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date worthy of the chair. This is what is called preaching for one's saint. But for the chair of M. Guizot there was a real duel in four combats. On the one side the Republic, on the other the Empire and Orleanism; M. Jules Simon, formerly Minister of Public Instruction under the governments of the 4th September and of M. Thiers, and M. Dumas, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences and Senator of the Empire. The struggle was very hot. Each required only one vote to pass to the Immortality of the Quarantaine. If M. Dumas had not had Alexandre Dumas against him, he would have been safe enough; but the author of The Demi-Monde' thought that there were enough Dumases there already. The duel is postponed for six months. About that time-for things do not go rapidly at the Academy-M. Lemoinne will have had his green embroidered coat made. People will say, of course, 'L'habit ne fait pas Lemoinne.' His rivals have already safd that he had better put on a harlequin's coat to represent the different opinions which he has defended."

...

MR. RUSKIN has fulfilled the promise made in "Fors Clavigera," and opened a shop in London for the sale of pure tea to all who care to have the article in an unadulterated state. The Duchess of Edinburgh is an accomplished linguist. It is said that at the czar's court she was able to speak with all the foreign embassadors, except the Turkish, in their own language. . . Charles Desilver & Sons, of Philadelphia, announce a new edition of Sanderson's "Biographies of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence," revised and edited by the Hon. Robert T. Conrad. Lord Houghton, better known here, perhaps, as Monckton Milnes, expects to pay us a visit early in the autumn. . . . Mr. George Ripley has had the degree of LL. D. conferred upon him by the University of Michigan-a well-deserved compliment. . . . Speaking of Captain Lawson's "Wanderings in the Interior of New Guinea," about the authenticity of which a controversy has been raging in London recently, the Spectator says: "The charm of this strange narrative is very great. If New Guinea, according to Captain Lawson, be not a mirage, or such a dream as the hasheesheater summons up at will, it must be an earthly paradise, slightly tempered by natives, serperts, and 'yagi' spiders." . . . The French papers announce that Prince Richard von Metternich is preparing his father's memoirs for publication. . . . The Athenæum has discovered that the American publishers of General Sherman's "Memoirs " paid "the enormous sum of seventy-three thousand dollars for the copyright.". . . Mr. Trevelyan's "Life of Lord Macaulay," to be published shortly in London, will be much more social than political in character. . . . It is whispered that, in spite of assertions to the contrary, Sir Arthur Helps has left behind him a diary which, though not "official," contains many singular political revelations, and that it will be published about the beginning of next winter. . . John Bright is reported to be writing his autobiography. . . . The Athenæum says that in "Miss Angel" Miss Thackeray has "given us in the guise of a story a most interesting picture of that Georgian time which her father appreciated so well, and which, in spite of faults, both moral and political, produced, on the whole, the best specimens of our race which England has seen for the last two centuries. We cannot hear too much of the age which produced Johnson and Reynolds." In a long review of Parkman's "Old Régime

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in Canada," the Spectator says: "The book bears marks of very great industry and research upon the part of Mr. Parkman; he appears to have consulted every available original document in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at Paris and elsewhere, and he has undoubtedly given to the world a great mass of facts of the most interesting kind relating to the French administration of Canada, which would probably have otherwise long remained hidden in dusty strong boxes. has given any one who cares any thing at all about the colonies an opportunity of forming his own opinion upon the methods by which the monarchical administration of France 'strove to make good its hold, why it achieved a certain kind of success, and why it failed at last.' But with all Mr. Parkman's industry and with all the facts which he spreads before us, he is unable to paint an harmonious historical picture. The work contains a vast amount of material, but it lies before us in disjointed masses, and instead of a consecutive story, arranged in a clear, chronological order, with certain points standing well out, based upon symmetrically arranged facts, we have a pile of very interesting information, but not a properly moulded historical work. Therefore, valuable as this book undoubtedly is, we cannot praise its form."

THER

From Abroad.

OUR PARIS LETTER.

of sense about the sums they ought to ask for their works, particularly when an American prices them. Not an unfledged artist, not a debutant who has achieved his first upward step by gaining admission to the Salon, but imagines that he would do well to compete, if not with Meissonier, and Cabanel, and Gérôme, at least with Merle and Bouguereau, in the matter of prices though in nothing else. An American gentleman one day while strolling through the Salon took a fancy to a small picture by a totally unknown artist; the work was one of no particular merit, but he was pleased with the subject, and thought he would like to become its possessor. He consulted a friend of some art-experience as to its probable price, and was told that four thousand franes (eight hundred dollars) would be more than its value. He wrote, therefore, to the artist about it, and received the answer that twenty thousand francs (four thousand dollars) was the price of the picture. That reply at once and definitely closed all negotiations, and the artist will probably have the pleasure of keeping his picture in his studio for some time to come. The Figaro gives the following dialogue of two artists strolling through the exhibition. One asks of the other:

"How are you getting along?'

