WHILE Goupil, Schaus, and our own public galleries, keep back until the autumn their newest and best paintings, Boston, which is in the path of summer tourists to mountain and sea-side, is now doing its best, so far as the display of pictures is concerned. Nearly everybody going to the White Mountains, Mount Desert, and the numerous resorts along the shores of New England, gives a day at least to seeing the sights in that city. As a consequence of the presence of so many guests, every thing is done to furnish variety at the places of public entertainment, and the Museum of Fine Arts at the Boston Athenæum, Doll and Richards's, Williams and Everett's, and Elliott's, are not in the background in this respect. At Doll and Richards's, in addition to a multitude of fine paintings by Inness, Duveneck, and a magnificent French picture, are two very excellent specimens by the old American painter Copley, which have recently been picked up in Europe and brought back to this country. They are both portraits of American ladies-one a sketch in oils of a member of the artist's family, and the other a finished full-length. The sketch retains its color best, and is of a lady in a large hat, which, with her powdered hair and her lace kerchief pinned across her bosom, reminds the beholder, in its soft light and shade and mellow tones, of Rubens's "Chapeau de Paille," or some of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. The other painting is thoroughly in Copley's own manner. Stiff brocade, elaborate lace, and a high head council of the Academy, says in substance that the allegations are not only untrue, but impossible under their regulations. The subject of employing a professor was not even mentioned, and had the question come before them it would not have received a dissenting voice. He says, further: "It may be proper to state that at the last meeting of the coun❘cil it was recommended that the schools be opened this year on the 1st of November, instead of early in October, as heretofore; but any such late postponement as 'some time in December' was not thought of, and will not take place, and the school may open in October." Mr. Whittredge says that the effort to obtain money for the support of the largely-increased schools was not entirely successful, but enough was obtained to pay the salary of the professor and keep the schools intact, and to pay an installment on the small existing debt. He thinks altogether that the record of the schools is not unfavorable, and knows no reason, as yet, why Professor Wilmarth may not serve the Academy as heretofore. It is apparent that the action of the students of the Academy in the formation of their league was hasty, and based upon a misapprehension of the facts; and this is, in a great measure, due to the somewhat uncertain position of the academic council, which recommended November 1st as the date for the opening of the schools, but left the matter in the hands of the new council, which takes office in August, but rarely finds a quorum for the transaction of business until No dress, form the costume of one of the stately ❘vember. If we have not been misinformed, it has always been the duty of the out-going dames of a hundred years ago. The color, a Veronese, from its remoteness in kind to its surroundings; and, judged in the same way, Copley's pictures hold their individuality even when surrounded by paintings whose standard is utterly unlike their own. In the JOURNAL of August 7th we gave the substance of a circular issued by the ArtStudents' League of this city, an association formed by the former students of the Nation al Academy of Design, having for its object a higher development in art-studies. The circular said further that the league was formed with the coöperation of Professor Wilmarth, and for the reason that the council of the Academy had abandoned the schools as heretofore existing, and had decided at its last regular meeting "not to reopen its department of schools till some time in December." The question of employing a professor was also decided negatively. Mr. Whittredge, president of the Academy, in a recent letter to the Evening Post, in reply to the circular, and in explanation of the action of the JAMES H. BEARD, N. A., whose pictures of dogs and other domestic animals are so well known, has just finished two paintings representing cat and dog life, which are decidedly an old cat, surrounded by her kittens, receiving a visit from a very sedate-looking "old tom," or possibly a "widow," Mr. Beard says, who is giving the gossip of the day. The mother has a cozy cushion for her kittens, and is eagerly listening to her visitor's story, but the kittens appear shy, and have assumed various attitudes, so as to best hear the gossip, and at the same time to be in readiness to scamper at the first sign of danger. This picture, as well as its companion, shows the fine drawing and the excellent technical execution which are always so apparent in Mr. Beard's works. WILLIAM HART continues his studio-work in spite of the hot weather. His latest-finished picture gives a midsummer-afternoon view on a meadow-brook, with a group of cows standing in the water in the shade of a great sycamore, or