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derful still, a fire the portion of which answering to our fuel is everlasting, that is to say, would last a lifetime. M. Bourbonnel's invention comprehends both stove and fuel. The fires could be on the minutest scale or on the largest. They would be used for heating a baby's food or for roasting an ox. Being lighted instantaneously, they will be a great economy of time. M. Bourbonnel at once patented his invention, and a body of engineers and savants from Paris visited him and pronounced his discovery one of the most remarkable of the age. He has had several offers for the purchase of the patent in France, but wants to sell it in England, his own occupation being in another line. Any English gentleman or firm wishing to see his fires and stoves could do so by writing to him a day or two beforehand. His address is M. Bourbonnel, Dijon. .. I have seen these fires and stoves. There is no mistake about the matter. It is as

the depth, while in the polar seas it increases with the depth.-Journal Pour Tous.

VARIETIES.

THE CASTLE OF CHILLON.-The renowned Castle of Chillon stands upon an isolated rock close to the road by the side of the lake, surrounded by deep water, crossed by a covered wooden bridge of most picturesque appearance. It was built in 1238 by Amadeus IV. of Savoy, and is an admirable specimen of the manytowered mediæval structures. It was used as a State prison, unpleasantly known to many of the early Reformers; but the famous Bonnivard, Prior of St. Victor, in Geneva, who was immured in the castle from 1530 to 1536, is generally received as Byron's "Prisoner of Chillon." It appears that when Byron wrote that famous poem he was describing an imaginary

clear as possible that here we have a perpetual victim, and was not acquainted with the real story of Bonnivard, though he afterwards con. nected his name with it in a sonnet in which he says:

and economical source of fuel. Two hundred years ago the discoverer would have surely been burnt as a wizard."

COLOR OF THE OCEAN.-It is a commonly observed fact that the usual color of the ocean is a bluish green, of a darker tint at a distance from land, and clearer toward the shores. According to Dr. Scoresby, the hue of the Greenland sea varies from ultramarine blue to olive green, and from the purest transparency to great opacity. The surface of the Mediterranean, in its upper part, is said to have, at times, a purple tint. In the Gulf of Guinea the sea sometimes appears white; about the Maldive islands black; and near California it has a reddish appearance. Various causes must of course co-operate to produce this diversity of tint. The prevailing blue color is generally ascribed to the greater refragibility of the blue rays of light, which, by reason of that property, pass in greatest abundance through the water. The other colors are ascribed to the existence of vast numbers of minute animalcule-to marine vegetables at or near the surface-to the color of the soil, the infusion of earthy substances-and very often the tint is modified by the aspect of the sky. The phosphorescent or slimy appearance of the ocean, which is a common phenomenon, is also ascribed to animalculæ and to semiputrescent matter diffused through the water. The temperature of the ocean also exhibits some peculiar and interesting phenomena. Within the tropics the mean temperature is about 80° F., and generally ranges between 77° and 84°. At these depths the temperature is probably nearly the same under every latitude. In the torrid zone it is found to diminish with

Chillon thy prison is a holy place,

And thy sad floorjan altar; for 'twas trod
Until his very steps have left a trace
Worn, as if the cold pavement were a sod,
By Bonnivard! May none these marks efface!
For they appeal from tyranny to God!

In those days the Pays de Vaud belonged to Savoy, and Bonnivard, having made himself obnoxious to the reigning duke, was shut up by him in a dungeon of Chillon. It was only in 1536 that the Swiss wrested the country from Charles III. of Savoy. Chillon was the last place to yield; but, besieged by a Bernese army on the land side, and attacked by Genevese galleys from the lake, it was compelled to surrender. Bonnivard was delivered, and returned to Geneva, where he avowed his adherence to Protestantism, but dissuaded its supporters from introducing it rashly. During his captivity Geneva had become a Protestant republic, instead of being dependent on the Dukes of Savoy. The castle is now used as a magazine for military stores, and the interior of the building is well preserved. It has become almost a place of pilgrimage for visitors from every part of the world, who, Byron in hand, go to study every detail connected with the famous prisoner. After all, to judge by the direful legends of the place, supported by the outward and visible signs shown daily to strangers, Bonnivard ought to have thought himself a very lucky fellow to have endured his six years' captivity without loss of life or limb. For here is to be seen the potence, black with age, from which prisoners were hung; and here is the "terrible hole in the wall" through which their bodies were cast into the lake, 500

feet in depth; here is a torture-chamber, with a wooden pillar scored by hot irons; and here is the oubliette, a frightful place-a trap-door which shut out the light, and then a small spiral staircase of three steps, where the prisoner found no fourth step, and was precipitated to a But depth of eighty feet upon large knives. Bonnivard lived for twenty-four years after his experience of Chillon, and was twice married.-Picturesque Europe.