"Oh, very well,' is the answer. 'I ask now twelve thousand francs'" (twenty-four hundred dollars) "for a head, and twenty thousand" (four thousand dollars) "for a full-length portrait.'

"Those are my prices also.' 'They walk on a little farther. "How many orders have you got at those prices?'

"Not one.

And you?'

"Not one either.'"

It is said that the elder artists of France are responsible for these absurd prices, as they give insidious and of course bad advice to the rising members of the profession, wishing to avoid competition. I have been told that a foreign rival was once adroitly extinguished by the confraternity in the following manner: A young and gifted Belgian artist was engaged, during the sunny days of the empire, in painting a view of the Salle d'Apollon in the Louvre. His work attracted the attention of the Duke de Morny, who not only ordered a picture from him, but recommended him to the notice of the empress, who gave him a commission for two pictures, for which he was to fix his own price. The work finished, he consulted some of his artist friends in Paris as to the price he ought to ask. A distinguished Italian portrait-painter, then residing in Paris, advised him to fix no sum, but to leave the amount to the well-known generosity of his imperial patroness, "Nonsense!" cried his French advisers; "charge high for your pictures, it is the government that pays, and governments are always expected to pay largely." In an evil hour he followed the advice of his French counselors. The sum that he demanded was far beyond the value of such paintings from so youthful and comparatively inexperienced a hand, and the empress, disgusted at his apparent rapacity, never gave him another order.

Salon has closed at last, and we are left lamenting. Never again shall we set eyes upon the greater part of the pictures exhibited there, and it was with an actual feeling of sadness that I went to take one last long, lingering farewell look at my favorites. All this week and the next will be devoted to the removal of the paintings, and then the Palais d'Industrie will be fitted up for the great Exhibition of Fluvial and Maritime Industries, which is to open on the 10th of July and remain open till November. Looking back on the glories of the vanished Salon, one recalls many of the witticisms which the pictures called forth from among the more facetious of the critics. Thus Bouguereau's lovely "Holy Family" was dubbed "a Raphael varnished with cold cream;" Brion's "Baptism" Was styled "a remarkably well-painted satin coverlet, with infantile accessories;" Munkacsy's "Harem Scene" "should have had the lantern in the centre lighted to let the spectators see what was going on," etc., etc. The most popular picture with Americans has undoubtedly been the aforesaid "Holy Family." Had it not become the property of the lucky proprietor of the Bon Marché, M. Aristide Boucicault, before the exhibition opened, it would undoubtedly have speedily found its way to our shores. The finest picture in the Salon was probably the noble portrait of Madame Pasca, by Bonnet, though the vigor and intelligence displayed in the "Respha" of George Becker have met with due appreciation. The painter of this painful, powerful, and gigantic picture is said to be the smallest artist in Paris, being scarcely taller than a boy of twelve A monument to the memory of Théophile years of age. The American artists made a Gautier is to be inaugurated in the Cemetery remarkably creditable display this year, Mr. of Montmartre, on Thursday next. This monuWylie's two fine pictures being much com- ment, the work of one of the friends of the de| mended, as were also the contributions of ceased poet, M. Godebski, a Russian sculptor, Messrs. Knight and Healy. The panic in is composed of a sarcophagus in Carrara marAmerica will probably have the effect of low-ble, on which is placed a statue of Poetry, ering the prices of pictures as well as of other | leaning on a medallion portrait of Gautier, articles of luxury. It is a strange fact that the rising artists over bere have not one particle

which is said to be a striking resemblance. The monument was gotten up by a subscrip

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tion among the personal friends of the poet, M. Godebski having contributed his work, and M. Drevet, the architect who presided at the placing of it (a task, by-the-way, of no little difficulty, as the space was restricted and unfavorably situated), having also refused to charge for his services. A monument to Jules Janin, by the same sculptor, is to be inaugurated in the Cemetery of Montparnasse on the 28th of this month.