buttonball-tree, as it is popularly called, in the foreground. There is a fine perspective shown on the left, with groups of cows scattered here and there, and isolated trees, which form altogether a scene of rare pastoral quiet and beauty. The great force of the work, however, is in the foreground group of cows and surrounding objects, which are mostly in shadow; but there is a clearness about them which we have rarely seen excelled in landscape - pictures. The study of the mottled trunk and pale-green foliage of the old sycamore shows a closeness of observation which belongs to the figure-painter rather than to one of the landscape school, and the skill with which every detail of its peeling bark and tremulous foliage, as it is swayed by the summer wind, is given, is very suggestive of the scene in Nature. Mr. Hart has also given close attention to the painting of the cows, and the foreground group, especially, is made from his last summer studies. These animals are drawn of small size, and their hairy coats are finished with the care of miniature painting. In the handling of this work it appears as if the painter had made it his study to see how far a landscape and cattle picture can be carried in its finish without destroying its breadth. He has, as the result, given us a painting finished with all the care and elabo a rich interior, with a group of dogs seated "THERE is no doubt at all," says the London Daily News, "that the interest in art is at present very great, and that it pervades every class. Perhaps the good effects of this interest and curiosity are rather to be found in domestic architecture and decoration than in painting. We may possibly look on this as rather a healthy sign of the future of English art, and as a token that the age of confused aims, and hasty, flashy execution, is passing by." Three new rooms are to be opened in the Louvre-one devoted to French sculpture, the other two to engraved works, of which the Louvre contains a fine collection, but which have never been displayed, owing to want of proper arrangement. It is now definitely settled that the Michael Angelo festival in Florence shall be held on September 14th, 15th, and 16th. The Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna has announced that an exhibi ... The pendant, "The Morning Call," shows | tion will be opened on October 15, 1876, in the SET The シ galleries of that institution, of the works of | mirth-provoking opera will probably never be | pared for Continental circulation, that is to its associates from the period of its foundation | performed in Paris again. The authorities in 1704 to the present time. The managing committee announces that the object of the exhibition is to give a representation of the development of art in the Austrian dominions since the beginning of the last century. T From Abroad. OUR PARIS LETTER. HIS is emphatically the dull season in Paris as in New York. The fashionables have gone out of town; two-thirds of the the atres are closed, and the other third is dragging out a precarious existence, aided by stray contributions from transient foreigners. Even the Sultan of Zanzibar is about to take his departure. The presence of his dusky highness has brightened up matters for a week past. He has been going round sight-seeing, has had a superb pair of vases presented to him at Sèvres, and received a beautiful chair-cover in tapestry on the occasion of his visit to the Gobelins. Fancy wasting such artistic treasures on a barbaric African! He is by no means a beauty to look upon, being thick-lipped and woollybearded after the manner of his race in general, though his complexion is far from that of a negro, being yellow, or rather coffee-colored. Some of his suite, however, are as black as ebony. He seemed greatly to enjoy his visit to the Jardin d'Acclimatation, and was particularly amused with the gambols of the sea-lions. As to the Opéra, he evidently thought very little of the performance, and with reason, for it was very, very poor. One act of "La Juive," and the ballet of "Coppelia," filled out the programme of the evening. The sultan evidently admired the pantomimic part of the ballet, but he yawned over the opera, and seemed totally unimpressed by the dancing. The performance was very brief, beginning as it did at half-past eight, and terminating at eleven-a short allowance of amusement for those who had paid three dollars and three dollars and forty cents for their seats. There are grave complaints afloat about the management of the Opéra at present. It is said that M. Halanzier is running it simply to make money. The extreme economy with which the musical part of the organization is managed, none of the great French singers of the day, with the single exception of Faure, forming part of the troupe; the very few operas that comprise the répertoire, and the managerial indifference to novelty or artistic ensemble, make up quite a list of well-grounded complaints. It is whispered, moreover, that the manager is in league with the speculators that infest the precincts of the Opéra House, and that the alleged scarcity of seats at the have forbidden its reproduction on account of its satire on the petty