Journal

-'Bedad, sor,' replied Pat, and it's there ye're quite wrong. I can assure you, sor, that I don't tell me private thoughts to every wan.'

Steele laid down the maxim that it was decidedly wrong to allow any one to be so familiar with you as to praise you to your face. We are told that the wives of men of sentiment invariably adopt this rule, and are not always the most appreciative of women. It is related of Siebenkees, an eminent German scholar, that having finished reading one of his beautiful imaginings to his wife, who appeared to be listening with bated breath and eyelids cast down, he closed the book with inward satisfaction at the completion of his labours, only to hear the sharer of his joys exclaim: My dear, pray don't put on your left stocking to-morrow-I see there is a hole in it.' There was evidently neither praise nor encouragement in this remark, but the reader will perceive it was made on the spur of the moment.

Sometimes the greatest compliments, by being awkwardly expressed, may tend to give offence. A clergyman in the country had a stranger to officiate for him one day, and meeting his beadle afterwards, he said to him: 'Well, Dougall, how did you like last Sunday's preaching?''It was a great deal owre plain and simple for me,' replied the beadle. 'I like sermons that jumble the judgment and confound the sense. Od, sir, I never saw ane that could come up to yourself at that!'

It was Pope who remarked, that a person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labour of the bees, will often be stung for his curiosity. Bishop Horne had his dignity considerably taken down when he arrived to take possession of the episcopal palace at Norwich in 1791. Being amazed at the number of spectators on the occasion, he turned round upon the steps and exclaimed: Bless us, bless us what a concourse of people.'-'Oh, my lord,' said a bystander, 'this is a mere nothing to the crowd last Friday to see a man hanged.'-Another whimsical anecdote is related of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV., who, riding in the Park on the road between Teddington and Hampton-wick, was overtaken by a butcher's boy on horseback, with a tray of meat under his arm. Nice pony that of yours, old gentleman,' said he. 'I'll trot you a couple of miles for a pot of beer.' The Duke respectfully declined the match; and the lad, as he struck the heels of his boots in his horse's side, exclaimed, with a look of contempt: 'I thought you was only a

muff.'

In fact, from a king to the peasant, or a bishop to an errand-boy, all would appear to be occasionally 'tarred, as it were, with the same brush. It is so pleasant, on the whole, to be able to speak one's own mind; and the absurdity often, if not always, lies in the sudden utterance of our thoughts. Two sons of an English aristocrat were remarkable for hastiness of temper, which on certain occasions broke out into very indiscreet expressions. During a quarrel, and in the height of passion, one said to the other: "You are the greatest ass in the world.'-'Come, come, my lads,' said their highly incensed father; you forget that I am present.'

Apropos to our subject, abundant materials

He

might possibly be found in other countries besides our own, and such as would amply furnish us with food for reflection as well as laughter. One instance may suffice. On one occasion, a coloured preacher in New York, who was very popular, and who had overflowing audiences, was suddenly called upon to arrange his congregation a little more to the satisfaction of those in the rear. did so at once by saying: 'My dear bretheren, for mutual convenience, de fore-part ob de church will please accommodate themselves and others by sitting down; so de hind-part ob de church can see de fore-part; for de hind-part can't see de fore-part ef de fore-part persist in stanin' before de hind-part, to de utter exclusion ob de hind-part by de fore-part.' Nothing could be more lucid.

One more example, and we conclude these brief sketches. In a dancing-saloon one night, a sailor was asked by a messmate to explain to him in a few words and as quick as possible, the third figure of the quadrille. His description was as follows: 'You first of all heave ahead,' said he, and pass your adversary's yard-arms; then in a jiffy regain your berth on the other tack in the same kind of order; slip along sharp and take your station with your partner in line; back and fill, and then fall on your heel, and bring up with your craft. She then manoeuvres ahead off alongside of you; then make sail in company with her until nearly astern of the other line; make a stern board; cast her off to shift for herself; regain your place out of the mêlée in the best manner you can, and let go your anchor.'

I think we may take it for granted that not a word of this nautical programme was lost upon Jack's intimate friend. On the other hand, it is equally as certain that if a landsman had received these instructions, he would have been as wise as ever. Due justice, however, must be given to Jack, who spoke evidently to the best of his ability, and on the spur of the moment.

THE MONTH.

SCIENCE AND ARTS.