A commemorative service for the repose of the soul of the unfortunate Emperor Maximilian was celebrated on Saturday last, in the Church of St. Augustine, the Bonapartist church par excellence. Some eighty persons only were present, among whom were several Mexicans. One old woman, who had taken up her station in one of the side-chapels, was mach affected, and wept profusely. That was the only evidence of emotion displayed by my one there. As a rule, the congregation ooked bored, and very much as if they would prefer a drive in the Bois to thus honoring the memory of that royal victim to imperial policy.

Ernest Legouvé has just published in the Temps a curious article about Mademoiselle Rachel and his great play of " Adrienne LecouTrear," which, it will be remembered, he wrote in collaboration with Scribe. He says: **Adrienne Lecouvreur' had been composed for Mademoiselle Rachel at her own request, I might even say in answer to her prayer. Shakespeare has written, Frailty, thy name is woman,' and the name of Mademoiselle Rachel Tas variableness. Changeable by nature and by imagination, she was still more so by weakbess; she consulted everybody, and everybody Lad some influence over her. The raillery of eritic would suffice to disenchant her with Be idea which had most charmed her a mozent before, and so it occurred with Adrie. Her advisers terrified her respecting this excursion into the domains of the romanSe drama. What! Hermione and Phèdre onsent to speak in prose, the daughter of Corneille and Racine become the goddaughter M. Scribe? It would be a profanation.' "The day of the reading before the compaty, Mademoiselle Rachel arrived, resolved to fuse her role. Scribe took his manuscript, and commenced the reading, while I looked c. buried in a vast arm-chair. Then was Tere unfolded before me a double comedy, stly, ours, and secondly, that which was dently taking place in the hearts of the socie

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Vaguely instructed as to the secret intrations of their illustrious comrade, they ni themselves in a very delicate position. A drama, written for Mademoiselle Rachel, which Mademoiselle Rachel would refuse play, might become a grave subject of diffiities for the theatre, and even the cause of a awsuit if it were received by the committee. Therefore, the committee studied the reading

Adrienne' from the countenance of Mademoiselle Rachel. As that countenance reated perfectly impassible, they too reained impassible. Throughout these five g acts she never smiled, she never apved, she never applauded; they neither ed, approved, nor applauded. So comte was the general immobility that Scribe, nking that he saw one of our judges on the nt of going to sleep, interrupted the reading say, 'Pray, do not put yourself out on my int, I beg of you.' The sociétaire proed vigorously against the accusation." Of course the piece was refused. The next y three different managers came to treat for work. One of them insisted upon having saying, "My leading lady has never yet

had a death-scene on the stage, and she would be so glad to die by poison!" But notwithstanding this touching appeal, Scribe resolved to return his play, in the hope that the great actress, for which it had been especially composed, might yet consent to appear in it. She did consent, after the piece had been a second time read before the committee, this time by Legouvé instead of Scribe, and from that time forward throughout all the rehearsals, she was the most patient and devoted of interpreters and collaborators. Legouvé relates the following incident: "A short time before the first representation, we had an evening rehearsal. Scribe, detained at the Opera by the rehearsals of Le Prophète,' did not come. The first four acts brought us to eleven o'clock; everybody left except Mademoiselle Rachel, M. Regnier, M. Maillart, and myself. Suddenly, Mademoiselle Rachel said to me: 'We are masters of the theatre now, suppose we try that fifth act which we have not yet rehearsed? I have studied it by myself for three days past, and I should like to learn the effects of my studies.' We descended on the stage, the gas-jets and the foot-lights were extinguished, our only light was a smoky little oil-lamp beside the prompter's box, wherein there was no prompter; the only spectators were the chief fireman asleep on a chair between the two side-scenes, and I myself, seated in the orchestra. From the very beginning, I was thrilled to the heart by the accents of Mademoiselle Rachel. Never before had I seen her so simple, so true to nature, so powerfully tragic. The gleams of the smoky lamp cast weird pallors upon her countenance, and the vast hollow of the empty auditorium lent a strange and funereal sonority to her voice. The act ended, we returned to the green-room. Passing before a mirror, I was struck with my paleness, and I was still more struck on perceiving that M. Regnier and M. Maillart were as pale as I. As to Mademoiselle Rachel, who sat silently apart, shaken with little nervous tremors, she wiped away a few tears that still flowed from her eyes. I went to her, and for my sole eulogium pointed out to her the agitated countenances of her comrades; then, taking her hand, I said:

"My dear friend, you played that fifth act as you will never again play it in all your life.' "That is true,' she answered, and do you know why?'

"Yes; it was because there was no one present to applaud you, so that you did not think of the effect to be produced; and thus, in your own eyes, you became the unhappy Adrienne, dying at night in the arms of her two friends.'

