Here, the mechanical engineer was enabled to make studies of incalculable profit for his professional career; and even the lay mind received a vast amount of information.
We abandoned the Machinery Hall at its northern extremity, and repaired to the most magnificent structure on the Exposition Grounds. The exterior of the ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, so rich in architectural treatment, had compelled our admiration, to be sure; but the interior features even exceeded it in splendor. The four mammoth entrances were beautifully adorned by statuaries of emblematic character. There exist but few edifices of similar character, whose ornamentations rival those of its interior dome, which rose 200 feet from the floor.
The four corner pavilions, four stories high, contained offices for the various departments of the Administration; Board and Committee rooms; the Postoffice; a Bank, etc.
An exhibit, manifesting the unrivaled wealth of the republic, and placed in the center of the rotunda on the first floor was an excellent reproduction of the Capitol in Washington in miniature, erected of silver coins: indeed a master-piece. I shall leave it to the reader to find out how many of the half dollar-pieces were needed for the construction of this unique building, contributed by the U.S. Government. To our regret Mr. George R. Davis, Director-General of the Columbian exposition, whom we intended to call upon, was absent. So we determined to have the ELECTRICITY BUILDING next in our programme.
The sundry appliances of electricity dispersed in all parts of the grounds, gave us already a conception of the incomparable rapidity with which it has developed—both as an industry and science. The intramural railway demonstrated the latest application of electric motor power to elevated railroads.
The illumination of the grounds and buildings showed the marvelous progress achieved in electric lighting, and the expertness in obtaining brilliant spectacular effects. The electric launches on the lagoons manifested the usage of electricity for water-transportation.
All these practical exhibits represented purely commercial features, whereas the displays in the building—we just had entered—offered a field of relevations as regards the extraordinary accomplishments in the electrical science. They embraced all the improvements from the earlier inventions to the latest marvels.
In the southern portion of the main floor, the United States showed various devices for creating the three economic commodities—light, heat, and power.
With great interest we inspected the numerous apparatuses illustrating the phenomena and laws of electricity—the instruments for electrical measurements—the electric batteries—and the machines for producing electrical currents by mechanical power. How transmission and regulation of these currents are effected, could be studied by a vast number of devices.
A very interesting group constituted the electric motors and their manifold applications as to street and other railways; to mining, to elevators, pumps, printing presses, and domestic appliances.