IF any proof were needed of the enterprise exhibited by newspaper proprietors in their thirst for new and trustworthy intelligence, it would be sufficient to point to expeditions such as Stanley's search for Livingstone, and the recent unfortunate expedition to the 'Frozen Deep,' both of of the New York Herald. which enterprises must be placed to the credit And here at home,

editors

are by no means backward in their endeavours to get the most reliable news. Special correspondents penetrate far into any country to which the eyes of the world may for the time be directed, bearing with them that keen faculty of observation which gives value to their work. To the names of note in this department must now be added that of Mr O'Donovan, the Merv special correspondent of the Daily News. Hitherto, we have looked upon Merv as an important city, upon which Russia has long cast a covetous eye, because its possession

to the Photographic News. A very bright day was chosen for the trial; and a diver, after being properly instructed as to what to do, was sent down with the camera. This camera was of no ordinary kind; for it had to be lowered with a powerful crane, and with the addition of ten hundredweight to induce it to sink. With the quickest lens, by the most rapid method of photography, and with an exposure of twenty minutes, Mr Valentine failed to get even the ghost of an image on his plate. This showed that the actinic rays of light failed to penetrate through the thirty feet of water which separated the camera from its accustomed element. Apparently, there was no want of light, for the diver stated that he could easily see for thirty feet in front of him; but it is evident that the light did not comprise those rays upon which the efficiency of a photographic surface depends.

Some curious experiments as to the action of the brain during sleep have lately been made upon himself by M. Delauney. Working on the known fact that the action of the brain causes a rise of temperature in the cranium, the experimenter found that the converse of this was true, and that he was able, by covering his forehead with wadding, to stimulate the action of the brain. Dreams which are naturally illogical and absurd, became under this treatment quite rational and intelligent. He also found that their character was much modified by the position assumed during sleep, whereby the blood might be made to flow towards particular parts of the body, and thus increase their nutrition and functional activity. These experiments have but slight value. Those whose lives are spent in hard work, either physical or mental, will prefer their dreams to be as illogical and vague as possible, so that the poor brain may not go on working while the body is at

rest.

The Phylloxera vastatrix-the dread destroyer of the grape-vine-has, like any other deep-dyed criminals, had its portrait taken for circulation over the civilised globe. Messrs Hatchette & Co. have issued two plates which cannot fail to be of great use in the future in showing those happy possessors of vineyards who do not already know the personal appearance of the enemy, what they are to look for. The first plate represents the insect in its various stages from the egg to its winged and adult form. The second plate deals with its destructive work upon the vine. The root and branches of a healthy vine are here shown side by side with the root and branches of one upon which the Phylloxera has operated; and thus the whole progress of the pest from its birth to its destructive mission, is admirably depicted.

We are glad to notice that at the late meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, honourable mention was made of the name of Miss Ormerod, whose labours with regard to insect pests and the best way of dealing with them have been already adverted to in these pages.

The question of obtaining pure and wholesome food is of such great importance, that all rightminded people naturally feel glad when adulteration is detected and its authors punished. But in common fairness to the trader, the methods of analysis should be beyond suspicion; and when a public officer states that a particular sample

of food contains so much per cent. of foreign material, we should be quite sure that he has the means for ascertaining that fact. We are led to these remarks from some unfortunate discrepancies which have been made public in certain recent analyses of coffee. A sample of coffee was purposely adulterated with ten per cent. of chicory, and distributed in seven portions to as many different analysts, the Somerset House authorities being among the number. The results were as follow: Analyst A certified the mixture to contain only seven per cent. of chicory; B made a similar report; C said two-and-a-half per cent. ; D certified to from five to ten per cent.; E found ten per cent. upwards; F discovered sixteen per cent.; while G determined that the sample consisted of genuine coffee. These figures are, to say the least, unsatisfactory. In the first place, they arouse the unpleasant suspicion that many innocent people may have been punished for adulterations which never existed; and in the second, that adulterations may frequently, for want of proper methods of analysis, be allowed to remain undetected, and thus guilty persons escape.

The newspapers are nowadays somewhat too full of electricity. We do not allude to their notice of new inventions, or new applications of old discoveries, which in these times of rapid progress in electrical science cannot fail to be of interest. We allude rather to the notices of public Companies, which, like so many moths, have suddenly appeared hovering round the brilliant light. We fear that, also like moths, many of them are destined to singe their wings, if not to come to still more serious grief. People who venture their money in electric-lighting shares should be in a position to afford to lose it. We do not mean to say that they must necessarily lose, but we wish to point out that the investment is a purely speculative one. electric light has only been tried experimentally, and cannot, therefore, be looked upon as a sound investment, from which, as a matter of course, an income will be forthcoming. Putting aside the doubtful value of many of the patents-doubtful, we mean, from their close family resemblancewe may assume that there may be something better to come which may cast existing contrivances into the shade. We believe that electricity will give us the light of the future. But before it becomes general enough to represent a basis of sound investment, existing patents must pass through a long period of natural selection, during which many must disappear.

