The pillars are crowned by groups of sculpture, representing the Honeymoon Travel and Instruction in Traveling, the one modeled by A. C. Rumpf, and the other by Friedrich Schierholz, of Frankfort. The whole edifice is fire proof, scarcely any wood having been used in its erection. The hall as well as the other parts of the building are heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The whole cost of the structure amounted to about $8,500,000.--_Illustrirte Zeitung._ * * * * * THE COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE, PARIS. At the beginning of the year 1881, the committee on finances of the common council of Paris received a petition from the central committee of the syndical chambers asking for the establishment of an official exchange for merchandise and commercial transactions for the especial use of Parisian commerce. To this petition was added a project of organization which proposed the appropriation of the grain market, with a clearing of the approaches. The Paris chamber of commerce had likewise been for a long time contemplating the establishment of a merchandise exchange, and was studying the practical means of organizing it. Called upon to decide, the common council, at its session of May 28, 1881, decreed that an official merchandise exchange for the commerce of Paris should be organized, and that the grain market, or any other place considered favorable by the administration, should be appropriated. Desirous of aiding in carrying out this decree, the chamber of commerce offered its services to the city. It proposed to take upon itself the responsibility of organizing and managing the exchange, and of borrowing the money necessary for converting the grain market into a merchandise exchange, and for clearing the approaches and opening Louvre Street. The study of this project soon became connected, by reason of the proximity of the places, with the one having for its object the enlarging of the central markets and the construction of two pavilions to complete them. It was recognized that it would be of interest to make the appropriation necessary for the enlarging of the markets and to unite the two operations. After many vicissitudes, this project received the approval of the common council. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--EXTERNAL VIEW OF THE COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE OF PARIS.] The contract for the work was given on the 2d of March, 1886, to Mr. Blondel, the well known architect.