A TRUE GHOST STORY. - 'Twas "the witching hour of night," the whole household were buried in profound slumber. I alone was a silent and solitary watcher-waiting for the return of my husband, (who, for the information of the curious, I beg to state, has the misfortune to be that most unfortunate of all men, a country doctor!) and indulging in sweet thoughts of the past, and hope for the future, when I was suddenly aroused from my dreamy reverie by a strain of wild, unearthly music;-I listened, and my heart seemed to stop its pulsation from very terror; again it played on the music (and my heart, too,)-wild and slow-then a pause-then it would recommence with renewed sweetness, as if the unearthly musician had stopped but to take in a fresh supply of energy. I rose from my chairtrembled and sunk down again. What could this portend? my husband-where was he? Had some dire mischance befallen him? And was this melancholy music an omen of desolation? Again I listened-the sounds, I fancied, appeared to issue from the drawing-room, which was on the same floor as the room I then occupied. I seized the candle with desperate courage, resolved to explore this hidden mystery; still the invisible musician played on, as if to invite me to commence my search. At last I gained the dreadful passage-my hand was on the door, and the sounds 66 came, nearer now, now nearer stealing: " with one tremendous effort, I opened the door, and saw-what? nothing but my favourite cat, promenading along the keys of the pianoforte, which my careless daughter had left unclosed.-EMILY H. THE LUXURIES OF OUR ANCESTORS.-Hollinshed, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth, thus describes the rudeness of the preceding generation in the arts of life:-"There were very few chimneys, even in capital towns. The fire was laid to the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, or window. Houses were wattled and plastered over with clay, and all the furniture and utensils were of wood. The people slept on straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow." Lord Kames says, "that Henry II. of France, at the marriage of the Duchess of Savoy, wore the first silk stockings that were made in France. Queen Elizabeth, the third year of her reign, received, in a present, a pair of black silk knit stockings;" and Dr. Howell reports" that she never wore cloth hose any more." Before the Conquest, there was a timber bridge upon the Thames, between London and Southwark, which was repaired by William Rufus, and was burnt by accident in the reign of Henry II. At that time (A. D. 1176) the present London Bridge was projected, though not finished until the year 1212. In the former part of the reign of Henry VIII., there did not grow in England cabbage, carrot, turnip, or other edible root; and even Queen Catherine herself could not command a salad for

sir."

doctor, "now bring me a candle and a hammer, and go with me into the wine cellar, to nail up the door." Picture to yourself now the worthy doctor and John, in the subterraneous vaults, consulting the safety of the choice spirits there immured. "Give me the candle, John, shut the door, and drive a nail in here, at the top." John hammered. "Hit it hard, John; drive it up to the head." "I have, sir." "Now drive another in here above the lock, John." "Yes, sir." "Up to the head, John." "I will, "Now the third here, a little way from the bottom, John." "Yes, sir." This being accomplished, both paused to view the work, when the doctor exclaimed with exultation, "Now, John, I think we have done the business cleverly: you don't think anybody can manage to get in now, John, do you?" John, however, it seems, during the pause, at the conclusion of driving the nails, had reflected that he was on the wrong side of the door to run away, and had nailed himself and his master up in the cellar, along with the wine, in their anxiety to prevent others from getting in: he, therefore, very laconically observed, in answer to his question" No, sir; I am afraid nobody can get in: but how are we to get out?" Conviction then first flashed upon the doctor's mind, and, being considerably annoyed at his situation, he replied with warmth, "You stupid fellow, John, why-why -why, did you not tell me at first, John? You great fool, John, shout, John! O, dear! we are fast! shout, and raise the house, John; the servants must get assistance and break the door down." How the worthy doctor and John were liberated from the cellar, we have never heard.

MOURNING.-Mourning, among the ancients, was expressed cloth, laying aside crowns and other ensigns of honour: thus by very different signs, as by tearing their clothes, wearing sackPlutarch, in his life of Cato, relates, that "from the time of his leaving the city with Pompey, he neither shaved his head, nor, as usual, wore the crown origarland." A public grief was sometimes testified by a general fast. Among the Romans, a year of husbands. In public mourning, the shops of Rome were shut mourning was ordained, by law, for women who had lost their up; the senators laid aside their laticlavian robes, the consuls sat in a lower seat than usual, and the women put aside all their

ornaments.