princes of Germany, and its general dealings with German subjects. It is feared that General Boum and Baron Puck might be made the object of a popular demonstration more ardent than agreeable. The new comedy by Messrs. Meilhac and Halévy, which is intended for the Comédie Française, is nearly finished, but its title and subject have not yet transpired. I believe I before informed you of the fact that it had been sold to an American manager before it was half finished. The new comedy by Alexandre Dumas, which is destined for the same theatre, is to form a pendant to his "DemiMonde," and is to trace the influence of ces dames upon the literature, the society, and the politics of the day-a wide-reaching subject, and one that methinks is not specially fitted for dramatic treatment. Dumas has shut himself up in his country-seat, and is hard at work on this piece, which he declares is to be his chef-d'œuvre. Sardou's "Remorse" is already on rehearsal at the Gymnase, though it is not to be produced before October or November. The leading rôles have been confided to M. Worms and Mademoiselle Tallandiera. But before it is produced there is talk of reviving "La Dame aux Camélias," with Tallandiera as Marguerite Gautier. The Plon lawsuit has come to the surface again. It may be remembered that M. Plon, the celebrated book-publisher, instituted some time ago a suit against the estate of Napoleon III., to obtain payment for a large portion of his edition of the "Life of Cæsar." He, or rather his heirs, for M. Plon himself is dead, accuses the late emperor of a breach of contract in not having finished the work. Twenty-two thousand copies remain on hand, for which an indemnity of one hundred and sixty-seven thousand francs is claimed. The lawyers for the other side sought to prove that the literary and pecuniary success of the work had been great, and instanced the fact that the firm had paid to the emperor one hundred and ninety-two thousand francs as author's royalty. But none the less did the fact transpire that from 1867 to 1870, inclusive, not one hundred and fifty copies of the work had been sold. Evidently paying court to literary sovereigns is a costly game for publishers to indulge in. The English newspapers in Paris are not very numerous. First, of course, on the list comes the time-honored Galignani, which would be very nice if it was not so thoroughly British in tone and selections, and if we were not obliged to pay ten cents for it. Nor are its dimensions proportioned to its price, for it is a mere single-sheet affair, containing about as much matter as the Philadelphia Ledger. Next comes the American Register, with its twelve pages, its full and regular prices, which Heaven knows are high | complete lists of American arrivals abroad, and enough in all conscience, is owing to this complicity. Be this as it may, it is generally conceded that M. Halanzier is far less concerned for the artistic than for the pecuniary success of the Opéra. Schneider is positively to return to the stage next season. She has been impelled to this step by the cost of her superb hotel on the Avenue de l'Impératrice. The price of that has made quite a hole in her investments, and she wishes to repair the breach. She is to create the leading character in a new piece by Messrs. Meilhac and Halévy, at the Variétés-probably the long-promised piece of "La Boulangère a des Ecus." There was some talk of reviving "La Grande-Duchesse," but that its exhaustive and entertaining summary of news both foreign and domestic. Its New York correspondence is peculiarly fresh, sparkling, and interesting. Six cents is the price of this flourishing Yankee production. The Continental Herald, originally published in Geneva, but transferred to Paris a few months ago, bade fair at one time to become a popular and thriving institution. But it got into difficulties, and about six weeks ago was sold out to the London Hour. It comes to us now from London, dated a day ahead, and with a column or two on American and French topics, but, apart from its heading and the additions aforesaid, it is nothing more or less than an edition of the London paper, pre say, a thoroughly English newspaper deprived of all its Continental and cosmopolitan features. So the Register remains the only really American newspaper in Paris. Those Americans abroad who can read French (and their name it is not legion) usually peruse the saucy, witty, mendacious Figaro, notwithstanding its Legitimist propensities. As a repository of all the news, scandal, and canards of the Parisian world, it is certainly very amusing, but about the world of outside barbarism it troubles itself very little. Nothing that is not Parisian, or at least French, is of sufficient importance to be noticed in its columns. For instance, when the Schiller was lost, the Figaro declined to publish a list of the passengers, for the good and sufficient reason that there were no French persons among them. Very amusingly, too, it called attention solemnly to the fact that the three German lines, the Adler, the Hamburg, and the NorthGerman Lloyd, had lost six steamers in the course of twenty years, ignoring or forgetting another fact, namely, that the