sity for surplus fat, which becomes absorbed; in first raising a small blister by a drop of secondly, that peculiar effect of heat which causes cantharides applied to the skin. This is to be the tissues to decay faster in a warm climate pricked, and the drop of fluid let out, and then a than in a cold one; and thirdly, diminished fine vaccine point put into this place, and withlung-work and blood oxygenation, and thereby drawn after a moment of delay; the epidermis an imperfect renewal of the tissue. As the gen- falls back and quite excludes the air, shutting eral conclusions from the entire investigation out any germs that may be floating in the atconducted by Dr. Rattray, we have the follow-mosphere. This method has been practiced by ing summary: 1st. That the tropics, especially during the rainy season, should be avoided by natives of colder latitudes; 2d. That the young, the debilitated, and the diseased should especially shun warm regions; 3d. That none but fullgrown, healthy adults should go there; 4th. That with all, even the latter, a speedy exit should be made therefrom when great loss of flesh and strength gives warning of approaching disease; 5th. That such injurious agencies as may increase the weakening and disease-inducing influences of tropical climates, of themselves irremediable, should be avoided-e. g., faulty diet, over-fatigue, impure air, etc.; 6th. That to preserve health, a tropical climate should be frequently changed for the more temperate ones of higher altitudes or latitudes. XANTHOPHYLLITE A MATRIX OF DIAMOND. Mr. Ellis for twenty years; and out of hundreds of cases of vaccination which he has performed, he has never had an instance of blood poisoning or abscess, while by the ordinary method the occurrence of secondary abscess is by no means uncommon, and that of pyæmia is often observed. The comparative safety of this method is believed to be due, first, to the exclusion of the air; and second, to the lesser size of the aperture for the introduction of mischief than when the punctures are made by the lancet. INJECTION OF CRINOIDS WITH SILICA. As bearing upon certain questions connected with the true condition of Eozoon, Dr. Dawson, of Montreal, calls attention to the occurrence of crinoids and other unmistakable fossils, with their pores or cavities filled with a silicious substance which completely penetrates their most delicate structures, and which proves on examination to be a hydrosilicate allied to jollyte. OPPOSITION TO TYNDALL'S THEORY OF Much inquiry has been prosecuted as to the matrix of the diamond, and various suggestions have been propounded in regard to it, itacolumite, or the so-called flexible sandstone occurring in Brazil, the United States, and elsewhere being assigned this honor by many authors. In a previous number we have given an abFrom a late communication by Professor Leon-stract of certain views of Professor Tyndall in hard we are informed that the xanthophyllite of the Ural Mountains shares with the itacolumite in this respect, since in certain localities where this substance abounds a microscopic examination of its laminæ reveals to a magnifying power of thirty times the existence of large numbers of minute crystals of the diamond, while with a power of two hundred their crystalline form and relative position can be distinctly traced. Most of these crystals are colorless and completely transparent; a few of them are brown. The mineral xanthophyllite above referred to is a micaceous substance occurring with magnetic iron in talcose slates. WATER-PROOF CLOTH. A firm in Berlin has for some years furnished a completely water-proof cloth, the process for making which has been kept a secret. It is now stated, however, that the method consists, in all probability, in saturating the cloth at first with a solution of sulphate of alumina and of copper, and then immersing it in a bath of water-glass and a resinous solution of soap. The object of the copper seems to be to protect the cloth from rotting or stiffening more perfectly than can be done by the alumina alone. IMPROVED METHOD OF VACCINATION. In view of the great spread of the small-pox at the present day in America and Europe, and the importance of successful vaccination, the suggestion of an English physician, Mr. Ellis, may be of some importance. This gentleman remarks that ordinary vaccination is performed by scraping off the epidermis, and thrusting the vaccine virus into a puncture made by the lancet. A greatly improved method, however, consists regard to the germ theory of disease. These, however, have not passed unchallenged by very eminent medical authority; and a late number of the British Medical Journal contains