The colours of the dress, or habit, worn to signify grief, are different in various countries. In Europe, the ordinary colour

for mourning is black; in China it is white, a colour that was the mourning of the ancient Spartan and Roman ladies; in Turkey, it is blue, or violet; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown, and kings and cardinals mourn in purple.

Every nation and country gave a reason for their wearing the

tion of light, is supposed to denote the privation of life; white is an emblem of purity; yellow is to represent that death is the end of all human hopes, because this is the colour of leaves when they which the dead return, blue is an emblem of the happiness which fall, and flowers when they fade; brown denotes the earth, to it is hoped the deceased enjoys; and purple or violet, is supposed to express a mixture of sorrow and hope.

How TO GET OUT.-An eccentric, though worthy and excellent divine (the Rev. Emanuel Glebe), having, a few summers ago, determined to make a tour, he took leave of his flock, over whose souls his care was extended, with more than ordinary feelings of good will; but, as he was what the world would call "a good liver," he extended his care likewise over that generous and inspiring beverage which promotes "the feast of reason and the flow of soul;" in short, he possessed a cellar well stored with the true Falernian. This store must be allowed to have naturally demanded his attention before he left home, and its security in his absence was what every man of common care would have endeavoured to promote as far as possible. With this intention, therefore, the doctor rang his bell, and his faithful servant, John, immediately stood before him; then, taking out of his purse a half-crown, he said, "Here John, take this: go to the blacksmith's in the village, and buy with it three tenpenny nails immediately." John, delighted with his errand, immediately repaired to the habitation of this disciple of Vulcan, and, paying him for the three nails, quietly profits by his master's idea of the number of tenpenny nails to be had for two shillings and sixpence, by pocketing the difference, and then, crowding all sail, appears again in his master's presence. Very well, John," says the

The custom of mourning for the dead in shrieks and howlings, is of great antiquity, and prevails almost universally among the followers of Mahomet.

INGENUITY OF RATS.-Incredible as the story may appear of rats removing hens' eggs by one fellow lying on his back and grasping tightly his ovoid burden with his fore paws, whilst his comrades drag him away by the tail, we have no reason to disbelieve it, knowing as we do that they will carry eggs from the bottom to the top of a house, lifting them from stair to stair, the first rat pushing them up on its hind and the second lifting them with its fore legs. They will extract the cotton from a flask of Florence oil dipping in their long tails, and repeating the malumps of sugar in deep drawers at a distance of thirty feet from nouvre until they have consumed every drop. We have found the place where the petty larceny was committed and a friend saw a rat mount a table on which a drum of figs was placed, and straightway tip it over, scattering its contents on the floor beneath, where a score of his expectant brethren sat watching for the windfall.

NEW MACHINE.-Mr. Van Winkle, an American, has invented a machine which will make from fifty to sixty bolt nuts per minute, of any size, shape, or weight.

COLD IN FRANCE.-The cold was recently so intense in the south of France that the navigation was interrupted in the Canal du Midi, which was frozen over. Not fewer than 500 men were engaged in that city in filling the various ice-houses.

NATURE'S REPOSITORY.

THE PALM.

PALMS constitute the peculiar characteristic and chief glory of inter-tropical climates. The novelty of their forms, at once arrests the attention of Europeans, and certainly entitles them to rank as "the princes of the vegetable world," owing to their majestic stature and the leafy crown with which nature has adorned their tops. Von Martius, referring to their limited latitudinal range, remarks that the common-world atmosphere does not become these vegetable monarchs, but in those genial climates, where nature seems to have fixed her court, and summons round her, of flowers, and fruits, and trees, a galaxy of beauty, there they tower up into the balmy air, waving their majestic stems highest of all. Many of them at a distance by reason of their long perpendicular shafts have the appearance of columns, erected by the Divine Architect, bearing up the broad arch of heaven above them; pillars one hundred and fifty, and one hundred and eighty feet high, crowned with a capital of gorgeous green foliage.

The palm family is supposed to comprise a thousand species, united by resembling features, though in various respects widely differing. The talifat palm of Ceylon has leaves frequently upwards of eleven feet long by sixteen broad, which are used to cover the entire freight and crew of a small boat, fifteen or twenty men finding a complete shelter under a single leaf.

