My guides and companions tripped lightly and fearlessly through the labyrinth of movement till they reached an edifice underneath the dome more elaborate and majestic in its beauty than the noblest of Gothic cathedrals; its towers and spires and pinnacles seemed to aspire to the very stars as we looked up, and yet the loftiest of them failed to reach the zenith of the vast diaphanous roof. Towards this building radiated the moving network of spindles and axles that the flashing water-wheels turned, and out from it passed great transparent tubes of metal, woven together fantastically into a forest of gigantic trees and flowers. Nothing of this arabesque of movement marred the colossal symmetry of all beneath the crystal canopy. The church-like building was the shrine of force. In it we found one of the wise men of the elders seated on a high throne; and beside him stood muscular forms ready to do his behests. He laid his hand on a key-board of innumerable keys, each of which was marked with some hieroglyphic. The attendants scattered to various points along the mosaic floor, and watched the working of the labyrinth of wires and tubes. At the touch of the master the whole edifice vibrated, and a sound as of the most sublime orchestration filled the vault. We saw countless wheels and pistons move and flash beneath their transparent metal sheaths, and along each tube, now lit as with starlight, we could watch the rush of vapours or liquids towards their destination in the various factories and houses in the valley and along the mountain-side.