tinuation of Sir Archibald Alcock's articles on Japanese art; the eleventh installment of the Landseer sketches; an engraving of the Royal Albert Yacht-Club cup, presented by Mr. Loubat, of this city, to the club; and sundry other matters, illustrated and otherwise, making a very rich and varied number. (D. Appleton & Co., publishers.)

MISS FOLEY's design for a fountain, which she intends to send to the Centennial Exhibition, is described as follows: It is intended to represent children in the bath, and it might, therefore, be appropriately termed "The Bath of Beauty." The children are life-size, of the age of four, six, and nine. The fountain consists of an artistic arrangement of two basins, measuring about seven feet from the lip of the upper basin to the base of the lower one. The diameter of the lower basin is seven and a half or eight feet. The fountain is the first work of Miss Foley on a large scale. . . . The colossal corner group of the Albert Memorial, Hyde Park, London, representing "America," is to be reproduced in terra-cotta, under the direction of Mr. Bell, the sculptor, especially for exhibition at the Philadelphia Centennial. . . . The people of Philadelphia have the object in view of establishing an Industrial Art-Museum in the Quaker City, based upon a somewhat similar plan to that of the South Kensington Museum, London, to be placed in Memorial Hall, at the close of the Centennial Exposition next year. A communication received in England from the Hague intimates the formation of a committee to erect a statue in honor of Spinoza, the second centenary anniversary of whose death (1677) is near at hand. . . . Under the title of "Ariadne Florentina," Mr. John Ruskin has recently published a work on Florentine embroidery, into which he has introduced a description of three remarkable pieces of needle-work which he discovered in a room in the King's Arms Hotel at Lancaster, where he passed a night. The subject of these tapestries was the history of Isaac and Ishmael, and Mr. Ruskin recognized in their treatment and execution many of the qualities of the Florentine school of embroidery. . . . It is proposed to erect a monument and statue, from a design by Sir Gilbert Scott, R. A., at Wisbech, to Thomas Clarkson, a coadjutor of Wilberforce in the suppression of the slave-traffic. . . . Mr. Ewing, sculptor, of Glasgow, has completed the model for the Burns statue, which is to be placed in that city.

MA

From Abroad.

OUR PARIS LETTER.

October 5, 1875. AKE ready your softest handkerchiefs to weep, and your stoutest gloves and canes and umbrellas wherewith to applaud, O lovers of the drama in the United States, for one great as Salvini, nay, in some respects greater, will soon be among you. I have had a foretaste of the dramatic feast awaiting you. I have seen Ernesto Rossi.

The play was "Othello," of course, the one of all others wherein he most fully challenged comparison with his splendid rival. "It was, beyond expression, delightful to catch a glimpse of Shakespeare once more, even through the dim, distorted medium of a mediocre translation. After Racine and Molière and Voltaire, it was like beholding Niagara after watching the play of the fountains at Versailles. For is not the one Nature itself in

The performance was giver at the disused Italian Opera - House for the benefit of les inondés. The audience was large, and mainly composed of English and Italians, the curiosity of the first being evidently roused by the immense success of Salvini in England. In the depths of a baignoire Sarah Bernhardt sat enthroned, her great eyes shining amid the shadows like twin blue stars. Mounet Sully of the Française, and Masset of the Odéon, were also present. I wonder what the former thought of his own Orosmane in "Zaïre," after witnessing that magnificent picture of wrath and jealousy and remorse!

The first entrance of Rossi was somewhat disappointing to those who, like myself, had a vivid recollection of Salvini in the character. He lacked the grand dignity where with Salvini filled the eye with a perfect image of the "noble Moor." Then, too, his version omits the rencontre between the adherents of Brabantio and the followers of Othello, and that fine moment when the Moor stays the quarrel: 'Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them,

Both you of my inclining and the rest!"

So I could make no comparison between the lightning impetuosity of Booth or the proud calm of Salvini with Rossi's own conception of the point. Next came the scene before the senate, and then the new Othello began to take shape and form before my eyes.

Signor Rossi possesses as powerful and commanding a physique as does Salvini. His features, as far as one could judge through the paint wherewith they were covered, are scarcely as handsome as are those of his rival, but are equally mobile and expressive. His eyes are blue, and they shone with a peculiar lustre from out their dusky setting. His voice is clear, powerful, and sonorous-less rich, perhaps, than that of Salvini, but equally impressive. And as to genius, there is not, I should say, a pin to choose between the two great actors. Both of them are tragedians "by the grace of God," and not by dint of study and of talent.