Our engraving represents the wild date palm, of Mount Sinai, and is the variety so often mentioned in Scripture, either historically, as when Israel encamped by the palm trees of Elim, or, as a figure of speech, in the instance of the psalmist, "The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree." The tree skirts the margin of the great African desert, and was once so common in Palestine as to be made by the Romans an emblem of the Hebrew nation, though now, like the people it symbolized, it has largely perished from the soil.

DEER HUNTING IN CALIFORNIA.-The Indians in Sierra

Valley resort to various stratagems to circumvent the deer. The animals have been hunted so much that they take flight at the appearance of the hunter, seldom allowing him to come within half a mile. The Indians clothe themselves in deer skins, with

the horns on, and gradually work towards the herd, like a straggling animal, feeding leisurely along. After getting within gun or bow shot, the hunter pretty generally secures his prey. Another plan-they set the woods on fire on one side of the valley, which drives the game to the other side, where bark ropes are stretched along the brow of the hill, with here and there gateways open to let the deer pass. Indians lie concealed near these passages, and shoot the deer as they edge along the rope to find the end; they will not attempt to jump over unless hurried. In this way they entrap their fleet-footed prey. This information will not be new to mountaineers, though it may be to others.

TAMENESS AND SAGACITY OF THE HEDGEHOG.-Jesse says: "I had a tame hedgehog which nestled before the fire, on the stomach of an old grey terrier dog, who was much attached to it, and the best understanding existed between them."

During the summer of 1818, as Mr. Lane, gamekeeper to the Earl of Galloway, was passing by the wood of Glascaden, near Garlieston, in Scotland, he fell in with a hedgehog crossing the road at a small distance before him, carrying on his back six pheasant's eggs, which upon examination he found it had pilfered from a pheasant's nest hard by. The ingenuity of the creature was very conspicuous, as several of the remaining eggs were holed, which must have been done by it when in the act of rolling itself over the nest, in order to make as many adhere to its prickles as possible. After watching the motions of the urchin for a short time longer, Mr. Lane saw it deliberately crawl into a furze bush, where its nest was, and where the shells of several eggs were strewed around, which had, at some former period, been conveyed thither in the same manner.

DOMESTIC UTILITIES.

USEFUL RECEIPTS.

In a previous number we have made some remarks upon washing, and we will here give a few receipts in connection with that subject, and which ought to be known, whether acted upon or not, in every household.

TO CLEAN COTTON GOWNS.

Make a solution of soap, put in the articles, and wash them in the usual way. If greens, reds, &c., run, add lemon-juice, vinegar, or oil of vitrol, to the rinsing water.

WHITE SATIN AND FLOWERED SILKS.

Mix sifted stale bread-crumbs with powder blue, and rub it thoroughly all over; then shake it well, and dust it with clean soft cloths. Afterwards, where there are any gold or silver flowers, take a piece of crimson in grain velvet, and rub the flowers with it, which will restore them to their original lustre.

TO REMOVE SPOTS OF PAINT FROM CLOTH, ETC.

Dip a pen in spirits of turpentine, and transfer it to the paint spot in sufficient quantity to discharge the oil and gluten. Let it stand some hours, then rub it. For large or numerous spots, apply the spirit of turpentine with a sponge, if possible, before it is become dry.

TO SCOUR CARPETS, RUGS, ETC. Rub a piece of soap on every spot of grease or dirt; then take a hard brush dipped in boiling water, and rub the spots well. If very dirty, a solution of soap must be put into a tub with hot water, and the carpet well beat in it, rinsing it in several clean waters, putting in the last water a tablespoonful of oil of vitriol to brighten the colours.

TO SCOUR THICK COTTON COUNTERPANES.

Cut a pound of mottled soap into thin slices, and put it into a pan with a quarter of an ounce of potash, and an ounce of pearlash. Pour a pail of boiling water on it, and let it stand till dissolved. Then pour hot and cold water into a scouring tub, with a bowl of the solution. Put in the counterpane, beat it well, turn it often and give it a second liquor as before; then rinse it in cold water. Now put three teaspoonsful of liquid blue into thin liquor; stir it, and put in the counterpane; beat it about five minutes, and dry in the air.

TREASURY OF FACTS. DATE-TREE SUGAR.-630,000 tons of sugar might annually be produced in Bengal from the date tree, at a cheaper rate than could be produced from the sugar cane in any part of the world, and containing more saccharine matter in proportion to the bulk. THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT.--The present parliament does not expire, by efflux of time, till the 20th of August, 1859. The last parliament which approached its extreme limits was that which ended in 1826.