a sharp article on the subject. After taking up the different points of Professor Tyndall's theory in regular order, the Journal sums up by stating that the tendency of modern research is not as favorable as Professor Tyndall believes it to be respecting the theory of the parasitical origin of contagious diseases, and that the predominance of belief is to the opposite view; also, that the theory of the permanency of unrelated, individual, or zymotic types is not an undisputed or unquestioned theory. COMPOSITION OF ULTRAMARINE. Some discussion has arisen as to whether ultramarine is, on the whole, a chemical combination; and if so, in what condition of combination its sulphur exists. This problem has attracted the attention of many authors, and among others that of Professor Stein, who has lately published a memoir on the subject in Dingler's Polytechnic Journal. In this he states that a majority of authors look upon the sulphur combined with soda in ultramarine as mono-, di-, or penta-sulphuret. A few persons, among them himself at an earlier period, believed in the existence of hyposulphuric acids, together with the sulphide of sodium, and still fewer thought it probable that the sulphur was combined with aluminium. As the result of his more recent observations, Dr. Stein has come to the conclusion that in blue ultramarine the acid is sulphuric, and not hyposulphuric, and that sulphide of aluminium alone exists, without any sulphuret of sodium. The sulphide of aluminium may ex ist in two modifications, one of which is an amor- GALVANOPLASTIC COPIES FROM ORGANIC The usual method of obtaining galvanoplastic plates from matrices of an organic nature consists in either coating the surface with graphite or a powdery deposit of silver, or else imparting conductivity by sulphide of silver. These methods are only suitable for rough work, since the delicate gelatine reliefs produced in the operation are decidedly affected by the sprinkling of the substances mentioned, which destroy the sharpness of the detail. It is, therefore, much better to produce a deposit of silver directly upon the gelatine in the sunlight, which, in consequence of the presence of an organic substance, will be in a state of purity, and attached uniformly and continuously upon the surface. For this purpose the gelatine relief sheet is to be fixed to a glass plate by means of copal varnish, and allowed to remain for an hour in a concentrated solution of tannin, in order to render it insoluble in water. It is then immersed in a silver bath until the entire surface of the relief is moistened. A copper wire, bent at right angles, is now to be moved over the horizontal surface of the object so as to touch the surface when placed in the sunlight. The silver is then deposited in the form of little rays upon the copper wire, and becomes a lustrous continuous coating upon that portion of the object touched by the copper. The plate is next to be taken out as horizontally as possible from the solution, and laid in the sunlight to dry. The superfluous silver is then to be washed off with water, leaving behind a silvery layer, which is an excellent conductor of the galvanic current, so that a satisfactory result will be obtained with a small amount of electricity. the theft of the celery-grass roots by the baldpated ducks from the canvas - backs, etc. An interesting communication from Mr. Hudson, of Buenos Ayres, to the Zoological Society of London, in reference to the habits of the Larus cirrhocephalus, a South American species of gull, informs us that this species, like the gulls abou Salt Lake, is in the habit of congregating in large numbers in the cultivated fields, following the plowmen, and devouring the locusts or other insects so abundant in that country, which are turned up by the plow. At a certain season of the year the ground is filled with the larvæ of the giant beetle, which throws up little mounds of earth, these being often so numerous as to give the plains, where the grass is very closely cropped, the appearance of being covered with mud. These insects are picked out in great numbers by flocks of the South American apwing, or plover (Vanellus cayennensis), upon which the gulls, not being endowed with a probing bill, wait assiduously, each plover having its attendant gull quietly standing by it. At the instant when one of these larvæ is extracted, and is seen in the bill of the plover, the gull darts with sudden fury upon it, and a chase enIsues, the robber following closely, and screaming all the time until the prize is dropped. The flight of the gull is then instantly checked, and, hovering a moment to watch the fall of the worm, he drops suddenly