It is from a careful observation of the laws of vegetable growth and decay, that man has been enabled to take advantage of many of the beautiful vegetable products that lie scattered about in luxuriant profusion, and in proportion to the pains he takes to observe the laws of nature, and the judgment he displays in applying this acquired knowledge to scientific or useful purposes, so are the results beneficial to the community at large; one man looks perhaps at the chemistry of vegetation, another merely at the physiology, while a third considers it useless to waste time with such abstruse studies, and enquires merely what is the mercantile value of fibrous substances, and how cheaply they can be brought into the market. Now all these enquiries have their relative importance but unfortunately for India, scientific and practical researches have not been carried far enough, and mere economy of production has been studied, and as far as most of the fibrous plants have been concerned, the results are anything but satisfactory. It would be a useless as it is uncalled for, to enter into a detailed account of the method of cleaning every kind of plant, but some broad and simple principles may be laid down, which have been found by experience to be applicable to the cleaning of most fibres.

The leaves, stalks or barks of plants should be cut when in full vigor and of a bright green color; when old, dry or decayed, they yield coarse and stiff fibre. No more should be cut at a time, than can be cleaned within two days, and the cut plants should not be left long exposed to the sun as the sap dries up, and the process of cleaning them becomes more tedious. The sooner the sap, pulp, and impurities can be removed from the fibre, the cleaner and stronger will it be. The process of rotting plants, or steeping till fermentation takes place, is objectionable in a warm climate, and is now being abandoned even in cold climates, as it discolors the fibres and takes from their strength. Beating, crushing and scraping fibres improves their quality, instead of injuring them, as was at one time supposed. In fact, the more a fresh fibre gets knocked about, provided it is not cut across and rendered too short in the staple, the softer and more pliant does it become. If a plant be well crushed or beaten soon after it is cut, it may be immensed in water for a night and a good deal of the injurious part of the sap will be removed."

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With this rather long extract we shall close our notice of these valuable reports, as Dr. Cleghorn's report on timber, though replete with information, offers little matter for extract, and it would be needless to enter into equal detail with respect to the other branches of the Exhibition. Were it necessary we might derive from the columns devoted to the best of the manufactured articles, and from the words of the reports upon them further proofs of the economic importance of the Exhibition and of the satisfactory nature of this representation of the productive resources of the Peninsula. Our readers will, however, probably agree with us that practically the raw products are the most important, and at any rate enough has been said to enable them to form their own estimate of the amount of good effected, and to direct the attention of those more especially interested in economic enquiries to the pages of the report for further information in those branches in which they may desire to offer it. If we succeed in impressing upon the minds of our readers the same feeling of satisfaction which we have derived from the perusal of the works now before us, our object has been fully attained.

One aspect of the Exhibition alone remains to be noticed, and it is one which well deserves to be brought prominently forward. We refer to the question of expense. It has been stated to us on undoubted authority that the whole expenses of the Exhibition did not exceed but probably fell a little short of 10,000 rupees or £1,000 sterling. No doubt, much might be said to qualify this statement. The support of Government was lent in every way, and thereby great expense was spared. The disinterested labours of the many able and zealous men to whose exertions the Exhibition owes so much cannot of course be taken into account. There were, however, other expenses which by Government assistance were avoided. Thus return carts or baggage animals were placed at the disposal of local committees, so as to save outlay for carriage; the building in which the Exhibition took place was, as we have seen, public property, and smaller savings were practicable in a hundred ways, to diminish the money expenditure.

With every allowance however for all these qualifications of the broad statement, it is not the less satisfactory that so great an amount of good could be effected for so small a positive outlay. Had the expenses been heavy the most zealous advocate of economic progress, and the most ardent believer in the benefit of this mode of diffusing knowledge of our wants and deficiencies, might have hesitated before recommending a repetition of the experiment though fully convinced of the good which the last had effected. As it is, however, no such scruples need interfere with us in calling for a succession of these Exhibitions as soon as we are convinced that they have done good.

Practical men will, however, call for further proofs of the benefit conferred than a mere statement of the success of the Exhibition as a show, and a bare enumeration of the valuable reports prepared by the jurors in the different classes. We concede willingly, that unless practical improvement follow, the benefit of the display is merely temporary, but we contend that the time has not yet come when it is possible to point in detail to great benefit conferred. Too short a time has elapsed since the close of the Exhibition to enable a correct estimate of the impulse which we believe it to have imparted to commercial enterprise, but we are not now as in 1851, without experience in national Exhibitions, and may fairly reason by analogy that as the result is so far satisfactory, further benefits may be expected to follow. In most points the competition was very satisfactory, and a spirit of enquiry has been set on foot which may be expected to lead to important results. Distant provinces have been made acquainted with each others products, and have had an opportunity of observing their own dependencies. In no country is this likely to be fraught with good as in India, as there is no country in which there is so little intercourse between places far apart.