single French line had lost three steamers inside of one year. Though the Figaro can boast of so many American readers, it cherishes a bitter dislike against Americans in general, and American women in particular, and never lets slip a chance of abusing and of slandering them. The great Fluvial and Maritime Exhibition at the Palais d'Industrie is nearly in ordernot quite, though it has been open now for nearly two weeks. But the noise of hammering still rises over all the din of the machinery, and workmen are still to be seen rushing to and fro with beams, and pipes, and boxes, striving to get things in order. The title of the exhibition is ludicrously inaccurate-of course there are some things there that pertain to rivers and maritime navigation, but the bulk of the articles exhibited has about as much to do with navigation as with the moon. Clocks, bronzes, bird-cages, rat-traps, gilt and inlaid furniture, chocolate, soap, fire - proof safes, and patent beds, such is the variety of articles that crowd the long nave of the Palais. It is, in fact, a regular Franklin Institute display, only not so varied as are those at home, though probably more tasteful. One of the most imposing attractions of the place is a gigantic piece of rock-work towering nearly to the roof of the Palais, with a cascade dashing and sparkling down the front of it and falling into an ornamental basin at its base. Back of the cascade a cool, deep, dark grotto affords an entrance for those who wish to enjoy the view of the crowded nave through the veil of falling water. Mosses and evergreens garnish the clefts of the mimic rocks, aquatic plants bloom in the pool, and the whole affair looks like a permanent and natural decoration, instead of an effort of decorative art. A monster aquarium, in the same kind of artificial rock-work, extends for some fifty or sixty feet along one of the side-avenues. There is a monster clock that tells the simultaneous time in all the principal cities of the world. There are many swimming and diving suits, Captain Boyton having made that style of thing extremely popular over here. There is a boat all of solid mahogany, hollowed out from a single log, and polished and varnished outside so as to show the grain and color of the wood. In this boat, so runs the legend, Juarez once made his escape when hard pressed by the soldiers of Maximilian. The English division of the exhibition contains some curious and interesting models of vessels, some beautiful sail and row boats, and a very curious model of a life-saving apparatus, intended to transport shipwrecked passengers from a stranded vessel to the shore. The upper ends of the cords are attached to the galleries of the Palais, and the exhibitor is kept busy hauling up and down the miniature basket that runs so deftly along the cords. It is a pity that the full-sized apparatus itself is not exhibited, for, if a regular car with a full-grown man in it were to be hoisted up and let down occasionally, the attraction would have been far greater. As to the furniture, porcelain, etc., the display is not nearly so good as it was at the Exhibition of Fine Arts applied to Industry which was held last year. Among the edible products, which are exhibited in great numbers, the Margarine Mouries, or imitation butter, is probably the most curious. The counter, piled with paleyellow pots and rolls, each in its clean linen cloth, looked very tempting, and the butter resembled the real article à s'y méprendre. At the back of the stall was piled a row of kegs marked "Geneva Butter," "English Butter," "Belgian Butter," etc., each country, it appears, having a fancy for a particularly flavored article, which the imitation butter is prepared to supply. The prospectus issued by the manufacturers declares that the materials employed are simply beef-tallow purified by a particular process, and milk or cream. The advantages of the Margarine over the real article are claimed to be cheapness (the best table-butter costs twenty-five cents a pound, and cooking-butter twenty-two), economy in quantity, and the property of remaining sweet for a much longer time. America seems to be represented at the exhibition mainly by the canned fruits and oysters, the pea-nuts, the cocoa-nut cakes, and the buckwheat-flour, ex an invitation to dinner at a certain house, arrived in due course. It was observed that he was rather excited and strange in manner, but as he is known to have a singularly highstrung, nervous temperament, no particular attention was paid to this circumstance. Dinner went off in the usual way. The guest of the evening was particularly brilliant; his rapid, discursive conversation never ceased. After dinner, in the drawing-room, he consented to read some sonnets from his most recently-published volume, and he was good enough to expound in most eloquent and luminous language the subtler meanings of these poems and their connection with each other. His audience were delighted. Here and there, of course, there was a touch of extravagance in his speech, but to a poet some poetic license must be granted. Before going he requested the lady of the house to accept the volume, and inscribed her name in it. All this was very