upon it, and swallowing it greedily, he returns to resume his position, and again watch by the side of his victim. This same species of gull is in the habit of frequenting the slaughter-grounds near the city, and mingling among the cattle and the men, without manifesting the slightest fear, ready at any time to pick up the clotted blood and entrails, and yet seldom, if ever, receiving a speck to stain its pure white breast. SOREL CEMENT. According to the Quarterly Journal of Science, the sorel cement, which has attracted so much attention of late by its permanence and close imitation of various natural tones, is made by diluting or tempering magnesia, which may be more or less hydrated and carbonated, with a solution of chloride of magnesium in a dry state, and employing water to form the cement. The cement thus produced is especially white and hard, and may be used with advantage in place of some of the best cements. It possesses the same hardness and will receive the same polish as marble, mosaic pavements, and statuary. Imitation ivory can be made from it for forming billiard balls and other similar articles, medallions, buttons, etc. By combination with mineral colors the cement may be made to assume any desired tint, may be moulded like plaster, and be employed in the manufacture or imitation of innumerable objects of art and ornament. In practice the cement is never used in a pure form, but in combination with other materials, which, being incorporated with it while in the Instances are abundant where one bird secures moist condition, are in the subsequent setting its food by plundering another, and depriving it mechanically bound together into a solid mass. of prey just captured, thus being able to live it- For this purpose the magnesia, in fine powder, self in idleness upon the labors of its victim. Il- is mixed with mineral substances, such as sand, lustrations of this are seen in the treatment of gravel, dust, or chips from marble or other the fish-hawk by the bald eagle, the impositions stones, or with emery, quartz, or other grits of practiced by the jagers upon the gulls and terns, | various kinds, in varying proportions, according PIRATICAL HABITS OF SOUTH AMERICAN to the result desired. This mixture is then | ferred into chlorides, the chloruret of iron being moistened with a solution of the chloride of mag- again changed to chloride by the influence of the nesium, or with the bittern from salt-works. In oxygen of the atmosphere, etc. If among the some cases it is made sufficiently wet to form a ores to be manipulated there be too little sulphur, mortar, and in others only enough to produce a it is well to add, from time to time, a little free state of dampness, like that of moulding sand. acid, such as nitric, in order to assist the reThe mixture may be effected in troughs, by constitution of the chloride of iron. With iron hand labor, the material being worked over with or copper pyrites it is only necessary to add comshovels or hoes, or more expeditiously in mixing mon salt, since the sulphur of the ore is oxydized machines designed expressly for the purpose, and by means of the chloride of iron and atmospheric worked by horse or steam power. air, with the result of producing sulphate of iron or sulphate of copper. The materials of which this cementing substance is composed are abundantly distributed over the surface of the globe. Magnesia sufficiently pure for the purpose is obtained by simply calcining mineral magnesite, large deposits of which are known to exist in Prussia, Greece, Canada, California, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Deposits will doubtless be found in other places when the demand is made for the material. The chloride of magnesium is readily obtained by concentrating sea-water, the bittern of salt-works being sufficiently pure for the purpose. Sea-water concentrated to 30° B. precipitates nearly the whole of its chloride of sodium. REDUCTION OF ORES BY CHLORIDE OF IRON. A method of reducing ores by means of chloride of iron has recently been patented, which is specially adapted to the extraction of metals alloyed with sulphur, arsenic, or antimony. The process depends upon the fact that chloride of iron, in the presence of air and water, readily decomposes sulphur, arsenic, and antimonial combinations, iron or copper pyrites, the sulphurets of cobalt, nickel, sulphuret of antimony, lead, silver, etc. The chloride of iron is reduced to chloruret of iron, and the metals trans PREPARATION OF CARMINE-PURPLE. The dye recently invented, and known as carmine-purple, is obtained by the solution of uric acid in nitric acid, care being taken to prevent boiling over and too great