The fundamental idea of Rossi's Othello differs widely from that of Salvini. Rossi is essentially the soldier, roughened by war and camps, free-hearted, high-souled, and debonair. Salvini was the "noble Moor," the great Venetian general, all dignity and grace till stung to madness and roused to fury. Rossi's Othello in the first act is brimming over with joy at the full fruition of his hopes. He laughs to scorn the anger of Brabantio. He tells the story of his wooing, not in calm and dignified phrase, but with the glad exultation of a conqueror. He clasps his bride when she enters with a proud delight, as though he would say, "Mine-mine at last, and in despite of all." But I did not like his gesture when Brabantio utters those stinging words, which seem to be the key-note of the whole tragedy:

"Look to her, Moor-have a quick eye to see: She hath deceived her father, and may thee."

Rossi starts from Desdemona and throws up his arms with a melodramatic "Ha!" which seemed to me exaggerated and inappropriate. Far nobler was the momentary thrill that shook Salvini's Moor, and the swift recoil of love and trustfulness

"My life upon her faith!"

The meeting of Othello and Desdemona at the island of Cyprus was always one of Salvini's

love, too intense for utterance, of that moment were never so rendered before, and probably never will be so again. Therein Rossi failed to equal the memory of his predecessor. But in the next act, in the scene where Iago first plants his poisoned dagger in the noble, unsuspicious heart of the Moor, the great tragedian stood confessed in full equality with his magnificent rival, and yet in no one particular resembling him. The Othello of Salvini is a wounded tiger, that of Rossi is a blinded lion. Salvini's "farewell" to the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war!" is the wail of a breaking heart. That of Rossi is a cry of supremest agony. Salvini strives to crush Iago; Rossi clutches him with a scream of fury, and would fain rend him to pieces. At the moment when Othello next beholds Desdemona, the changes of Rossi's countenance were marvelous to witness-the sudden return of the olden love and faith, and then the swift relapse into doubt and madness and unutterable misery. The whirlwind of applause that followed this scene was something marvelous to hear in a French theatre. Three times was the great actor summoned before the curtain to bow to his wildly-enthusiastic admirers.

The fourth act was as grandly rendered as its predecessor. One strange emission was to be noticed in the text, namely, that of the scene where Othello asks Desdemona for the handkerchief, which Salvini used to render with such concentrated and deadly quietude of fury. And then the curtain rose on the last act.

Up to that time I had found Rossi less great than Salvini in the first and second acts, and

fully equal to him in the third and fourth. But in the last act he surpassed both his rival and himself. The bed of Desdemona stood in an alcove draped with curtains at the back of the stage. A lamp that burned within threw a red lustre on the features of Othello, for in that alcove the whole of the last interview takes place. Desdemona does not rise from her couch, and Othello, standing beside it or half kneeling on it, pursues his terrible interrogatory, at last clutching his hapless victim by the throat in a very spasm of vindictive and jealous rage. As he hurls her backward on the bed the curtains fall, and the murder is hidden from our eyes. Rossi was perfectly magnificent in this scene. As he towered over Desdemona with upraised arms and passion-dis'torted features beneath the red rays of the lamp, he looked as grandly terrible as some image of a destroying fiend or avenging angel. But the end-the end-the utter prostration of that powerful nature, the total heart-break, the unutterable remorse, and woe, and misery -"oh, the pity of it, Iago, the pity of it!" As the swift realization of his anguish swept over him, he rushed to the bed, caught the dead form of Desdemona in his arms, folded her to his breast, and stroked back her disheveled hair with a gesture of such indescribable pathos that the emotion of the moment became a pain almost too sharp for mimic passion to arouse. Like Salvini, Rossi's Othello does not stab himself, but cuts his throat; but, more in accordance with Shakespeare's text, the latter totters back to Desdemona, to die upon a kiss," and after that last supreme effort and last embrace he falls backward dead upon the couch.

"Look on the tragic loading of that bed," were the words that rose to my lips as the curtain fell.

The whole of the last act is indeed more thoroughly in accordance with the original than is the version given by Salvini.

Most heartily do I congratulate the lovers of the nobler drama in the United States on the coming feast in store for them. For he who has seen Rossi after seeing Salvini has beheld all things possible in dramatic art. The force of acting can no further go.

It is a singular, but, I think, an almost unrecorded fact, in Rossi's career, that he was once engaged to give a series of representations in French at the Gaîté, when that theatre was under the management of Victor Köning. He was to have created the title-rôle in a tragedy called "Lercori," by M. Ferdinand Dugué. But at the last moment the great actor found it impossible to divest his French of its Italian accent, and so the project was relinquished. O Parisians! what have you not lost by that relinquishment? for where in all your myriad theatres, from the lordly Française down to the humble Cluny, will you find a tragedian fit to hold the extreme end of a farthing rush-light to this consummate and magnificent artist?

