Sennacherib and that of Xerxes, viz., from about B.C. 700 to B. C. 500.

:

The oldest form of architecture in these Eastern parts was probably that which existed in Babylon but the absence of stone in that country reduced the inhabitants to the necessity of using bricks only, and for the most part bricks burnt by the sun, though sometimes fire-burnt brickwork is also found. The face of the walls so constructed was ornamented with paintings, either on plaster or enamelled on the bricks, whilst the constructive portions and roofs were of wood. All this perishable material has of course disappeared, and nothing now remains even of the Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar but formless mounds of brickwork. In the more northern kingdom of Assyria, the existence of stone and marble secured a wainscoating of sculptured slabs for the palace walls, whilst great winged bulls and giant figures also in stone adorned the portals and façades. The pillars, however, which supported the roofs, and the roofs themselves, were all of wood, generally of cedar, and these having been destroyed by fire or by the lapse of ages, nothing remains to tell of their actual size and form. Yet we are not left entirely to conjecture in respect of them. Susa and Persepolis in Persia the followers and imitators of Nineveh-arose in districts where stone was abundant, and we find that the structures in these cities had not only stone pillars to support the roof, but also stone jambs in the doorways, thus affording an unmistakeable clue to the nature of such portions of building as are wanting to complete our knowledge of the architecture of the Assyrian people.

Its

Pillar from the arcade of the
Court.

As now laid bare to us, the Assyrian style of architecture differs essentially from any other with which we have hitherto been made acquainted. main characteristics are enormously thick mud-brick walls, covered with painted bas-reliefs, and roofs supported internally by slight but elegant wooden columns, ornamented with volutes (spiral mouldings), and the elegant honeysuckle ornament which was afterwards introduced through Ionia into Greece this Assyrian style being, according to some, the

of Greece.

parent of the Ionic order, as the Egyptian was of the Doric order, As far as we can judge from descriptions, the architecture of Jerusalem was almost identical with that of Assyria.

The whole of the lower portion of the exterior front and sides of this Court is taken from the palace at Khorsabad, the great winged

bulls, the giants strangling the lions, and the other features being casts from the objects sent from the site of the palace, to the Louvre, and arranged, as far as circumstances admit, in the relative position of the original objects as they were discovered. The dwarf columns on the walls with the double bull capitals, are modelled from details found at Persepolis and Susa, whilst the cornice and battlements above have been copied from representations found in one of the bas-reliefs at Khorsabad. The painting of the cornice is in strict accordance with the recent discoveries at that place.

Entering through the opening in the side, guarded by colossal bulls, the visitor finds himself in a large hall, in the centre of which stand four great columns copied literally from columns found at Susa and Persepolis. The walls of the hall are covered with

sculpture, cast from originals brought to this country by Mr Layard from his excavations at Nimroud, and deposited in the British Museum. Upon

the sculptures are engraved the arrow-headed inscriptions which have been so recently, and in so remarkable a manner, deciphered by Colonel Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks. Above these is a painting of animals and trees, copied from one found at Khorsabad. The roof crowning the hall represents the form of ceiling usual in that part of Asia,

but is rather a vehicle for the display of the various coloured patterns of Assyrian art than a direct copy of anything found in the Assyrian palaces. In the centre of the great hall the visitor will notice a decorated archway leading to the refreshment room. The very recent discovery of this highly ornamented arch at Khorsabad provessomewhat unexpectedly-that the Assyrian people were far from ignorant of the value of this beautiful feature of architecture. On either side of the main entrance to this Court (from the Nave), are two small apartments, lined also with casts from sculptures at Nimroud, arranged, as nearly as may be, according to their original positions. Above them are paintings of a procession, such as occupied a similar place in the palaces of Assyria. A complete detailed account of this interesting department will be found in Mr. Layard's valuable Handbook to the Nineveh Court.