well, but some two or three days afterward he called upon his host, and immediately began to pour forth a whole string of apologies. He had mislaid the card-he had mistaken the nighthe had had to go down into the country. This astonished person now discovered that his guest of the evening was absolutely in ignorance of his ever having been near the house, that he had come to apologize for having neglected the invitation, and that he was anxious that the lady of the house should accept a copy, to be sent from the publishers, of the very book which he himself had given her." From my knowledge of the author of "Chastelard," I have not the smallest doubt that the above story is true. Mr. Swinburne is one of the most nervous men-he is very hibited by Cardinet, the well-known Ameri- | slightly built, and not more than five feet two can grocer of the Rue de Seze. Madame Louis Figuier, the wife of the celebrated author of "The World before the Deluge," has written a play called "La Dame aux Lilas Blancs," which has just been brought out at the Vaudeville. The plot is very simple and extremely improbable. There are two women who resemble each other as closely as two peas in a pod. One is a proper and picus widow, and the other is an improper Indienne named Jaguarita. One man loves them both, the first purely, and the latter passionately. Jaguarita elopes with a lover whose principal recommendation seems to be that he beats her, whereupon the hero marries his other love. Madame Figuier does not appear to possess any particular vocation for dramatic writing, her present effort being weak, bald, and improbable. The parts of the two heroines are played by one actress, a débutante, Mademoiselle Melvil, who displayed therein no inconsiderable share of dramatic talent. Poor Bressant will probably never appear on the stage again. He is in wretched health, and is said to be threatened with paralysis. Apparently. Mademoiselle Broisat's assumption of the character of Gabrielle de Belle-Isle was not successful, for the play has recently been performed with Sarah Bernhardt as the gentle and calumniated heroine. LUCY H. HOOPER. OUR LONDON LETTER. THE London correspondent of one of our provincial papers gives what he calls a "striking instance" of "the eccentricities of genius with which literary history abounds." Why disguise matters? It refers to Mr. Swinburne; he is the young poet alluded to. But let me quote the anecdote. Here it is: in height-you could possibly imagine. I shall never forget seeing him at the poetic readings given by the poet Buchanan, some years ago, in the Hanover-Square Rooms. There, in a corner, his intellectual face now wearing a scowl, now a beatific expression, as he was pleased or displeased with his broth er-poet's elocution, did he sit twirling his fingers and thumbs in a ludicrously-excited way. Ere long he became the observed of every one. "Who is that?" whispered a mercantile friend to me, nodding toward him. "That," replied I, wishing to surprise the man of figures, "is one of our greatest poets, Mr. Swinburne." "Indeed!" was the reply. "Well, I've always heard that poets were a rum lot; now I've no doubt about it!" A paragraph regarding Miss Mulock (Mrs. his pen. Even for the short story - "The Marriage of Moira O'Fergus "-which he wrote in the Cornhill, he received two hundred pounds. Princely pay, this-worthy of the days when Thackeray was the Cornhill's editor! Great indeed has been the falling off in this magazine's circulation since that time. Thackeray got it up to nearly a hundred thousand; now, under Mr. Leslie Stephen's editorship, it sells about twenty-five thousand. Still, this circulation is nearly double that of any of our other shilling monthlies. Mademoiselle Zare Thalberg's lines have certainly fallen in pleasant places. As I remarked the other week, she has already become immensely popular over here; and not only is she a great favorite, but she is doing what Albert Smith boldly confessed his desire to do -"turning a few coppers." Mademoiselle is in great demand for private parties. She sings and warbles at them exquisitely-to the chagrin, no doubt, of many an old dowager whose daughters hang on hand-and each time she attends one of these she gets, I am told, something like a hundred guineas. By-the-way, the Times has just accorded a meed of praise to the young songstress. In its "few general observations on the season" at Covent Garden, it says, in its usual ponderous style: "Mademoiselle Zare Thalberg, Mr. Gye's youngest artist, although she has only appeared in three characters, may be looked upon as his most promising recent acquisition. In each part she has made a highly-favorable impression." In these "few observations," too, the leading journal remarks, again in stilted phraseology, "That Madame Adelina Patti, on legitimate grounds, enjoys more than ever the favor of the public, is an unquestionable fact." It also assures us that Mademoiselle Albani has progressed, and is progressing, and that M. Faure has "maintained his position as the first dramatic barytone "-with which observations opera-goers in general will, I am sure, agree. Further, we learn from this article in the Times that, “from the 