EXPENDITURE ON TOBACco.-It is estimated that, during the year 1854, the sum expended in the United Kingdom in cigars and tobacco, and afterwards "lost in smoke" exceeds 8,000,0001. sterling.

HALF-A-CENTURY OF LEGISLATION. - From 1801 to 1855 there have been 6552 public acts, 8226 local acts, 1562 private acts printed, and 1892 private acts not printed; making a total of 18,232 statutes enacted from 1801 to 1855.

INHABITANTS OF WORKHOUSES, &c.-On the 25th March, 1856, there were 27,429 boys and 25,156 girls in the workhouses of 650 unions, &c., in England and Wales. Gloucester is among the counties that figure for the largest number of pauper children.

CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA. The Supreme Court of California has repudiated the debts of that state. The constitution of California forbids a state debt of over 300,000 dollars, unless the people at an election should first ratify bills increasing this limit. The latter have never done so; and yet a debt has accumulated for over three millions. The surplus, therefore, (amounting to 2,700,000 dollars) the court has declared illegal.

RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES.-The aggregate length of the railways constructed in the United States, up to the end of 1856, was 24,470 miles, and to the end of the preceding year 21,070 miles; showing an increase of 3,400 miles in the course of last year. A total length of 2300 miles of railway was constructed in 1855; 2725 miles in 1854; 2660 miles in 1853; and 1740 in showing that more than half the length of the railways now in 1852; making together an increase in the mileage of 12,834 miles, operation in the United States was constructed during the past five years.

THE AVERAGE OF LIFE.-The probable lifetime of a male at birth is nearly 45 years. The mean lifetime, or the average number of years that males live after birth in England is rather more than 40 years (40.36 years), so that the majority of us live only about two-fifths of the years others attain to; or, may we not rightly say, two-fifths of our appointed time? Could the full period of existence be survived by all, that prolongation would be tantamount to more than doubling the present population. But while the average duration of life is 45 years in Surrey, it is only 25 in Manchester and Liverpool.

THE DEAF AND DUMB.-The relative numbers of the sexes are, in all countries, much more disproportionate among the deat and dumb than among the blind. In Great Britain, and in England and Wales, there are 121 male deaf mutes to 100 females; in Scotland the inequality is somewhat greater, namely, 125 males, to 100 females. In the Islands in the British seas there are 121 males to 100 females. The Irish returns give the reversed proportion of 111 females to 100 males. Of the 12,553 deaf mutes, only 783, or 6-2 per cent., had reached 60 years of age, a fact showing the unfavourable position of this class as regards length of life; while those under 20 years of age, although the numbers are unquestionably deficient, amounted to 47 per cent.

BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES, IN AUSTRALIA.-The number of births registered in the colony during the last ten years-viz., from 1846 to 1855 inclusive-was 49,050 males. 39,432 females. The proportions of the respective sexes in cach 10,000 births were, in ten years, 5072 males, 4928 females. The deaths registered during the same period numbered 18,429 males, 12,368 females. The average mortality of males during 1851 to 1855 was 1 to 61; that of females 1 to 66. The net gain to the population by the excess of births over deaths was:

23,731

25,494

49,225

Excess of births ...... The number of marriages returned from 1846 to 1850 were 7814; during the next five years they numbered 12,185, being an increase of 4371, or 56 per cent. The number of births, deaths, and marriages in the colony last year averaged daily-births 28; deaths, 11; marriages, 8.

STATISTICS OF CRIME.--There were 25,972 commitments of criminals for trial in 1855, against 29,359 in 1854, and 27,057 in 1853. There was a decrease of 22-3 per cent. in Middlesex, of 20-3 and 11-6 per cent. in Surrey and Kent, 20-2 in Monmouth, 19-2 in Cheshire, 9.4 in Stafford, 8.7 in Lancashire, 7-6 in Warwick, and 4 in Yorkshire. The decrease was not less remarkable in the agricultural counties, as in Suffolk, Dorset, Somerset, Berks, Lincoln, and Norfolk. An increase occurred in

Bedford, Bucks, Derby, Durham (21.9 per cent.,) Northumberland, Notts, Northampton, Southampton, and Worcester. Only 7 out of the 50 were hung, and all of these were murderers. The maximum number of executions of late years has not exceeded 15 (in 1849), and the minimum has been 5 (in 1854). The operation of the new sentence "to penal servitude" (which is never commuted), exemplifies the fact that a statutory reduction of any of the higher terms of punishment is followed by a reduction, in practice, of the whole scale of punishments. Thus, in the two years preceding the abolition or transportation for terms under 14 years, the numbers were, in 1851, 2,836 and in 1852, 2,535 total, 5,371; while in 1854, 310 were sentenced to deportation and 2,108 to penal servitude, and in 1855, 323 to deportation and 2,041 to penal servitude, making, in toto, 4,782 persons.