"She remained silent for a moment, and then she replied:

"You are mistaken, it was not thus at all. There took place within me a far stranger phenomenon: it was not for Adrienne that I wept, but for myself. Something-I know not what -told me suddenly that I was destined to die young like her. It seemed to me that I was in my own room, that my last hour had come, and that I was looking on at my own deathagony, and when at the words "Farewell, O triumphs of the stage !-farewell, intoxications of the art that I have loved!" you saw me shed real tears, it was because I thought with despair that time would efface all vestige of my genius, and that soon there would remain nothing of that which was once Rachel.'"

This presentiment of early death haunted the great actress all through her brilliant career. Legouvé relates the following strange incident:

"When Mademoiselle Rachel learned the

death of her young sister Rebecca, her grief was great, for her family affections were very strong. But suddenly, on the third day, a strange terror became mingled with her sorrow. She remembered that her own name also was Rebecca, and that she had only taken that of Rachel on the occasion of her debut at the Gymnase, and at the request of M. Poyison. Seized with an insane affright, she cried, 'It is I who am Rebecca it is I who am dead!' Alas! she was not far wrong. A few years later she died like her sister, and of the same disease as her sister!"

Legouvé went to visit her during her last illness; she was unable to receive him, but she wrote him a charming letter of thanks, which terminated with these words:

"No one can better delineate female characters than yourself. Promise to write me a piece for my rentrée."

Three days later she was dead.

Mademoiselle Aimée, "the Schneider of America," as some one once called her, has returned home (it is said with a fortune of sixty thousand dollars) from her transatlantic trip. She has bought a handsome residence at Nogent-sur-Marne, and gave her house-warming festival the other day. She is engaged at the Variétés for next season, and will make her rentrée in her favorite rôle of Fiorella in "Les Brigands." LUCY II. HOOPER.

OUR LONDON LETTER.

MR. RUSKIN-our greatest art-critic at one time, though, I am afraid, full of eccentricity now-has come forward as Miss Thompson's champion; Miss Thompson of "Roll-Call" fame I mean, of course. In a little volume which he has just published-" Notes on some of the Principal Pictures exhibited in the Rooms of the Royal Academy, 1875"-be speaks most enthusiastically of that young lady's "Quatre-Bras," around which, by-theway, there is still a motley crowd all day long at the Academy. "I never," says Mr. Ruskin (who but the other day, let me whisper, started a shop here for the sale of unadulterated tea), "approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss Thompson's, partly because I have always said that no woman could paint, and, secondly, because I thought what the public made such a fuss about must be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's work, this," he goes on;

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no doubt of it, and the first pre-Raphaelite picture of battle we have had, profoundly interesting, and showing all manner of illustrative and realistic faculty." Again: "The sky is the most tenderly painted and with the truest outlines of cloud of all in the exhibition; and the terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the extreme right, where the cuirassier is catching round the neck of his horse as he falls, and the convulsed fallen horse just seen through the smoke below, is wrought, through all the truth of its frantic passion, with gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of since Turner's death." A warm tribute, surely! What will Miss Thompson's deriders-and they are many-say now?

Mr. Gye has-or, at least, thinks he hasgot another prize; let us hope a second Zare Thalberg. This time she is a young Chicago lady, who has just entered into a three-years' engagement with him, and who is forthwith to be put under the best masters. This I know, and this is about all I know, for Mr. Gye always keeps his engagements remarkably close; indeed, he has recently had a quar

rel with the Athenæum because it has been chronicling some of them without his authorization. Hence it is that I cannot give you the name of the young lady; but probably some of your readers may be able to guess.

selle Chapuy, a young lady who for some time studied in Paris as an actress. She played Violetta in Verdi's "Traviata," and was received with remarkable enthusiasm. Four times was she called before the curtain after the first act. Yet after all she is far from faultless. Her voice is flexible and powerful, it is true; she has, moreover, a thoroughly good ear for time and tune; yet she lacks feeling. Her master, whoever he may have been, was obviously more bent on teaching her to sing correctly than with heart.