Having completed his survey of the interior of this Court, the visitor may either enter the refreshment room at the back through the archway, and then make his way to the Nave, or he may at once quit the Court by the central entrance, and turning to the left cross the north end of the Nave, stopping for one moment under the shade of the finest palm-tree in Europe, on his passage to look from end to end of the magnificent structure within which he stands, and to glance at the exterior of the Court he has just quitted, the bright colouring of which-the bold ornaments, the gigantic bulls, and colossal features, present as novel and striking an architectural and decorative display as the mind can imagine.

F

Having crossed the building under the gallery, the visitor will find on his left the north wing: the site appropriated for the extensive collection of Raw Produce, now forming under the hands of Professor Wilson.

RAW PRODUCE AND AGRICULTURAL COLLECTION.

This collection is intended to show, by means of a series of industrial specimens, the natural resources of this and other countries; to teach, through the medium of the eye, the history of the various substances which the earth produces for the use of man; to point out whence and by what means they are obtained, and how they are made subservient to our wants and comforts. The collection has thus a twofold object: First, to display what is termed the raw produce of the world, comprising substances belonging to each of the three kingdoms of nature; and secondly, to exhibit the same produce, when converted by industry into the form of a highly-finished manufacture.

The collection consists of the three following principal divisions : 1. The Soil.

2. The Produce of the Soil.

3. The Economic and Technical Uses to which the Produce is

applied.

The first grand division, "The Soil," includes specimens of all those geological formations comprising what is termed the crust of the earth. From the debris of these rocks is formed what we generally understand by the term soil; but soils, as we are accustomed to see them, are considerably altered by the presence of vegetable matter, the result of the decomposition of plants, and of artificial substances applied as manure. Accordingly, specimens of the natural sorts of various geological formations (or, in fact, the rocks merely in their disintegrated form), together with the same soils altered by cultivation, and samples of the manures which assist in changing their qualities, form an important series in this division. Besides giving rise to the different agricultural soils, the rocks of most formations are interesting as producing objects of economic value. From many such rocks are obtained building stone, slates, tiles, clays used in brick-making, flints used in glass, alum, salt, and other useful articles. These, in the present collection, are illustrated by specimens ; and when any of such substances give rise to a branch of industry, a complete illustrative series is presented to the contemplation of the visitor.

For example: it will be found that in the case of ceramic ware or pottery, the series commences with flint, which is shown firs. in its natural state as it comes from the chalk pits, then calcined and ground, and then re-calcined. Next we see it mixed with clay, afterwards moulded into the form of a vase, and lastly baked. To these different specimens, it will be noted, are added samples of the colour used in the ornamentation of the object.

By far the most important and useful mineral product is coal, of which specimens of different qualities, suited to various purposes, are exhibited from foreign countries, as well as from all the coal fields of Great Britain.

From the rocks of different formations we obtain the ores of metals, the principal of which in this country are iron, lead, copper, and tin. Other metals are found, but in smaller quantities than elsewhere. Metals are not generally found native, but in the form of oxides, sulphides, &c., and must therefore undergo considerable changes before they can be made available. The methods of extracting metals from their ores, as practised in this and other countries, and the various uses to which the metals are applied, are amply illustrated by specimens from all the principal works, and form, perhaps, the most instructive and important feature of the mineral division of the Raw Produce collection.

The second great division, "The Produce of the Soil," resolves itself naturally into two principal groups: viz., vegetable substances, or the direct produce of the soil, and animal substances, the secondary produce of the soil. The chief sub-divisions of these groups are :

a. Substances used as food, such as tea, coffee, fruits (amongst vegetable substances), and meats, gelatine, lard, &c. (amongst animal products).

1

b. Substances used in the arts, manufactures, &c., as flax, hemp, cork, gums, dye-stuffs (in the vegetable kingdom), and wools, silk, horns, skins, oils, &c. (in the animal kingdom).

c

And these are again classed as Home and Foreign products. The third great division, "The Economic or Technical Uses to which the Produce is applied," is a most important feature of this department. The want of a Trades' Museum" in England has long been felt by commercial and scientific men, and until now no attempt at any collection of the kind has been made. The technological illustrations about to be here produced in a great measure supply the desideratum, and present, so to speak, a series of eye lectures that carry with them an amount of information no