30th of March to the 17th of July-the opening night and the closing night-there were eighty-three performances, fifty-nine conducted by Signor Vianesi, and twenty-four by Signor Bevignani. Both conductors," goes on the "Thunderer," "must have shown exemplary diligence, seeing that no less than twentynine different operas were produced, and for the greater part in the most effective manner. The largest number of representations (fifteen) were devoted to three of Mozart's operas - 'Don Giovanni,' 'Il Flauto Magico,' ... Craik), the authoress of "John Halifax, Gen- | and 'Le Nozze de Figaro; ' Meyerbeer (four tleman," that has been going the "round" of the American press, contains more than one blunder. For instance, it says that Mrs. Craik is a widow; this is not so-but I can tell you what has probably given rise to the statement. Ashorttime before his marriage to Miss Mulock, Mr. Craik met with an accident which necessitated the amputation of his leg. By-theway, you have read Mrs. Craik's "The Little teen) coming next, with 'Robert le Diable,' the 'Huguenots,' 'Dinorah,' and 'L'Etoile du Nord;' Verdi next (ten), Rossini next (nine); Auber, Donizetti, and Gounod, each counting seven. So, notwithstanding the idea prevalent here and there"-I am still quoting from our representative journal-" that the coming of Wagner, with his 'Lohengrin,' was to be at least the temporary annihilation of our old and Lame Prince; " that charming children's story | cherished masterpieces, the reverse has proved was suggested in some slight measure by the living romance in her house. In her family of go upon a heap of stones outside Mr. and Mrs. Craik's door. The To use a vulgar expression, Mr. William "One of our younger poets, having accepted | Black must be making "a mint of money" by to be the case. Mozart, Meyerbeer, Rossini, and Verdi, are more than ever popular; and, though Mozart died in 1791, Rossini left off composing in 1829, and the 'Huguenots' was produced in 1836, they are likely to retain the popularity so well earned by their composi tions, in which rhythmical melody, the essence and soul of music, everywhere prevails." I, for one, hope that this prediction will come true. I earnestly hope that the reign of "the music of the future" will be very remote indeed! WILL WILLIAMS. THE EVANS REPEATING RIFLE. cartridge after each discharge. Many ingen- | character. So clearly do the accompanying Science, Invention, Discovery. ious and effective plans have been devised illustrations define the form of this gun, and THE signal triumphs of American rifles and riflemen in the recent Irish and in ternational contests have served to direct pub lic attention not only to the skill of our marksmen, but to the power and efficiency of the American rifle. With the general formand construction of the single-cartridge breechloading rifle our readers are doubtless fa ✓ miliar, and there seems to remain but one direction in which these weapons are open to improvement. We refer to the satisfactory adaptation of the repeating system. As at present constructed, the most accurate rifles are those which require the removal of the old shell and the introduction of a fresh to adapt the repeating principle to the rifle, and by this means render a more rapid method of firing possible. The Henry, Spencer, and Sharp rifles belong to this class, and to these may now be added the Evans repeating rifle, which, though still awaiting that final decision that comes only after long trial, appears to possess advantages of a marked especially its cartridge-magazine, that but a brief description is needful. In the first illustration we have the gun as it appears when loaded and ready for action. The special feature or peculiarity here appears only in the form of the stock, which consists of a metallic cylinder below, upon which rest the wooden portions that partially inclose it. In the second figure a sectional view of this magazine is given, and it is here that the ingenuity of the inventor is displayed at best. The metallic cylinder incloses a solid spiral, which is divided into longitudinal sections, each section being of sufficient size to contain a single metallic cartridge; and, as there are thirty-four of these chambers, the magazine when full contains this number of loaded cartridges. When this magazine is to be loaded, the cartridges are introduced through an opening in the butt. Each lowering of the lever attached to the breech causes a partial rotation in the spiral case and a consequent forward movement of the cartridge. A return of the lever to its position against the butt at the same time closes the breech against the back of the inserted cartridge, and the weapon is ready for firing. As it is our purpose simply to direct attention to the novel features of this weapon, viewed only as an ingenious mechanical device, we will not enter into a discussion of its claims to favor as set forth by the manufacturers. Enough has been said to direct attention to the principle of the gun; as to the nature of the methods by which this principle is applied, we leave it for the reader to determine by experiment or professional opinion. THE recent long duration of rain-storms which has