The tragedy of "Napoléon III," of which I spoke in my last, turns out to be most weak and atrocious stuff. The first part is taken up with the wooing of the Countess de Tela, who is in love with a certain young gentleman named Gaston, and therefore hesitates to accept the imperial crown matrimonial of France. Then we have a scene of jealousy between Eugénie and Napoléon, brought about by an anonymous letter addressed to the former, and reacounting her husband's flirtations with Marguerite Bellanger; but on his declaring that the charge is unfounded she instantly believes him, like a good wife, and begs his pardon for suspecting him. There is a faint gleam of dramatic effect in the last act, which shows the empress in the Tuileries after the catastrophe of Sedan. A character, vaguely designated as a Man, and representing the republican party, treats her to a violent invective against the empire, and bids her depart. 46 'Where are my dearest friends?" she cries. "They were the first to go," is the answer. Taken altogether, the little brochure can merely be regarded as a literary and perhaps a political curiosity, for it possesses neither poetic nor dramatic merit.

d'Architecture. For the benefit of those who may chance to possess a copy of the first edition of this splendid work, I must state that the price of perfect copies has risen to two hundred and sixty dollars for the octavo edition, and three hundred dollars for the quarto. The price of the new edition unbound will be sixty dollars.

The restoration of the Abbey of St.-Denis, under the skillful guidance of Viollet-le-Duc, is rapidly approaching completion. It is said that the renovated edifice will be formally reopened with a solemn service on the day of the saint to which it was dedicated. There was talk at one time of depriving Viollet-leDuc of his post as director-in-chief of the works undertaken by the government for restoring the public edifices of France, on account of his being a freethinker, but I am happy to learn that a wiser and more liberal policy has prevailed. Possibly it was found impossible to discover any one who could replace him in his arduous functions.

M. Campo-Casso, the second director of the theatreless Théâtre Lyrique, has resigned his empty honors in despair of finding a theatre wherein to install the organization of which he had been named the chief. The position of the Théâtre Lyrique is becoming farcical. It is a positive institution, possessing a director and a subvention from the government, and a good répertoire, and there are crowds of singers and swarms of composers all waiting to lend it their aid, and yet no home can be found for it. The position of the Italian Opera is precisely the reverse. There stands the deserted Salle Ventadour, with never a singer to startle its echoes with the tongue of Dante set to the music of Verdi. Why not join forces? one would naturally ask. Why should not the opera that has no home find a dwelling-place in the opera-house which possesses no company? Unfortunately for the Théâtre Lyrique, the Salle Ventadour has been engaged for the month of April by M. Escudier, who is then to bring out Aida," and so its managers shrank from attempting a temporary installation.

LUCY H. HOOPER.

OUR LONDON LETTER.

MR. HENRY IRVING has put his foot in it-I beg pardon, he has made a fiasco. His Macbeth is a big failure-nearly all the critics agree in that. It is not the Macbeth Shakespeare drew, but a weak, white livered Macbeth, whom one feels inclined to hiss and hoot. Parts of the performance actually verge on the ludicrous-to wit, the murder-scene, which the young tragedian sadly overdoes. In this the whining intonation of his voice is simply insufferable. Then, again, he mouths his words terribly-light with him becomes ly-y

Michel Lévy is shortly to issue a work by Auguste Vacquerie (the intimate friend of Victor Hugo, and one of the editors of the Rappel), which bears the somewhat ominous title of "To-day and To-morrow." The same firm has also just published a new edition of "La Mer," by Michelet, and a second edition of "Le Bleuet," by Gustave Haller, which novel is very highly praised by George Sand. The Librairie Illustrée announces a cheap illustrated edition of Jules Claretie's historical novel of "Les Muscadins," to be published in weekly parts, at ten cents each. E. Plon et Cie. will shortly publish a novel entitled "Military Households," by Madame Claire de Chan-y-yght; blood, with him, bloo-oo-d. Yet, deneux. The Bibliothèque Charpentier announces a posthumous work by the late Philarète Chasles, entitled "The Social Physiology of New Nations," and also the sixth volume of the "Histoire des Français," by Théophile Lavallée, and several new novels, one of which bears the attractive title of "Mesdames les Parisiennes." A second edition of Jules Labarte's magnificent illustrated work, "Les Arts Industriels au Moyen Age et à l'Epoque de la Renaissance," has just been issued by the Librairie Centrale

* Our correspondent had not heard, of course, when this was written, of Rossi's unaccountable abandonment of his intention to visit us.-ED. JOURNAL.

notwithstanding all this, Mr. Irving's rendering of the part has many merits. Now and again-as, for instance, in the banquet and death scenes - he is intensely realistic and powerful. In the former scene, especially, he thrills the audience through and through. As a whole, however, to quote one of our most able critics, his Macbeth is "but a weak and paltry creation." It can't " run." Miss "Leah" Bateman, too, is an unsatisfactory Lady Macbeth, and Mr. Swinburne very uneven as Macduff; but the scenery and costumes are admirable.