One of our best writers of lyrical verses, Guy Roslyn, the younger brother, I may tell you, of Mr. Joseph Hatton, the author of "The Tallants of Barton," and the editor and pro

The new book announcements are few; authors and readers and even publishers-for after all publishers are human-are thinking more of the approaching holidays than of writing, reading, or issuing. However, a work by Mr. George Henry Lewes-"Philosopher Lewes ""On Actors and the Art of Acting," is in the press; so is Mr. Arthur Arnold's translation of his friend Señor Castelar's "Life of Byron." Mr. Arnold, I should mention here, is on the point of retiring from the editorship of the little Echo; his brother,prietor of the Hornet, is about to issue his first Mr. Edwin Arnold, still sticks to the redacteur-ship of the Telegraph. A new novel, "The Boudoir Cabal," by the author of "Young Brown," a very clever story which ran through one of our magazines, is also in the press, and-that is almost all.

volume. It will be called "Village Verses," and will include the many pleasing little poems he has written in the various magazines.

One of the funniest, and therefore most absurd, farces I have seen for a long time has been produced at the Adelphi, where Mr. Hal

Mrs. Craik, the author of "John Halifax," has just given us, through Messrs. Daldy, Is-liday's version of "Nicholas Nickleby" is bister & Co., a volume of "Sermons out of Church." It is, I need hardly say, full of earnest and eloquent writing. The "sermons "" are six in number, and are entitled "What is Self-Sacrifice?" "Our Often Infirmities," "How to train up a Parent in the Way he should go," "Benevolence-or Beneficence," "My Brother's Keeper," and "Gather up the Fragments." Even when Mrs. Craik talks in platitudes, and she does not often do that, the neatness of her phraseology makes them seemingly new.

The farewell dinner to Mr. Barry Sullivan will be a grand affair. The great tragedian, for a fine actor he is, is a general favorite not only with the members of his own profession, but with authors and artists as well. Consequently, there is sure to be a goodly turn-out in his honor. The banquet will, most proba- | bly, take place at the Alexandra Palace, where Mr. Sothern and her majesty's opera-company have been performing, and the Earl of Dunraven, an intimate friend of Mr. Sullivan, will preside.

Mr. Carlyle is still hale and hearty, and as antagonistic to things as they are as ever. Dr. Kenealey and the electors of Stoke form one of his favorite subjects of conversation. The venerable philosopher holds that the irrepressible doctor's return to Parliament furnishes a

still running. It is by Mr. Martin Becker. Here is the plot, condensed, like Australian meat: "An eccentric old gentleman, Mr. Vanderpump, having, as well as his memory serves him, secreted four thousand pounds in banknotes of one thousand pounds each in a pair of old slippers, of all places in the world, finds to his horror that somebody has stolen, lost, or mislaid the articles supposed to be thus richly lined, and, in this terrible extremity, offers his well-dowered daughter in marriage to whichever of her many suitors may succeed in finding the missing treasure. The stage is soon bestrewn with all manner of second-hand slippers, saving only the pair that is required; subsequently, Mr. Vanderpump gets into a towering passion in the consulting-room of a dentist, who, to keep him quiet, makes him inhale the laughing-gas used for the purposes of painless dentistry. It is while under this influence that the old gentleman kicks off his boots, when inside them are found the missing notes. Miss Vanderpump marries the dentist, and all ends happily." As old Vanderpump, Mr. Fawn is amazingly mirth-provoking. I verily believe he could make even our prime-minister laugh!

WILL WILLIAMS.

sand-blast might more properly be ranked as # a discovery, since the inventor has merely adapted to the arts a process which Nature has long since used, and by which she has carved out from rocks and mountain-sides those massive monuments and grotesque "reliefs" which are a feature of our Western wonder-land.

Through the courtesy of Mr. Gorham Blake, general agent for the United States, we have been permitted to allow our artist to secure drawings of the latest and most improved forms of sand-blast machines, and thus are enabled to give to our readers the first authorized illustration of them. De

ferring till a second paper all reference to the work of the sand-blast, particularly as that work pertains to the cutting and engrav ing of glass, we shall limit ourselves at present to a brief general notice of the principle upon which the success of the process depends, and a description of the devices by which these principles are applied.

In its simplest conceivable form the sandblast machine may be described as nothing more than a box containing sifted quartz-sand fastened upon an elevated shelf, and from the bottom of which depends a tube, through which the sand may be conducted and allowed to fall on the substance to be carved out or engraved. This substance which is to be acted upon must, however, belong to that class generally known as brittle, such as glass or stone, though hard woods are at times used, and also the polished surfaces of softer metals which are rendered rough thereby. When this jet of sand is caused to fall with an increased force upon the object to be engraved, the results are more decided and more readily obtained, and hence the use of an air or steam-blast has been adopted at the outset, giving to the device the name of sandblast. The sand blast may, therefore, be briefly defined as a device by which common sand, powdered quartz, emory, or any sharp cutting material, is forced or blown upon the surface of any brittle substance, through which means the latter is cut, drilled, or engraved. We have used the word brittle as

conclusive proof that the democratic theory Science, Invention, Discovery. defining those substances susceptible of

of government is driving England at express speed to the devil-I mean the nether abyss.