so greatly injured the hay and corn crops will add an increased interest to all suggestions having in view even a partial or late remedy of the evil. As science is powerless to avert disasters of this nature, all the service that can be rendered must partake of the nature of a cure rather than prevention. It appears that this necessity has been felt also in England, and the English Mechanic notices one of these timely inventions as follows: "The unseasonable spring renders the prospects of a good hay-crop very problematical, and the recent heavy rains have done much to spoil what little grass there was to cut. The present seems, therefore, a favor able opportunity for calling attention to a method of making hay by means of artificial heat, recently introduced by Mr. Gibbs, of Chingford, Essex. The drier consists of a sheet-iron trough, six feet in breadth, and varying in length from twenty to sixty feetthe shorter length when mounted on wheels, as a portable machine; the longer when stationary, or as a fixture in a suitable house. The trough is raised slightly at one end, so as to form a moderately-inclined surface, down which the hay slides, being assisted in that motion by the reciprocating motion given to the trough. Running up the centre of the latter is a ridge of triangular section, with openings on each side at the base, through which the hot gases may pass into the grass, which is kept constantly stirred and lightened up by means of a number of small iron stirrers, which imitate the action of the fork in the hands of a hay-maker. A stove constructed of iron plates supplies the heat, the gases being drawn from it by means of a fan, which drives them through the jacket surrounding the stove into the ridge, passing up the centre of the trough, the temperature attained being 500° Fahr. or thereabouts. The fan is driven by a belt from a portable engine, but may, of course, be worked by horse or manual labor THE success of the Merriman life-saving | able changes in the color of plants, М. Вес suit, as worn by Captain Boyton and recent❘ly described in these columns, has stimulated English inventors to effort in this field. We now learn from an exchange that a dress somewhat on the principle of Captain Boyton's has lately been invented by Mr. C. M. Lloyd. It is intended to be used in cases where, from expense or other causes, the more elaborate costume of Captain Boyton is not available. It consists of an ordinary coat fitted with re where an engine is not at hand. The machine | ceptacles, which can be readily inflated with is not intended to supersede the old-fashioned plan, because the direct rays of the sun yield the cheapest heat extant, and combined with a drying wind will probably be found useful for many years, but is intended to be used in wet weather, in curing both fresh-cut grass and that which has been partially converted into hay. It is stated that grass can be cut, placed in the trough directly, and converted into the finest hay at once, at a cost of about two pounds per ton of hay made; but if the grass has been partially dried in the ordinary way and then wetted with rain, the hay can be saved at a cost of about eight shillings a ton-not a very serious item when compared with the pounds saved on the hay thus cured." AN English journal, commenting upon the fact that machinery is now being applied to the manufacture of watches in France, gives the following brief sketch of one or two of the more ingenious machines now in use at the famous watch-manufactories at Waltham, Massachusetts. With regard to the common notched or cog wheels we learn that they are first stamped in outline from thin ribbons of metal. A number of the disks thus formed are threaded on a fine rod and clamped together. The bar thus formed is placed in the tooth-cutting machine, where a reciprocating knife cuts a groove in it; the bar is turned automatically a sixtieth or other portion of a turn, according to the number of teeth, and a second groove is cut; the process is then repeated till the required number of teeth is formed. For cutting the escapement-wheel, with its curiously-formed teeth, a more elaborate apparatus is required. Each tooth requires six cuts to finish it. For this purpose the little rod of steel disks is fixed diametrically across a circular plate, round the edge of which are six knives, each mounted so as to be capable of traversing across the plate. The rod is acted upon successively by these knives, it being turned radially so as to come opposite each in turn. When all six have operated, a single tooth is completed, and the rod is turned on its axis to present a fresh surface to the knives. This is continued till all the teeth are finished, when the apparatus is automatically thrown out of gear. The jewels are cut, by saws of iron faced with diamonddust, into proper shapes, and drilled by a wire hair covered with diamond-dust, all by machines. Even the screws, of which two hundred and thirty are made from a thirteen-inch length of steel wire, the waste being more than the amount actually worked, are formed by a machine which makes the thread nuts off the screw, makes the slot in the head, and delivers the screw complete. About