BLUSHING AND BLANCHING.-Blushing is occasioned by sudden dilatation of the small blood-vessels, which form a fine network beneath the skin and when they admit an increased volume of red blood cause the surface to appear suffused with color. Blanching is the opposite state, in which the vessels contract and squeeze out their blood, so that the skin is seen of its bloodless hue. The change effected in the size of the vessels is brought about by an instantaneous action of the nervous system. This action may be induced by a thought, or, unconsciously, by the operation of impressions producing the phenomenon habitually. In a word, blushing may become a habit, and is then beyond the control of the will, except in so far as the will can generally, if not always, conquer any habit. It is almost always useless, and certainly seldom worth while, to strive to cure a habit of this class directly. The most promising course is to try to establish a new habit which shall destroy the one it is desired to remedy. For example, if blushing is, as generally happens, associated with self-consciousness, we must establish the sway of the will over that part of the nervous system which controls the size of the vessels, by calling up a feeling opposed to self-consciousness. through the mind these nerves are influenced. Then influence them in a contrary direction by antagonizing the emotion associated with blanching! Thus if the feeling which causes the blushing be expressible by the thought, "Here am I in a false and humiliating position;" oppose or, still better, anticipate and prevent, that thought by thinking, "There are you daring to pity or feel contempt for another." Avoid going on to think who that "other" is, because the aim must be to eliminate self. Constitute yourself the champion of some one, any one, and everybody, who may be pitied, and the ever-zealous and indignant foe of those who presume to pity. Most persons who blush with self-consciousness blanch with anger, and this artificial state of mock anger will soon blanch the face enough to prevent the blush. It only requires practice in the control of the emotions and the production of particular states at will-the sort of expertness acquired by actors and actresses-to secure control of these surface phenomena.

It is

Blushing and blanching are antagonistic states, and may be employed to counteract each other, control of the physical state of the blood-vessels being obtained through the emotions with which they are associated.-Lancet.

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HOW WE CATCH COLD?-This pertinent question is just now engaging attention. There is another question which should be answered first-namely, What is cold? The old idea of a "chill" is, perhaps, nearer the truth than the modern notion of a "cold." The hypothesis would seem to be that a cold" is something more than a cold, because, it is said, "You do not catch cold unless you are cold." The fact is there are probably as many diverse occurrences grouped and confounded under the generic title of cold-catching as diseases covered by that popular term fever, which is made to comprise every state in which the pulse is quickened and the temperature raised. By a parallel process of reasoning "cold" ought to be limited to cases in which the phenomena are those of a "chill." When a person" catches cold" either of several morbid accidents may occur (1) He may have such a chill of the surface as shall drive the blood in on the internal organs and hamper some weak, or disorder and influence some diseased, viscus; (2) the cold may so impinge on the superficial nerves that serious disturbance of the system will ensue and a morbid state be set up; (3) the current of air which causes the cold may in fact be laden with the propagating "germs" of disease; or (4) the vitality of the organism as a whole, or of some one or more of its parts, may be so depressed by a sudden abstraction of heat that recovery may be impossible, or a severe and mischievous reaction ensue. The philosophy of prevention is obviously to preserve the natural and healthy action of the organism as a whole, and of the surface in particular, while habituating the skin to bear severe alternations of temperature by judicious exposure, and natural stimulation by pure air and clean water, and orderly habits of hygiene and health.-Lancet.

BARREN DAYS.

WHAT of these barren days, which bring no flowers
To gladden with fair tints and odors sweet,
No fruits, that with their virgin bloom entreat
Kisses from rose-red lips, that in dim bowers
Pout with a thirsty longing? Summer showers
Softly but vainly fall about my feet;
The air is languid with the summer heat,
That warms in vain,-what of these barren hours?
I know not; I can wait, nor haste to know;
The daily vision serves the daily need.
It may be, some revealing hour shall show
That while my sad, sick heart did inly bleed,
Because no blossom came nor fruit did grow,
An angel hand had sowed celestial seed.

JAMES ASHCROFT NOBLE.

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