There are a good many notable works in

the just-opened Black-and-White Exhibition. FRO

Prominent among these is a series of drawings by Mr. Herbert Heckomer, whose "The Last Muster" is one of the most striking and original paintings in this year's Academy. Several of Bida's drawings illustrative of the Gospels-the complete series, one hundred and twenty-eight in number, is valued at five thousand pounds-are on view in the same gallery. Briton Rivière, Percy Macquoid, Rajon, Jacquemart, J. D. Huiber, Legros, and many others, also contribute; indeed, altogether, counting drawings, engravings, and etchings, there are over five hundred "exhibits." This is the third year of the exhibition, so it may now be looked upon as established. By-theway, L. l'Hermitte sends some drawings which are really remarkable as showing what may be done with charcoal in the way of color.

The two opera-houses continue to put forth fresh attractions; every other night or so, some one or other makes his or her debut. One of the last débutantes at Her Majesty's is Mademoi

THE SAND-BLAST.

ROM a descriptive circular now before us, we learn that "on the 8th of October, 1870, letters-patent of the United States were granted to General B. C. Tilghman, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the cutting, grinding, etching, engraving, and drilling stone, metal, wood, or any hard substance, by means of a jet or blast of sand." Though there may be few of our readers who are not familiar with the general principles of the sand-blast, yet it is possible that many are still unaware of its marvelous efficiency, accomplishing, as it does, even more than is set down in the comprehensive claim above quoted. In fact, it may safely be asserted that, both for its simplicity of method and extent of operation, the sand-blast deserves a place very near the first rank among the many ingenious devices of this, the age of invention. Though protected by letters-patent, and thus classed among the order of inventions, the

treatment by the blast, in order that the reader may the more readily comprehend the simplicity of the method by which the surface of such substance may be protected as well as exposed. In order to insure this protection, and prevent the sand from acting on any portion of the surface upon which it falls, it is only necessary to cover that portion with a stencil of malleable or tough material, such as lead, iron, rubber, leather, or even paper. To this list of so-called stencil material may also be added, as the result of recent experiments, rubber-paint, or ink. Of the methods adopted for the application of these stencils, mention will be again made when we come to notice the work of the sand-blast, and we will now proceed to briefly describe, aided by illustrations, the latest improved form of machine for cutting flat plates, as in use at the company's agency, No. 81 Centre Street, New York.

Let it be supposed that it is desired to simply grind or depolish the whole surface of a glass plate, so that it shall present the

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sion to use any form of protecting stencil, and the plate therefore may be taken at once to the machine. This machine is of the general form and construction shown in the larger of the accompanying illustrations, and may be thus described: Resting upon a frameFork, and inclosed in a box-like apartment, is a smaller box, open at the top and with slanting sides, which is filled with the ordinary quartz-sand. At the bottom of this box is a long slit, through which the sand flows into the blast-chamber below. The end of the slit appears in the illustration just below the main blast-pipe, which leads in from the right. At the bottom of this slit is a device, not as yet made public, by which the sand is conveyed into the blast-chamber, and yet the blast not allowed to force its way upward. This blast-chamber is shown by its eurved side, and within this the blast is maintained at such a pressure as the nature

of the work demands. The sand, having 설 fallen into this receptacle, is at once forced by the pressure of the blast down through a

second and still narrower slit below, and passes out from it in the form of a long, thin sheet. The glass plate to be acted upon is placed upon the shelf at the left and before the opening indicated. A series of small 10 belts, moving over rollers concealed by the shelf, serve as carriers to the plate, which by

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the aid of a screw and hoppers to the box above, to be used over again, so long as the feeding in of the glass plates is kept up. The rate at which these plates travel beneath the sand varies from six to thirty inches a minute, according as the nature of the work demands. Where it is desired to cover the plate with a pattern, it is evident that the stencils may be adjusted to it before its introduction into the machine.

In the second figure we have an illustration of a simple device by which glass plates may be bored. This is effected by means of an exhaust rather than a blast. The air is exhausted from a cylinder here shown at the right, and thus the sand is drawn up from a receptacle at the left, and projects itself with force against the glass plate above, after which it falls back into a circular box, whence it is again lifted as before. It is by the aid of a device somewhat similar in construction to this that glass globes are ground and engraved.

