 He was a member of the international juries at the World's Fairs in Philadelphia and Atlanta, was United States commissioner to the World's Fair in Paris in 1878, and was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French government in recognition for his services at the last-named fair.He edited the "Reports" of the Paris Exposition, to which he contributed chapters on “Agricultural Implements” and “Clocks and Watches.” Besides many official reports, he wrote the "American Mechanical Dictionary" (3 vol., 1876), the "New Mechanical Dictionary" (Boston, 1884), and “A Study of the Savage Weapons at the Centennial Exhibition” (in the Smithsonian Institution's "Annual Report" for 1879, p. 213, Washington, 1880).He compiled "A Library of Poetry and Song" (New York, 1870; revised ed., 1876).