an increase of temperature. The mixture should remain standing quietly for some days, after which a thick, pasty, or doughy substance is obtained, which is to be treated with warm water, filtered, and the residuum again treated with warm water. The filtered liquid possesses a reddish or yellowish color, resulting from the organic substances decomposed by the nitric acid. This liquid is now a mixture of alloxan, alloxantin, urea, paraban acid, dialuramid, and other products of uric acid. It is next to be evaporated in a large enameled iron vessel, but not heated to the boiling-point, which would destroy the murexide produced. After the liquid has been evaporated to a sirupy consistency, and has assumed a beautiful brownish-red or violet color, it is to be allowed to cool. The entire quantity of the liquid should never be evaporated at one time, nor heated to the boiling-point. O Editor's Bistorical Record. UNITED STATES. UR Record is closed September 25. The Mississippi Republican State Convention met at Jackson the last of August. Governor Alcorn was sustained. The Wyoming Territory election, September 5, resulted in a victory for the Republicans, who obtain a majority of two in the Senate. In the House there is a Democratic majority of two. The California election, September 6, resulted in the election of Newton Booth (Republican) for Governor, by about 6000 majority. The New Jersey Republican Convention, at Trenton, September 7, nominated Cornelius Walsh for Governor. The Democratic Convention, September 13, nominated for Governor Joel Parker. at Springfield, September 14, nominated for Governor John Quincy Adams. The Illinois Republican Convention at Springfield, September 20, nominated J. L. Beveridge for Congressman at large. There was a mass-meeting of the citizens of New York city in the hall of the Cooper Institute, September 4, to consider the charges of corruption against city and county officials. A committee of seventy was appointed to conduct a thorough investigation, and to carry out such measures as should be necessary to prevent further frauds. One of the first acts of the com In the Maine election, September 11, the Re-mittee was to obtain an injunction prohibiting publican majority was about 11,000. Sidney farther expenditures, with certain necessary exPerham was re-elected Governor. ceptions. This injunction was granted in the Foley case by Judge Barnard. On September 10 a large number of vouchers were stolen from the Controller's office. Parties have been recently arrested for the theft, and at the time of writing this are undergoing trial. Almost immediately after the mass-meeting above mentioned Mayor Hall requested Controller Connolly to resign. The latter declined to do this, but subsequently was induced to appoint A. H. Green Deputy-Controller. The Minnesota Democratic Convention at St. Paul, September 13, nominated Winthrop Young for Governor. The Republican Convention, September 20, renominated Horace Austin, the present incumbent. The Massachusetts Democratic Convention During the month included in this summary there has been important progress made in the conflict between the United States authorities and the Mormons in Utah. The former have claimed complete jurisdiction over the Territorial penitentiary, have attempted the prosecution of Mormons guilty of assassinating Gentiles, and have moved in the matter of prosecuting Mormons for polygamy. Almost the entire town of Puerto Plata, in San Domingo, was destroyed by a conflagration August 21. EUROPE. In the French Assembly, August 24, it was voted, 487 to 154, to gradually disband the National Guard. M. Rinet, on the 28th, read the report of the committee appointed to consider the motion for the prolongation of M. Thiers's powers. The report advocated that M. Thiers take the title of Judge Underwood, United States District Judge for Virginia, has written a letter in which he says he feels very confident the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the United States Constitution, together with the Enforce-President, and continue, to exercise executive ment act of May 31, 1871, have secured the right to vote to the female citizens of Virginia as fully as they are now exercised and enjoyed by male citizens. The steamer Alaska, arriving at San Francisco September 2, brought 54,665 packages of tea-the largest tea cargo ever landed by any one vessel in an American port. Twenty-five thousand working-men participated in the demonstration in support of the eight-hour movement in New York city September 13. DISASTERS. The New York steamer Lodona was wrecked off the Florida coast in the hurricane of August 16-17. Twenty-one lives were lost. On