SETTLEMENTS OF THE WHITE RACE.-The British Isles, containing but a hundred thousand square miles of soil, and at first the abode of rude and thinly scattered tribes, have reared a race which within the last two centuries has spread itself as masters into every region of the world. Wave after wave of population has gone forth, as if the process was inexhaustible, and yet the little island only grows more densely peopled. Over nearly the entire expanse of North America has the British race spread,—it has colonized Southern Africa,-it is fast peopling the island-world of Australasia,-and it rules as a dominant cast over the vast realms of India. Everywhere the native races have disappeared before it-the Red men of America, the Caffres of the Cape, the aborigines of Australia,- or, like the Hindoos and Negroes, do it reverence and service. A great natural law is marked by the various settlements of the white race. In temperate climates it colonizes, and the inferior races die out before it; while in tropical regions, unfavourable to its physical development, it reigns as a dominant caste, making some inferior race act as its hands, whilst itself forms an "upper crust" and supplies the directing power. At the Cape, over the temperate regions of America, in New Zealand and Australia, the European race has colonized and is covering the land with its own people; but in India, it rules, and ever will rule, only as a dominant caste-a mere handful of men compared to the millions of the native population, yet ruling over them by dint of moral, physical, and intellectual superiority.

MINT OF HUMOUR.

Transported for Life.-The man who marries happily. Self Denial.-Looking out of the first-floor window,

and informing the tax collector that you are not at home.

What is that which cats have, but nothing else has? Kittens.

Why is a melancholy young lady the pleasantest of all companions? Because she is always a-musing.

"Stocks are firm," as the thief said when he had his feet in them.

The Parsimmon County Debating Club are debating the following question:-"Which is the proudest—a girl with her first beau, or a woman with her first baby?

66

"Sir," said a chemical student to his astonished Professor, "heat travels faster than cold; because you can catch cold!"

The young lady, says The New York Mirror, who eloped a few months since from that city with a distinguished major, has returned with a minor in her arms.

Mr. William Hardup has been without money so long, that he is quite certain the notion that "we live in a world of change" is a deplorable fallacy.

Why were there no postage labels in Henry the Eighth's time? Because a Queen's head wasn't worth a penny.

A hatter advertises that "Watts on the Mind" is of great importance, but declares that what's on the head is of greater.

Gent. (to servant): "Bridget, bring me this morning's paper."-Bridget: "Árrah! I used it to kindle the fire! Wont yesterday's do as well?"

Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them as to request a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, as you have got the original."

"My son," said Mr. Nunks, "how could you marry an Irish girl?" "Why, father," says the son, I'm not able to keep two women; and if I'd married a Yankee girl, I'd had to have hired an Irish girl to take care of her."

A witty fellow slipped down on an icy pavement. While sitting he muttered, "I have no desire to see the town burned down, but I sincerely wish the streets were laid in ashes."

66

"Does smoking offend you?" asked a landlord of his Not at all, sir." newly arrived boarder. "I am very glad to hear it, as you will find your chimney to be given to that practice.'

A Yankee proposes to build an establishment which he may drive a sheep in at one end, and have it come out at the other as four quarters of mutton, a felt hat, a pair of drawers, a leather apron, and a quarto dictionary,

A fellow stole a saw, and on trial told the judge he only took it in a joke. "How far did you carry it? asked the judge. "Two miles," answered the prisoner. "That's earrying the joke too far," remarked the judge, and the prisoner was committed.

A Frenchman, stopping at a tavern, asked for Jacob. "There is no such person here," said the landlord. "'Tis not a person I want, sare, but the beer warmed with de poker."Well," answered mine host, "that is flip."-"Ah, yes, sare, you are in de right; I mean Philip.

66

An officer of all work, Colonel M--, of the Cavalry, was complaining that, from the ignorance and inattention of his officers, he was obliged to do the whole duty of the regiment. "I am," said he, "my own captain, my own lieutenant, my own cornet-" "And trumpeter, I presume," said a lady present.