In this brief description of the sand-blast machine we have purposed to present the main features of the latest improved form; and, as the illustrations were prepared with the special purpose of accomplishing this, a careful examination of them will take the place of a more extended description. Enough has been said, however, to prove to the reader that it is in the idea rather than in the method of its adaptation that the genius of the inventor appears-that is, so far as the sand-blast machine is concerned-but in our second paper on the nature and variety of the work accomplished we shall be able to show how well have the demands for special contriv. ances been met by the same mind that accomplished the original design.

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LEST certain of our readers might condemn the position we assumed last week in regard to the mythical Keely motor, we are induced to reopen the case with a view to presenting additional testimony in support of the views then set forth. This testimony, which has come to our notice since the preparation of our adverse opinion, is from an authoritative source, and hence should be accepted as of decided weight and influence. The Scientific American, deeming the subject worth even more space than it really deserves, devotes a page of its editorial space to an historical and critical review of the new motor and its claims. After alluding to this latest contrivance as one "the chief purpose of which appears to be the wriggling of money out of silly people," the paper concludes by disclosing in a few brief paragraphs the weak point in the whole claim. Referring to the surprising fact that men of tried experience and business capability have become interested in the scheme, the editor adds: "We can account for this only by supposing that they mistake mere pressure for motive power. But mere pressure is not motive power-it is simply a resultant of motive power. A very slight motive power, if sufficiently long continued and properly applied, may produce the greatest pressure. A weight of only a single pound, hung upon the extremity of a suitable lever, is sufficient to produce a pressure at the opposite end of the lever of ten thousand pounds or more to the square inch. To persons not familiar with the laws of mechanics (and this, we think, is probably the situation of most of the Keely

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investers), the exhibition of a gage showing ten thousand pounds pressure might readily be regarded as proof positive of an enormous power behind the gage-whereas the actual power, concealed from view, might be only a weight of one pound. In cases of this kind, when a body is lifted or a pressure produced, the inquirer should take pains to ascertain what the extent of the original moving power or weight is. If this precaution be taken, the falsity of motors like Keely's may be at once detected. In the example of Keely, the certificate of Collier shows that a hydrant force of twenty-six and one-quarter pounds to the inch is always required to run the machine. This force, if applied to a common wheel or engine, would produce a considerable amount of constant mechanical power. But the moving force is nearly all wasted in Keely's device, for he is only able to drive a toy-engine for a minute or two at a time. This does not look much like driving a train of cars from Philadelphia to New York, or crossing the ocean, without the consumption of coal."

THE question as to the nature and extent of the influence which forests exercise on climates commands the thoughtful attention of many careful observers, and the fact that the controversy is so prolonged proves beyond question that there is much to be said on both sides. Among the more recent papers presented with a view to establishing the affirmative of the argument, viz., that the climate and other physical conditions of our globe are certainly modified by the existence or removal of forests, is that of M. J. Clavé, in the last number of the Revue des Deux Mondes. After repeating with renewed emphasis the wellknown points regarding the prevention of evaporation and sudden snow-thaws where the land is wooded, the writer suggests a possible effect which forests may have on producing rain, which is certainly worthy of consideration. Forests are obstacles to atmospheric movements, hence, when rapidly-moving aircurrents come in contact with them, their onward course is checked, and they are forced upward. As a result of this upward movement the layers above are compressed and so compelled to yield up some of their moisture. Another interesting fact is noticed with regard to the influence of forests upon hailstorms, which is to check them. An instance of this is given, to the effect that, during one of these storms in France, it was observed that when, during its onward course, a forest was encountered the hail was changed to rain, the hail being resumed in the unwooded country beyond.

IN a former note attention was directed to a novel method proposed for the extinguishing of fires on shipboard. This consisted simply in placing, at given intervals along the floor of the hull, vessels containing broken marble or some other carbonate; to these leadpipes were to conduct sulphuric acid from tanks above. When the fire was discovered the hatches were to be instantly closed, the valves admitting the acid into the pipes opened, and, as a result, the carbonic acid disengaged by the union of the acid with the lime of the marble would fill the whole hull, and act as a smothering agent, thus extinguishing the fire by surrounding it with a nonsupporting atmosphere of carbonic-acid gas. A second and for many reasons a more practical application of the same principle, is that given by Lieutenant Barber, United States Navy, who, in a letter to the Scientific American, proposes to use the same gas for a like

purpose, though the immediate source of supply be a different one. His plan is to have in some convenient locality a flask or flasks, each about three feet in length, and one foot in diameter, containing about one hundred pounds of the gas in a liquid state. From the top of these flasks pipes are to be so fitted as to conduct the gas when free into the hull. In its application the same plan is adopted as in that above mentioned. Instead of opening cocks and admitting acid into the marble boxes, the compressed gas is by this same method released, when it at once assumes its normal condition, and fills the entire vessel below-decks.