the evening of August 26 a terrible accident occurred on the Eastern Railroad at Revere, Massachusetts. The Bangor express train overtook and ran into the accommodation train, killing twenty-four persons, and seriously injuring fifteen. At Westport, Pennsylvania, on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, August 26, a passenger and freight train collided, killing six persons and wounding four. The boiler of the steamboat Ocean Wave exploded in Mobile Bay August 27. Nearly sixty persons were killed or injured-the larger proportion being killed. A boiler explosion in a hat manufactory at Newburyport, Massachusetts, resulted in the death of six persons and serious injuries to others. OBITUARY. Charles Scribner, the head of the eminent publishing house in New York, died August 26, at Lucerne, Switzerland, of typhoid fevc.. Dennis H. Mahan, Professor of Civil and Military Engineering at West Point, put an end to his life, September 16, by jumping off from the Mary Powell into the Hudson, near Verplank's Point. CENTRAL AMERICA. A hurricane visited St. Thomas August 21, said to be as destructive as the last one which devastated that island. Thousands of people were rendered houseless, and it is reported that not a single house on the island escaped injury. One hundred and fifty persons were killed by falling structures. In the island of St. Kitt's 800 houses were blown down. Every estate in Antigua was damaged, and in Tortola five churches were blown down. Tortola more re cently has been visited by an earthquake, which rendered homeless 7000 people. powers under the authority of the Assembly, and that he be responsible for his acts to the Assembly. A bill was adopted, September 1, prolonging M. Thiers's term of office, under the title of President, for three years. The bill was adopted by 523 against 34. The court-martial, having completed the trial of the Communist prisoners, on the 2d of September pronounced the following sentences: Ferre and Lullier were condemned to suffer death; Urbain and Prinquet to imprisonment for life at hard labor; Assy, Billioray, Champy, Regere, Grousset, Verdure, and Ferrat to deportation and confinement in a fortress; Jourde and Rastoul to simple deportation; Courbet to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs; Clement to three months' imprisonment. Descamps and Parent were acquitted. Four of the "Pétroleuses" (female Communists convicted of firing public buildings by means of petroleum) were by court-martial sentenced to death. Rossel has been sentenced to death, and Rochefort to exile. Ten persons were killed by a railway accident in Northern France September 4. The Mont Cenis Tunnel was formally opened September 17. The transit was accomplished in twenty minutes. Aali Kibrasli Pacha, Grand Vizier and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Turkish government, died at Constantinople September 5. He is succeeded by Mahmoud Pacha. Gonzales Bravo Murillo, ex-Premier of Spain, died suddenly at Biarritz September 8. By an explosion in a coal mine near Wigan, in Lancashire, England, sixty-nine miners lost their lives. While workmen were opening the shafts, September 20, another explosion occurred, by which five men were killed. The Republican Committee of England September 6 issued its programme, including the following measures: the application of the prin ciples of federation to the kingdom; the abolition of titles and privileges; the suppression of monopolies; the abolition of standing armies; compulsory education; the provision by the state of work for those able to work, and of sustenance for those incapacitated; the nationalization of land; popular legislation; and the diffusion of republicanism. Professor Robert Bentley, the publisher of Temple Bar, died September 13. The Bavarian government has superseded Count Arnia as minister to Rome by the ap pointment to that position of Count Trautmansdorf, a defender of Dr. Döllinger. In the town of Bolana, Italy, toward the close of August, a church was struck by lightning, and thirty-two persons were killed or injured. Legislature, at which there is, of course, a supper, with speeches, etc. Occasionally civilians are invited to help along the speech-making. Four years ago General Sheridan was present, and the speakers aimed to do him proper honor. Speaker S gave, as an incident of the battle of Cedar Creek, that, after the repulse of the morning, the soldiers remarked, as they saw the general coming in from his famous ride, that his arrival was "better late than never;" but Sheridan, by his masterly turn of the tide of battle, established the paradox that he was "better late than