Owing to the new order of skirts, concert-rooms do not hold as many people as they formerly did. In consequence of this, a manager talks of charging ladies by the foot. Not a bad idea, provided he makes them pay the expense instead of their husbands.

Adversities are blessings in disguise. We know a man says a facetious American who has lived six months on a sprained | ankle. He belongs to half-a-dozen societies, and draws four dollars a week from each. He once spent a whole summer at Saratoga on a sore throat.

A bad tempered Judge was annoyed by an old gentleman who had a very bad chronic cough, and after repeatedly the offending gentleman that he would fine him 1007. if he did not desiring the crier to keep the Court quiet, at length angrily told

cease coughing, when he was met with the reply, “I will give your Lordship 2007. if you will stop it for me.'

At a country house, where Sheridan was on a visit, an old maid desired to be his companion in a walk. He excused himself at first on the ground of the badness of the weather. She soon afterwards detected him in an attempt to escape without her. "Well," she said, "it is cleared up, I see."-" Why, yes," he answered, "it is cleared up enough for one, but not enough for

two."

We have heard of a good many enthusiastic lovers in our time, but we think that Mr. Toots takes 'em all down. "If

I could be dyed black," he said to Capt. Cuttle, "and made Miss Dombey's slave, I should consider it a compliment; or if, at the sacrifice of my property, I could get transmigrated into her dog,

I should be so perfectly happy, I would never stop wagging my tail."

The new number of the Quarterly contains a capital anecdote of Lord Raglan, when wounded at Waterloo. The authority is the Prince of Orange. The Prince, we are told, used to recount that not a word announced the entry of a new patient, nor was he conscious of the presence of Lord Raglan (then Lord Fitzroy Somerset) till he heard him cry out in the usual way, "Hallo! don't carry away that arm till I have taken off my ring." Neither the wound nor the operation had extorted a groan from the wounded soldier.

༈་་

A woman in Jamaica was very fond of going to missionary meetings, and singing with great apparent zeal and fervour, "Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel But whenever the plates went round for contributions, she always sung with her eyes fixed her with the plate and said, "Sissy, it is no use for you to sing upon the ceiling. On one occasion, however, a negro touched "Fly 'broad mighty gospel," with your eyes fixed on the corner of the ceiling; it is no use to sing "Fly 'broad" at all, unless you give something to make it fly.'

The amount to be sent in stamps, to the Office, 9, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, London.

A YOUTH.-Remember that the understanding is lowered from association with inferiors. With equals it attains equality; but with superiors, superiority; he who calls in the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own.

J. BAINES (Stockport).-Sir Walter Raleigh was the first that brought tobacco into England and into fashlon. In North Wilts it came first into fashion by Sir Walter Long. They had first silver pipes. The ordinary sort made use of a walnut shell and a straw, and one pipe was handed from man to man round the table. Sir W. R., standing in a stand at Sir R. Poyntz's park at Acton, took a pipe of tobacco, which made the ladies quit it till he had done. It was sold then for its weight in silver. Of old, some of our old yeomen, when they went to Malmesbury or Chippenham market, culled out their biggest shillings to lay in the scales against the tobacco.

A. YOUTH. We can only say that our very manner is a thing of importance. A kind no is often more agreeable than a rough yes.

P. BRAND. (Glasgow).-We believe that a company has been formed under the Limited Liability Act for working Dr. Normandy's apparatus for producing pure, fresh, aerated water from sea water.

S. O.-Paris is to be the place of the conferences on the Neufchatel question by desire of both Switzerland and Prussia.

A CHYMIST. When the process of obtaining aluminium was first discovered, hopes were entertained that aluminium would take the place of silver as the metal of domestic elegance. The stranger has not quite responded to these hopes : has not fully maintained its character for nobility. It is true it does not blacken by exposure to sulphureous exhalations like silver, but it tarnishes by exposure to moisture, and is damaged by contact with warm water. Moreover it is blue in aspect, more like zinc than silver, and therefore less attractive. But uses for aluminium are dawning which were little anticipated on the discovery of the metal. It is now being employed in the casting of bells. No metal or combination of metals yields a tone so musically sweet when struck as aluminium; provided therefore the cost of its production be not too great, no metal can compare with aluminium for casting of bells; indeed, a leading mineralogist has already sold a considerable quantity of aluminium for this purpose. As to the cost of aluminium it may be already considered, bulk for bulk, about one-third the price of silver; and cryolite, the mineral from which it can be obtained with greatest facility, is found to an unlimited extent in Greenland. Inasmuch as the high price of aluminium arises not from deficiency of mineral, but from the cost of extraction, there is every reason to believe that it will become hereafter much cheaper.