A PATENT has recently been issued in France for a new method for obtaining paperpulp from sugar-cane refuse, which, according to the Technologiste, promises to prove of considerable value. For many years one of the leading features of the Southern sugar-house has been its cane-furnace, devised with the special purpose of burning the refuse cane, which otherwise would prove an unwieldy by-product. The plan, as proposed by MM. Meritens and Kresser, may be briefly noticed as follows: The refuse or "trash" as it comes from the mill, being still charged with a limited amount of saccharine matter, gum, albumen, etc., is exposed to a jet of steam in a closed vessel, and then repressed. The effect of this treatment is to remove the foreign substances, including a certain portion of available "juice," and leave the refuse in a state to be more readily rendered available as pulp. In order to obtain this latter in a state fit for paper-making material, the refuse is now passed lightly through an alkaline bath, and afterward washed in acidulated water. The material is then in a condition for treatment by the paper-maker, who bleaches it with chlorine, and, by the usual process, prepares it for the rolls. It is said that fibre so prepared needs less chlorine than those usually used, and there can be no question as to the demand of some such process as this by which an immense by-product can be made available in the industrial arts.

SOME interesting and significant experiments on the influence of certain compounds on the germination of seeds have recently been made by Häckel, the results of which appear to confirm views advanced by observers many years ago. Certain seeds which, when exposed to the action of pure water alone, began to germinate after eight days, when kept moist with iodine-water germinated in five days. With bromide-water the same result followed after three days, and when chlorinewater was used the interval was decreased to two days. These experiments belong to the order which anybody can try," and we should be pleased to learn from our readers the results of any similar observation in this direction.

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A CORRESPONDENT of Science Gossip having claimed for the cypress of Somma, in Lombardy, the honor of being the oldest tree on record, his statement is met by a second writer who states that there is at Anuradhapura, in Ceylon, a bo-tree which was planted B. c. 288, two hundred and forty-six years before the birth of the Lombardy tree. Regarding this as the oldest tree, the writer states that it would have been blown down long ago but for a thick wall built around the trunk, and all its main branches are supported by pillars. The leaves that fall off are collected by Buddhist priests every day, and are kept in a holy part of the temple. They are also sold to the people as a sovereign balm for sin.

AMONG the more recent of labor - saving machines may be noticed that designed for the painting of the laths of Venetian blinds. By its aid the inventor claims that he can paint six hundred blind-laths of ordinary size in an hour. The machine is described as simple in structure, and has already been practically tested in a large English window-blind factory.

MESSES. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, the wellknown meteorological-instrument makers, have lately added to their list of thermometers, a new form of exceeding delicacy to be known as the "health-indicator." It is designed, as its name indicates, for the use of physicians in determining the temperature of the patient's blood, and the main feature, and that upon which its extreme sensitiveness depends, is the use of fusil-oil instead of mercury.

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Great latitude is allowed in Madrid to re press, and personal abuse of the minist usually passes unnoticed; but El Combate son". times exceeds all bounds, and occasionally i dulges in an article so exceptionally viole! that the editor is fined, the paper suppressed and the day of its reappearance is doubtful.

No sooner is the cry of "El Combate", heard than the street is in an uproar. Hun dreds hurry out of the cafés, because every o who wishes to buy a copy must stand rea with his money in his hand, as the newsr come rushing along, disposing of their buur of papers as rapidly as possible; for, sha an article be suspected and a gendarme apl in pursuit, the packets disappear in an ins", and away go the venders down the maze

narrow streets.

We one evening saw such a chase, and m exciting and amusing it was, a real chase law versus news; but the newsman had capit legs, of which he made good use, and, Ic before he had arrived at the end of the Alcat his papers were all sold, and he had fairly & tanced his pursuer, who, encumbered by long sword and other accoutrements, made an ineffectual struggle, and gave in when a reached the rising ground near the middle o the street.

Of course, just now, intelligence is eagerly sought for, and the evening papers have a rapid sale; but, though they are read, no one thinks of believing the intelligence they contain. "Son todos mentitores estan diciendo mil disparates" (they say all sorts of nof sense), said our Spanish servant, as he broocia! us a bundle of newspapers. And accouu'sal is dis victories gained, with details of the Cros ple.

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