The

A novel application of the electric current is detailed in La Nature. At some large linenbleaching works at Le Breuil-en-Ange, the linen spread out in the meadows is collected by means of a dynamo-machine. The desirability of having some kind of railway truck-system for the collection of the linen was long ago admitted; but the smoke and dirt of a steam-engine precluded its employment. The dynamo-machine actuated by the electric current has no such disadvantages, and for the past three months it has been employed with the most satisfactory results. A small railway crosses the ends of the lines of cloth, and the dynamo-machine is so arranged that it can operate upon the wheels of the vehicle on which it is mounted, or can be employed for reeling up the cloth into an attached truck. In

It is said that ivory is becoming so scarce that it will soon be regarded as a luxury to be afforded only by the few. As a matter of fact, about half the quantity has reached the English market, compared with the amount received up to the same time last year; so that if we wish to see our pianoforte keys and our knife-handles maintain their wonted appearance, we shall have to fall back upon some ivory-like composition, instead of employing the real article. A few years back, such a compound was introduced under the name of Celluloid, and a very good imitation of ivory it presented. It was manufactured by treating paper with nitric and sulphuric acids, so as to convert it into nitrocellulose. This compound was afterwards pulped, and passed through a rolling-press with a certain quantity of camphor. The chief objection to the substance was its great inflammability; but we learn that a means of obviating this has lately been devised. Celluloid has an advantage over ivory in that it can be moulded so as to take the most delicate impression.

The question of the possibility of obtaining heat from solar radiation sufficient to boil water, and so actuate a steam-engine, is one which has of late years engaged the attention of scientific men and Societies. A French government Commission has lately been carrying out some experiments with apparatus, consisting of a large concave mirror with a blackened boiler in its focus. The steam was condensed as it was given off from the boiler; and the weight of distilled water thus obtained indicated the amount of heat utilised. From these experiments, as we have before hinted in these pages, it would seem that the sun is far too fickle a source from which to obtain heat, except in some few countries where the steam-engine is as yet unknown, and not wanted.

At the Royal United Service Institution, an interesting paper was lately read by Colonel Fosbery, V.C., on the subject of Magazine guns, by which is meant those small-arms which, like the Winchester repeating-rifle, can be fired over and over again by means of a collection of cartridges in the stock, or in some other receptacle. Colonel Fosbery held that in modern warfare the soldier required, for special occasions and for brief intervals, to be endowed with a higher power of defence and attack than any system of single-loader would afford. He brought forward a magazine' of his own invention, which can readily be attached cartridge-feeder to the ordinary Henry-Martini

rifle.

as a

weights on a sliding bar from stem to stern. Each boat is to carry torpedoes, which can be attached to a ship's bottom by a pneumatic contrivance. After such attachment it will be the duty of the submarine boat to retire to a safe distance before making the electrical contact which will cause the explosion. The submarine vessel will carry a supply of compressed air or oxygen; and the carbonic acid from the men's lungs will be absorbed by caustic soda, as in the diving apparatus of Mr Fleuss.

Riveting by hydraulic machinery is now being largely introduced into the ship-building yards on the Clyde. The verdict of a special Committee of surveyors on the subject, after due inspection, was, that these machines thoroughly fill the holes and counter-sinks, and produce a smoother and better clench than can usually be obtained by hand-labour.' The saving of time and outlay, also, over hand-labour is very great.

The subject of the salmon-disease forms the most interesting portion of the recently published annual Report of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries for England and Wales. Unfortunately, much that is indefinite still surrounds the subject. The experience of practical fishermen and the researches of accomplished scientists have equally failed either to detect a cause or to suggest a remedy for the epidemic. The Inspectors express themselves as confident that the disease, which first attracted attention in 1877, had existed, at least in a sporadic form, for many years. The great difficulty is to determine what are the influences, climatic or otherwise, which spread epidemic affecting thousands of fish, and attacking both kelts and clean fish. Professor Huxley has expressed the opinion that, whilst the primary cause of the disease is the fungus Saprolegnia ferax, there must be other and secondary causes acting in combination, and that information is still required as to these. As an instance of the destructive nature of this disease, it may be mentioned that from the Tweed alone, between November of last year and May of this year, no fewer than ten thousand six hundred diseased salmon, grilse, and sea-trout were taken out of the river and buried.

cause the disease to assume the form of a wide

BOOK GOSSIP.

several of them without inconvenience. The