The audience on the first night comprised, naturally, not a few notabilities. Miss Braddon was there for one, so was the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Strangely enough, the man

who seemed to appreciate Mr. Irving's per formance the most was Mr. John Oxenford. More than once did that venerable, whitehaired dramatic critic stand up in his private box and lead the applause; more than once his attempts to lead the applause were ig nored.

Mr. John Oxenford, the well-known dramatic critic of the Times, and Mr. Horace Wigan, the lessee of the Mirror, erst the Hol born Theatre, have "collaborated," but not very successfully. The piece of theirs called "Self," which has just been brought out st the theatre named, turns out to be a French adaptation, and one which is partly spoiled in the process of "filtering." The plot is tragic —indeed, it has quite a "Romeo and Juliet" termination, for in the end both the hero and heroine give up the ghost. The heroine is a young widow; she falls in love with, and ultimately marries, a roué, one of the worst of his kind; and, though she does all she can to make him a respectable member of society, her labor is in vain. Not only does he rob her and lie to her, but he becomes enamoured of another woman. This is more than she can stand, so she locks all the doors, and then tells him to look through the cracks. She has set the house on fire! The tableau ends-and a striking one it is-by his carrying her through the flames. In the next act we find him just recovered from a delirium. As for his wife, she has lost her reason, but just before she dies she recognizes him; then he dies, too. The acting, except that of Miss Rose Coghlan (who plays the heroine) and Mr. Wigan (who personates a techy old schemer), is only second rate-a fact which led in some measure to the drama being by no means favorably received on the first night. A burlesque on Auber's "Les Diamants de la Couronne "—Mr. Robert Reece, the author, calls it "The HalfCrown Diamonds"-follows, and goes capi tally. It is full of brightness.

Mr. H. J. Byron is again triumphant. He has made another success-and a very big success it promises to be. His "new and original comedy,' ," "Married in Haste," has just been produced at the Haymarket amid no end of enthusiasm. Indeed, I never saw a piece more warmly received. Critics as well as the gen eral audience joined in the laughter and ap plause. And no wonder, for the comedy is full of epigram and smart sentences. If the dialogue is not always natural, it is at least nearly always funny, and very often brilliant. Mr. Byron himself plays a prominent partthat of Mr. Gibson Greene, a mature man about town, who knows everybody, and whose sangfroid and power of repartee are something astonishing. It is hardly necessary to say that the plot is simple-Mr. Byron never goes for intricacy; hence in a measure his success. He draws ordinary characters-characters that you may jostle against any day in the streets; and his incidents are incidents that are probably taking place in some part of this terrestrial sphere at the present moment. But here is the story, as condensed by one of our best critics:

6

"The people who are Married in Haste' are Augustus Grenville and Ethel Grainger, They are both of a romantic disposition, and prone to regard life from a sentimental point of view. Before marriage the gentleman, though he has great expectations from a rich bachelor uncle, is content to pass for a drawing-master, and, in that capacity, wins the heart of his pupil, the daughter of a retired manufacturer. In the full belief that her suitor is a painter passionately devoted to his art, and dependent upon it for support, the lady resolves, at whatever risk to her own pros pects, to bestow her hand upon the man of her

choice. Though they should both be cut off with the proverbial angry shilling, what of that? Renouncing fortune, they are, to use their own phrase, quite prepared to combine their two negatives to make the unpopular affirmative-poverty. Thus matters stand when the sudden appearance upon the scene of Mr. Gibson Greene causes no little commotion. He hauls down Grenville's false colors, and sets him forth as a young fellow in the best set,' and whose fine prospects make him a personage of importance in the estimation of match-makers. This revelation has a magical effect upon Ethel's father, a vulgar parvenu, who now receives with open arms the artist whom but a minute before he had turned ignominiously out-of-doors. There is much surprise but no change in the lovers, who soon become man and wife. Thus far all goes well; but Grenville's uncle, Mr. Percy Pendragon, an eccentric votary of old Chelsea' and bricsà-bracs, taking mortal offense at the hasty marriage, refuses to do any thing for his nephew; and Mr. Grainger comes to grief through rash speculations upon the Stock Exchange, and is unable to assist his daughter, so that the young couple are thrown upon their own resources. They have a hard struggle