G. S.-The number of exhibitors at the Paris Exhibition was not less than 20,000, of whom 10,500 are foreigners.

R. P. A.-The cost of getting up a first-class London daily journal is very considerable. The aggregate weekly expenses are thus set down:Editing, writing, and reporting a double daily paper, during the Session of Parliament, 2201.; foreign and local correspondence, 1001., printing, machining, publishing, and general expenses of double paper, with occasional second and third editions, and an evening edition three days a week, 2007..-total 5201.

T. S.-We believe that Samphire, which is to be met with in the cliffs of Kent and Sussex, when rendered a pickle, has been found to act as a very beneficial anti-scorbutic.

FAMILY

FASTIME

45.

A DEALER.-We have before expressed our opinion on that point; but an interesting discussion is now going on in the Lancet upon the effects of smoking. The use of Tobacco has during the last half century greatly increased in England, and has now become an almost universal practice. This question, in which the leading members of the medical profession are taking part, must not only greatly interest the public, but may very materially affect the revenue of this country, when it is known that the consumption of tobacco was last year upwards of 32,192,943 lbs., the duty on which was more than 5,220,000. This return is independent of cigars, which was about 150,000.

FRANCES KENT (Kisgrove).-Ascertain the date and you can see it at Doctors' Commons for payment of one shilling. If you wish a copy you must pay at the rate of so much per folio.

P. S.-We understand that the Essay on the Sabbath which gained the prize of 100 guineas, offered by the Evangelical Alliance, will shortly issue from the press. The Rev. Micaiah Hill, of Birmingham is the author.

D. E.-The post-office authorities have issued a notice informing the public that no unpaid letters to Australia, or any of the colonies, will be forwarded.

G. S. S. His present dulness argues nothing for the future. Descartes, the famous mathematician and philosopher; La Fontaine, celebrated for his witty fables: and Buffon, the naturalist, were all singularly deficient in the powers of conversation. Marmontel, the novelist, was so dull in society that his friend said to him, after an interview," I must go and read his tales to recompense myself for the weariness of hearing him." As to Corneille, the greatest dramatist of France, he was completely lost in society-so absent and embarrassed that he wrote of himself a witty couplet, importing that he was never intelligible but through the mouth of another. Wit, on paper, seems to be something widely different from that play of words in conversation, which, while it sparkles, dies; for Charles II. the wittiest monarch that ever sat on an English throne, was so charmed with the humour of " Hudibras," that he caused himself to be introduced in the character of a private gentleman to Butler, its author. The witty King found the author a very, dull com panion; and was of opinion with many others, that so stupid a fellow could never have written so clever a book. Addison, whose classic elegance has long been considered the model of style, was shy and absent in society, preserving, even before a single stranger, stiff and dignified silence. In conversation, Dante was taciturn and satirical. Gray and Alfleri seldom talked or smiled. Rousseau was remarkably trite in conversationnot a word of fancy or eloquence warmed him. Milton was unsocial, and even irritable when much pressed. by the talk of others, and the object of your care may yet be as celebrated as some of these.

X. Y. Z.-There are now above 150 ragged schools in connection with the Ragged School Union of London, and in these schools about 20,000 children are receiving instruction.

A HEBRAIST.-The Prussian periodical press can boast of a political newspaper written in the Hebrew language. It is published at Johannisberg in eastern Prussia, and its editor is a Rabbi Silbermann at Sijik. The title is Ha Magid, the "Announcer." It is a weekly paper, and its cost is 3s. a quarter, or threepence the single number. The circulation is not limited to Prussia, it has also a large sale among the Jews of Poland and Russia. During the Emperor Nicholas's reign this would have been impossible, but Alexander II. has removed the prohibition against Hebrew printing and Hebrew literature in the Russian Empire.

We cannot return rejected manuscripts. All our literary arrangements are complete.

Published at the Office of the "FAMILY MIRROR," No. 9, Johnson's Court, Fleet St., where all communications are to be addressed.