------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced. There are numerous illustrations, which are represented here by their captions and which have been moved slightly to fall in between paragraphs or sections. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. [Illustration: WONDERS of the WORLD. ] THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD: A COMPLETE MUSEUM, DESCRIPTIVE AND PICTORIAL, OF THE WONDERFUL PHENOMENA AND RESULTS OF NATURE, SCIENCE AND ART. ---------- BY JOHN LORAINE ABBOTT. ---------- ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY BILLINGS AND OTHERS. =Hartford:= PUBLISHED BY CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 1856. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Connecticut. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. The _ancients_ boasted of their SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD. These were the Pyramids of Egypt, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Aqueducts of Rome, the Labyrinth on the banks of the Nile, the Pharos of Alexandria, the Walls of Babylon, and the temple of Diana at Ephesus. But the WONDERS known to those of the _present_ day, may be counted by hundreds: wonders of Nature, wonders of Science, wonders of Art, and Miscellaneous wonders; each department full, to overflowing, of themes of the richest instruction and deepest interest.