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There was a funny scene at Glasgow a few days ago-it was one highly characteristic of the inhabitants of that smoky city, and took place on Mr. Sims Reeves, our sweetest and most popular of tenors, appearing there at a ballad concert. Mr. Reeves, on the occasion in question, sang, among other national songs, Auld Lang Syne." Now, it so happened that the canny Scot who drew up the programme had, unbeknown to our favorite warbler, inserted a paragraph inviting the audience to join in the chorus to the famous ditty, and this, it may be guessed, they did with right good-will, but very much indeed-the good folk of "Glosgie" have not the most

silvern of voices-to Mr. Reeves's disgust. The consequence was, that he had to conjure them to desist, which ultimately they did; but it is just possible that they have done no end of harm to Mr. Reeves's tympanum.

WILL WILLIAMS.

tic of the species, and by which their presence may be recognized in the dark.

Aware of the ravenous appetite which these creatures all seem to possess, the captor made his first attempt at conciliation by presenting to his captive a big fly. This dainty morsel, presented on a pair of forceps, was quickly seized, crunched, and swallowed. A second fly went the same road. With the presentation of a third, the tactics of the experimenter were changed, in that he attempted, while the fly was being masticated, to pat the devourer's head. "Instant

ly," says the record, "all was changed. The jaws gaped as if they would separate, the crushed fly dropped from the tongue, and the well-known click proclaimed a hatred and defiance which hunger could not subdue nor food appease." Several fruitless attempts of this kind having been made, it was deemed expedient to postpone the caress until the

sion, their progress being mainly impeded by the perverse conduct of the husband, who, jealous of his wife's superior talent, forbids her to sell her pictures, though he can hardly get a market for his own. The tradespeople grow importunate, and, when poverty comes in at the door, peace, if not love, flies out at the window. Grenville becomes reckless, keeps bad hours, and is continually seen in the park with one of his 'sitters,' who has no suspicion that he is a married man. Thus things go from bad to worse, till in a fatal hour the neglected wife, maddened by jealousy, yields to the evil counsels of her relative, and commits the grave indiscretion of quitting her husband's for her father's roof. Thus the rueful old proverb is vindicated, and they who marry in haste repent at leisure. But in the present case both parties are loyal au fond. Love gradually resumes its empire over either heart. There is a generous acknowledgment of faults on each side. Old friends are won back; the gruff old uncle relents; Fortune at last smiles upon the 'misprized' painter, whose works are not only accepted at Burlington House, but even hang upon the line; and the reconciliation of husband and wife brings the play to a happy termination."

From this you will see that the action of the piece is commonplace enough, yet, nevertheless, it "holds" the audience from beginning to end. As I overheard a young swell in the stalls remark, "It's all so natural, you know, you can't help liking it." The acting, moreover, is, as a whole, excellent. Mr. Byron is simply irresistible as Greene-you're bound to chuckle over his dry remarks, while Mr. Hermann Vezin personates that testy old virtuoso Pendragon to the life. No one will be surprised if "Married in Haste" has as long a run as "Our Boys."

The just-constituted Copyright Commission is by no means likely to give satisfaction either to novelists, poets, or journalists. True, among the commissioners are Lord Stanhope, Mr. Jenkins, M. P. (of "Ginx's Baby" fame), Mr. Fitzjames Stephens, Mr. Daldy, Dr. William Smith (Mr. Daldy and Mr. Smith will look after the publishers' interests), Sir Julius Benedict, and Sir Louis Mallet. But, after all, what have any of these gentlemen, excepting Mr. Jenkins, done to give them a right to such a position? And what, in the name of common-sense or any thing else, have Sir Drummond Wolff and Sir Charles Young done in the literary world that they should be made commissioners? I question very much if either of these two lastnamed gentlemen, with handles to their names, can write even grammatically. Altogether the

commission has failure written on its face.

PRO

THE TAMING OF BATS.

OROFESSOR BURT G. WILDER communicates to THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY for October an interesting and instructive paper on "Bats and their Young," in which the writer details his experience when engaged in the novel attempt to tame and domesticate one of these strange creatures. In addition to this narrative, founded on personal observation, the writer presents certain general de scriptions of several members of this interesting family, and closes with an illustrated description of the embryo and the several stages of its growth. A brief summary of this paper may be given as follows: Having found recorded but two cases in which bats were domesticated, the writer determined to test the truth of these records by personal observation. The individual whose training was thus taken in hand was one of our common bats, which are the dread of all housewives and their children. It was caught at night under a hat, the usual method, and in the morning was as wild and vicious as an unbroken Rarey colt. When touched, the jaws opened wide, expos

either discontinue that process or open its mouth to any extent. The result of this final strategic triumph is described as follows: "Its rage and perplexity were comical to behold, and, when the fly was really down, it