Early." "The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson,' "I nual reunion some time during the session of the recently published by the Harpers, may be found an incident which reveals the first instance, probably, in our federal legislation where the personal comforts of statesmen have been satisfied, and the expense charged to "fuel" or "stationery." They found out how to fix it in the very first session of the First Continental Congress. While that Congress was in session Delegate Harrison, of Virginia, desiring to "take something," went with a friend to a certain place where supplies were furnished Congress, and ordered two glasses of brandy and water. The man in charge hesitated, and replied that liquors were not included in the supplies furnished Congressinen. "Why," said Harrison, "what is it, then, that I see the New England members come here and drink?" "Molasses and water, which they have charged as stationery," was the reply. "Then give me the brandy and water," said Harrison, "and charge it as fuel." It took that course. THIS of the late Rufus Choate, which we are assured has not hitherto appeared in print: Among the bar of Boston was a gentleman of some position as a lawyer and somewhat distinguished as a man of letters, whose misfortune it was to have a temper so sour that he was generally disliked by the profession. A gentleman spoke of this to Mr. Choate, and asked the reaMr. Choate, in reply, quoted the rights which defendants have in high criminal cases of "peremptory challenge" and "challenge for cause," and added, "Most people who hate a man hate him for cause; we hate C'peremptorily." son. WHAT constitutes a providential call, is a question which most ministers are, at some time, required to settle. Perhaps some light may be shed upon it by the following item, furnished by a missionary of the American Sunday - School Union in Virginia. He has been called on to es- How to advertise, is a question that ever agtablish a mission Sunday-school in a region of itates the breast of the enterprising tradesman. country known as "Hell Bend," and, more re- Rocks and fences throughout the land are becently, in another place bearing the not euphoni- smeared with names of pills and potions, and paous or auspicious appellation of "Rowdy"-with pers teem with the poetry of physic. In Caligood success in both instances-and is remind-fornia, judging from the following modest aped by his experience of that of a young Southern peal, a different style obtains. We quote from minister who, when about to leave the seminary, the Shasta Courier: received two calls-one from a large and wealthy congregation, the other from a small band of Christians, reduced in circumstances, and dwelling among a perverse generation. He was asking advice of his father, in the hearing of an old family servant, which of the two calls he should accept. Old Sambo spoke out, and said, "Massa John, I can tell you which of dem churches you must go to. Better you go whar dar is de least money and de most debbil." A looker-on at our elbow, fresh from reading the report of the late meeting of New York tax-payers in Cooper Hall over the accounts of the Tammany Ring, suggests, "Sometimes there is most devil where there is most money." WE are indebted to a gentleman eminent alike for judicial position and attainments, and for scholarship and wide familiarity with literature, for a little anecdote illustrative of the wit of a Western lawyer, who had been conversing with a brother about a deceased member of the profession, whose record for integrity was not of the purest. "Well," said the brother, "whatever you may think of Mr. B, he certainly had the ability to acquire a competence by his practice." "By his practices, you mean," was the reply. A VERMONT Correspondent informs us that the "returned soldiers" of that State hold an an THE Subscriber begs leave to inform the citizens of THE Rev. Moncure D. Conway, a favorite contributor to this Magazine, while traveling last summer in the neighborhood of the Hebrides, heard several anecdotes illustrative of the fearful reverence with which Scotchmen in that region observe the Sabbath. Says he: A minister of the kirk recently declared in public that at a country inn he wished the window raised, so that he might get some fresh air, but the landlady would not allow it, saying, "Ye can hae no fresh air here on the Sawbeth." DR. M―, accompanied by a friend, took a long walk on Sunday, and being fatigued, the two stopped at an inn to get some refreshment. The landlord stopped them at the door with the question whether they were bona fide travelers, as such alone could enter his house on Sunday. They said they were from London, and were admit |