We are not, however, without some positive proofs that good has been already effected. Some instances in which novel products, either natural or partially prepared, have attracted the attention of merchants, have been noticed in the preceding pages, and many others might have been enumerated. The interest of the public has also been evinced by numerous enquiries for the principal kinds of machinery exhibited. Machines for cleaning fibres, crushing and grinding metallic ores and colours, and raising water, mills for grinding grain, heckling mills and carding and weaving machinery, printing presses &c. have been in considerable demand by many to whom those modes of economising manual labour had been hitherto unknown. At the School of Industrial Art, many applications for models, drawings and plans of machinery have been received, as well as large orders for work of various kinds. This Institution has also been the medium, through which many remunerative orders have been sent to parties, who contributed to the Exhibition, and no doubt many more similar orders have been sent direct.

Our position at a distance does not enable us to ascertain more than a few isolated facts of this nature, and we desire to state nothing of which the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. One fact however, is in itself sufficient to prove the estimate, which has been formed on the spot regarding the success of the Exhibition, namely the resolution of the Madras Government to hold another similar Exhibition in February, 1857, at which there is to be no limitation of the articles as to place of production. Next year, therefore,

will witness an Exhibition of the Industrial state of all India. That the Madras Presidency will again contribute largely, we cannot doubt; and if Bombay and Bengal co-operate heartily, as we earnestly trust they may, success is certain. It may be a matter of regret that the Supreme Government has not been sufficiently soon aroused to a sense of the value of the movement at Madras, to take upon itself the organization of the first great Exhibition for British India. The time for this has now, however, gone by, for while a year has been allowed to pass away without a sign in Calcutta the Madras Government has acted, and will we trust meet with zealous support from all parts of India. In sending their consignments to Madras, contributors will have the certainty that the tried staff who organised the last Exhibition, will carry to that of next year, the same zeal and the same industry in addition to the experience then acquired.

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ART. IX.-The History of Persia from the most early period to the present time. By Major General Sir JOHN MALCOLM, G. C. B. K. L. S., Governor of Bombay. A new edition, revised, in two volumes. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.

Purchas, his Pilgrimes. In five Books. London. Printed by William Stansby for HENRIE FETHERSTONE, and are to be sold at his shop in Paul's Church-yard at the signe of the Rose, 1625. Sir Anthony Sherley, his Relation of his Travels into Persia, the Dangers and Distresses which befel him in his Passage, both by Sea and Land and his strange and unexpected Deliverances, his magnificent entertainment in Persia, his honorable imployment there, hence as Embassadour to the Princes of Christendome, &c. &c. London. Printed for Nathaniel Butler and Joseph Bagpet, 1613. The Three Brothers, or the Travels and Adventures of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert and Sir Thomas Sherley, in Persia, Russia, Turkey, Spain, &c. London, 1825.

Ar the present day when we are enabled to look with justifiable pride and satisfaction upon a magnificent Eastern empire, and on an array of more than 200,000 oriental troops, armed and disciplined on the European model by British officers and enlisted under the banner of England, it may not be uninteresting to cast a retrospective glance at the earliest efforts made by our countrymen two and a half centuries ago to establish a military and political footing in the East, and to discipline the Persian troops with the view of enabling them to cope with the great enemy of Western Europe in that day,-albeit our present good ally, the Sultan of Turkey, the Soldan, Grand Turk, or Ottoman, as he was then variously designated.

The record of these adventures, as far as they can be traced, are strange and startling even for that romantic period of their occurrence, the Elizabethan era; but unfortunately we are only enabled to pick out details of these interesting proceedings, by bits and snatches, just sufficient to tantalize us with the conviction of the valuable biographical memoirs that have been lost to us. Purchas is our grand stand by; numerous detached notices of the heroes of our narrative, the Sherley Brothers, being scattered throughout his quaint old volumes, whilst Harkluyt gives an account of an early expedition of one of them to the West Indies.

The last work quoted at the head of our article, professes to give a corrected narrative of the life and adventures of the fraternal triad, but unfortunately the fulfillment falls very short of the promise, as it does not even contain the personal narrative

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