Fig. 2.-Long-Eared English Bat (Plecotus auritus).

seemed to almost burst with the effort to ex. press its indignation. But this did not prevent its falling into the trap again; and, to

make a long story short, it finally learned by experience that, while chewing and swallowing were more or less interrupted by snapping at its captor, both operations were quite compatible with the gentle stroking of its head." All that seemed now needed was patience, which in the end was fully rewarded. In a few days flies would be taken direct from the fingers, and soon captor and captive became such good friends that the latter would shuffle across the room when the professor entered, and lift up its head for the expected fly. Thus fairly tamed, an advance could be made, and additional knowledge obtained as to the habits of the sub

Its voracity is described as almost in

For several weeks it devoured at

least fifty house-flies a day, and once disposed of eighty between daybreak and sunset.

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Another observer, writing of the common, long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus), Fig. 2, describes its method of capturing its prey, in which it appears that, after pouncing upon it, instead of taking it directly into its mouth, it covered the victim with its body and beat it by the aid of its arms, etc., into the bag formed by the interfemoral membrane, whence

it was withdrawn and devoured.

Passing from these accounts of taming, we are made familiar, by the aid of an illustration (Fig. 3), with the dreaded vampire, but the class of bats which injure men and larger animals is declared to be very small. All of our own bats, and most of those in other lands, feed on insects, using their sharp teeth only in defensive warfare; while, as in the case of the Roussettes and other larger kinds, the food is fruits; and even men have been found brave or hungry enough to declare these bats good eating.

Recognizing the existence of an almost universal prejudice against these creatures, the writer attributes this distrust to their

Fig. 4-Flying-Fox or Roussette (Pteropus rubricollis).

apparent non-conformity to either of the common animal types. "The bat," he writes,

seems to be either a bird, with hair and teeth, bringing forth its young alive, or a mammal with wings, and the general aspect and habit of a bird." That the bat is a mammal is clearly demonstrated: it agrees with moles, rats, sheep, horses, cats, monkeys, and men, in bringing forth its young, and nursing them with milk. There are other anatomical features which link the bats closely with the moles, shrews, and hedge-hogs. Having advanced thus far, Professor Wilder enters upon a field of special physiological and biological interest, and gives a valuable illustrated description of the embryo in its several stages of growth and development. As this strictly professional portion of the paper will not admit of condensation, the reader is referred to the original communication for further information on this special branch of the subject. The facts that bats are not known to have nests like birds, and that they have no other way of caring for their young save by carrying them hanging to their fur during flight, suggest inquiry as to the number and size of their offspring. In answer to these questions, we learn that in one case two unborn young weighed two-thirds as much as the parent. It thus appears that the bat must be gifted with extraordinary strength of muscle to fly with such a burden, and this condition sug. gests the inquiry whether, since a bat can fly with nearly double its ordinary weight, a man could not so far reduce his weight as to enable him, by special cultivation of the pectoral muscles, to work effectively a pair of wings less extensive than those now supposed to be required. So it appears that, in addition to the legitimate results obtained from these investigations, a hint has been obtained which may prove of direct practical service to man.

ROBERT LAWSON, M. B., pathologist to the West Riding Lunatic Asylum, contributes to the Lancet a paper on brains and intellect, which, in addition to the many interesting facts presented, contains an ingenious defense of the universal insanity theory. We condense from the communication as follows: As opposed to the popular idea that the weight of the brain bears a direct relation to the intellectual capacity of the individual, we learn that, though Cuvier, Abercrombie, Simpson, and others, were found to have possessed cerebral centres of considerably more than the average weight, yet even these did not attain to the known maximum. The sixty-four-ounce brain of Cuvier is, in some respects, balanced by the sixty-five-ounce brain observed by Tiedemann, and the sixty-one and sixty-two ounce brains commented on by Dr. Peacock, the living representatives of which did not seem to possess a corresponding superiority over their smaller-brained contemporaries. It furthermore appears that, if all the elements of the case were considered, the heaviest brain on record would be found to be that of a senile

dement who died at the West Riding Asylum at the age of seventy, and which then weighed sixty-one ounces. Additional evidence in support of these views is cited from the official records of this same institution. It appears that a compilation of the brain-weights of seven hundred and five patients who died at this asylum shows that the average weight of brains in the insane was little, if any, below the commonly-accepted average of forty-nine ounces in sane males, and forty-four ounces in adult females. There are numerous instances in the records of the West Riding and other lunatic asylums, in which male brains are noted as weighing from fifty-eight to sixtyone ounces, and those of females from fifty to fifty-six ounces. In further illustration and enforcement of his claim, the writer gives the following table, in which the brain-weights of six men, who have earned fame in science, philosophy, or politics, are directly compared and contrasted with those of men whose lives have been mute and inglorious:

From this table it appears that, while the brains of Abercrombie and Cuvier exceed in weight any others recorded in the second column, yet the average of the six wise men falls below that of the six fools. Passing from this -the record of facts-we would briefly review

the writer's conclusions, which are certainly conclusions are, in brief, a defense of the theof ingenious if not startling character. These ory that great wit is nearly allied to madness. "If," says the writer, "the occasional occurrence of very heavy brains among men of great ability is no proof of the general proposition that all men of great intellectual capacity have heavy brains, neither is the fact that very heavy brains are found among lunatics proof that large brains are not, cateris paribus, characteristic of the capability or existence of great mental power. The occurrence among men of great ability, or even genius, of instances in which lunacy may be regarded as having tinged the products of their minds, and, in some instances, impregnated their works with the impassioned fervor which alone ennobles them, shows that such an assumption would be altogether gratuitous. Such men, for instance, as Byron, Shelley, Poe, Lamb, Cowper, and, in some degree, Dean Swift, have given evidence in their writings and their lives of such a taint. From the time of St. Paul, the fervid apostle, Lucretius the philosophic, and Dante the melancholic poet, down to that of Dr. Johnson, the apostle of common-sense, the men are numerous who have had ascribed to them the combination of much learning and more or less madness; and even in more recent times a veil lies over the lives of many of our great men and great women, which, if it were to be removed, would show that some of those who have charmed us with their brilliancy and helped to mould us by their power have not been exempt from the occasional or constant workings of the genius of insanity. Every day the observation of the poet that great wit is nearly allied to madness gains a wider and more practical acceptance." That the writer does not stand alone in this assumption he proves by quoting from Dr. Wilks, who, in a recent number of the Journal of Mental Sciences, goes so far as to claim that it is the insane element which imparts what we call genius to the human race, "the true celestial fire," and thus it is that the

madman has been called inspired, and thought { to have in him a touch of divinity. Nor does the writer recede from this proposition in view of the inevitable conclusion. Though deprecating the possible propagation of a race tainted with insanity, he still concludes that, in certain instances, the infusion of insane blood may be desirable, believing that it might easily be shown that such infusion has given genius to a whole family, leavening the whole mass. Though, as appears in the instances and table above cited, Dr. Lawson places little value on the brain-weight as direct evidence of intellectual capacity, yet that there are cranial characteristics tending to determine this he believes, and to the nature of these he refers, in conclusion, as follows: "It is worthy of renewed notice that, in the brain referred to in the first case (sixty-one ounces), the complexity of the convolutions is quite as characteristic as the unusual weight. As I have not seen the brains referred to in the last two instances, I am unable to say what was the extent of the differentiation of their gyri; but the general principle that the multiplicity of the gyri is more characteristic than large size as a gauge of intellectual capacity may readily be accepted as a safe one."

THE "effects of stress on the magnetism of soft iron" has been made the subject of experimental observations by Sir W. Thomson, with interesting results. These experiments were conducted in the physical laboratory at Glasgow University. In the first instance two wires, one of steel, the other of soft iron, were stretched from the roof, a distance of twenty feet. An electro-magnetic helix was adjusted around a few inches of these wires, so that, by means of a current passed through it, the wires could be magnetized. From a report of the results obtained, we learn that, when steel wire was used, the magnetism diminished when weights were attached to the wire, that is, when it was submitted to stress. With the soft iron wire, however, the results seem to have been of an opposite character, the magnetism being increased with the addition of weights, and decreased on their removal. Like results were obtained by other methods of experiment.

THE report of Sir W. Thomson on the effects of stress on the magnetism of iron wires, noticed above, suggests a brief review of certain kindred experiments conducted by Professor Barrett with a view to determine the effects of heat on the structure of steel rods and wires. It appears from these experiments that, if steel of any thickness be heated by the usual methods, it will be found that, at a certain point of temperature, not only does the metal cease to expand for a brief period, but also fails to increase in heat. The length of time during which this abnormal condition lasts varies with the thickness of the wire. If the wire after being thus heated be allowed to cool slowly, the decrease in temperature and the contraction will be regular until the critical point is reached at which the change took place on heating. Here a second and reverse change occurs-that is, the cooling is suddenly checked, and an expansion takes place, causing the wire to glow with a bright-red heat. The problem suggested by these facts is one that will merit and engage the attention of physicists, and its solution may be of great practical significance and value.

OUR readers will recall the fact, announced some time ago, that two of the assistants of Professor Hofmann had discovered a method of preparing vanillin-the essential element

of vanilla-from pine-trees. It now appears that this discovery is likely to prove one of great significance to the consumers of this article as well as profit to the discoverers. Furthermore, it is likely to result in the utilization of a waste product which until now had no pecuniary or commercial value. The waste product to which we refer is the solution obtained by paper-makers who use wood-pulp. In the preparation of the wood a solution of caustic-soda is used, and it is now found that among the soda-salts removed by this means is that of vanillin. By treating this solution with acid, the odor of vanilla becomes soon apparent; and it is believed that a method will soon be discovered for obtaining the vanillin in crystalline form. Our readers should understand that this artificial product is not of the character of an adulteration, but an actual substance similar in chemical constitution to the natural one. Should the method for obtaining it from the solution above named prove successful, manufacturers of wood-paper will find themselves in the possession of a byproduct which is of more value than the original product sought. As a triumph of synthetical chemistry, this discovery deserves to rank with that of alizarine-the essential element of madder-by Graebe and Leibermann.

WE learn from Nature that the preliminary Northwest African Expedition is expected to leave England for the coast of Africa early in November. General Sir Arthur Cotton and several scientific gentlemen are expected to accompany it. The object in view is to make a survey of the coast of Africa opposite the Canary Islands for the purpose of finding a suitable position for a harbor and commercial and missionary station; to enter into commercial arrangements with the native tribes, and to inquire into their present means of commerce, and the resources of the countries through which it is proposed to pass; to examine as far as practicable the sand-bar across the mouth of the river Belta, which it is supposed keeps back the waters of the Atlantic Ocean from flowing into the dry bed of the ancient inland sea, to obtain levels and other necessary information. Mr. Mackenzie, the director of the party, expects to get the friendly support of the most powerful chief of the tribes on the northwest coast of Africa.

EACH week brings with it some fresh announcement regarding the tempering of glass, while at the same time inventors are active in applying the original principle of De la Bastie to the various kindred branches. A recent French patent substitutes for the oil-and-resin solution of De la Bastie a bath of soot or melted butter, into which the glass objects, after being heated to a temperature of 752° Fahr., are plunged. A second method is that which employs in the tempering-bath liquefied metals or alloys, having a fusing-point below that of glass, as copper, lead, antimony, etc. Currents of gas or superheated vapors have also been suggested for the same purpose. By these several methods it is proposed to temper all varieties of ceramic ware as well as glass.

A

Miscellanea.

CONTRIBUTOR sends us a collection

of anecdotes of weddings, an installment of which we give below, promising more to follow:

When the collector of rare and curious specimens of insects, and flowers, and minerals, finds new objects of interest, he sticks a pin in them, or puts them in alcohol, or labels them, and then sits down to count his collections, and see what he has actually gathered. In the same way we may stick pins in the various experiences of life, and thus collect a museum of rare specimens. The present collection of wedding-anecdotes are specimens of eccentricities at this trying hour that have come across the writer's path. We see plenty of curious epitaphs in cemeteries; let us look at some wedding-scenes as strange as any of these.

A young clergyman, at the first wedding he ever had, thought it was a very good time to impress upon the couple before him the solemnity of the act.

"I hope, Dennis," he said to the coachman, with his license in his hand, "you have well considered this solemn step in life."

"I hope so, your riverence," answered Dennis.

"Perhaps we had, your riverence," chimed in Dennis.

The minister, hardly expecting such a personal application of his exhortation, and seeing the five-dollar note vanishing before his eyes, betook himself to a more cheerful aspect of the situation, and said:

"Yes, of course it's solemn and important, you know, but it's a very happy time, after all, when people love each other. Shall we go on with the service?"

"Yes, your riverence," they both replied, and they were soon made one in the bonds of matrimony, and that young minister is now very careful how he brings on the solemn view of marriage to timid couples.

A party came to a clergyman's house one evening to be married. Every thing went on harmoniously until the woman came to the word "obey" in the service. Here a balky scene ensued.

"Never-never!" she said. "I did not know that word was in the service, and I will never say it!"

"Oh, dear," remonstrated her partner, "do not make trouble now. Just say it-say it, even if you don't mean it. Say it for my sake-for your dear John's sake!"

"Never-never!" insisted the high-spirited dame. "I will not say what I do not mean, and I do not mean to obey.-You must go on, sir," she added, to the clergyman, "without that word.".

"That is impossible, madam," replied the minister. "I cannot marry you unless you promise to love, cherish, and obey' your husband."

think I can manage her after a while."

So the minister went back into his study, and wrote on his sermon for an hour and a half, and finally, at a quarter before ten o'clock, there