one hundred and fifty thousand of these screws go to the pound troy, so that the minuteness of the mechanism may be imagined. All the rest of the watch, except only the dial, is constructed by machines of equal delicacy. The dial has to be painted by hand, though it would seem as if so simple a printing operation ought to be done readily enough by mechanism. air, but when empty presents no apparent difference from any other coat. This may be worn by itself as a preservative in case of accident, or, if put on with a pair of water-proof overalls, it serves as a Boyton dress. A somewhat more complicated apparatus is formed, like the bow and stern of a canoe, so that the wearer is practically supplied with a small canoe, which he can propel and direct with a paddle in the ordinary manner. An emigrant's bed is formed on a somewhat similar principle. The inventor has lately made some practical trials of his various appliances in the Thames, by going from Waterloo to Lambeth on them, and he states that he has spent as many as seven hours in the water thus dressed without suffering any inconvenience. WHENEVER the lakes, mountains, or skies of Switzerland are visited by any unusual disturbance, the scientific world may rest assured that the phenomena will be made the subject of searching and thorough investigation. We are now informed that the extraordinary hail and thunder storms which preceded the recent disastrous floods in France extended over the city of Geneva. Here we learn that the phenomenon was more satisfactorily observed than elsewhere. At first the hailstones fell upon a belt about three miles in breadth, which belt increased in breadth toward the lake, where it was about nine miles wide. In a recent letter, M. Calladon states that hailstones weighing three hundred grammes each had been collected. The path of the storm will be investigated by the meteorological boards, and accurate maps prepared. THE forthcoming Paris International Geographical Exhibition promises to prove a success, both in the departments of scientific inquiry and popular enlightenment and instruction. It is announced that an immense number of photographs have been received from the English Palestine Exploration Fund, which will serve to illustrate, in a complete and graphic manner, the work already accomplished by the English explorers and engineers. The Russian and Austrian Governments have caused special and elegantly-fitted pavilions to be erected for their occupation as exhibition-rooms. Among the Danish contributions will be a complete collection of the dresses used by the natives of Greenland. A NEW quality ascribed to ozone by M. Boillot is its bleaching power, as shown in the action of chlorine. Ozone, he says, employed directly acts as an oxidizing agent, laying hold of the hydrogen of the substance with which it is in contact. When chlorine is allowed to act on any vegetable or animal matter it decomposes a certain quantity of water, taking the hydrogen to form hydrochloric acid. The oxygen thus set free is changed to ozone, which in turn lays hold of the hydrogen in the organic matter, the result being a bleaching of the fabric. HAVING observed that the discharge from a powerful electrical machine produced remark querel ascribes this result to the rupturing of the cells containing the coloring-matter. This opinion is sustained by the fact that when the cellular envelope is washed the leaf becomes white. Ir may be of interest to our unprofessional readers to learn that, at the last meeting of the Göttingen Royal Society of Sciences, a paper was read by P. Ebell on "Mononitrobenzonaphtylamides, Dinitrobenzonaphtylamide, and their Derivatives." Miscellany : NOTEWORTHY THINGS GLEANED HERE AND THERE. I T has so often been argued that art is independent of morals, that a writer in Cornhill takes up this "pretentious fallacy," as he calls it, and discusses the question with no little acumen : The duty of the moralist, it may be said, is to keep emotions under due restraint; the duty of the artist is to find them a voice and embody them in appropriate symbols. Since every emotion is right in its proper place, there is none which should be excluded from artistic utterance. We should know what all men think and have thought about themselves and the world; the skeptic and the believer, the enthusiast and the cynic, the man of strenuous ambition and the indolent epicurean, should each express himself in art and song. There is a time for all things; a time to be sad and a time to be merry; and, as in Mr. Tennyson's "Palace of Art," the imagination should contain a gallery hung round with pict-12 ures "fit for every mood of mind." To part of this doctrine we must emphatically demur. There are passions which ought to be suppressed, however little we may be inclined to the ascetic theory. The progress of the race is a process of eradicating brutalizing and antisocial instincts. He who keeps them alive is doing harm, and more harm if he has the talents of a Shakespeare, a Mozart, or a Raphael. There are sentiments which imply moral disease as distinctly as there are sensations which imply physical disease. Cynicism, and prurience, and a voluptuous delight in cruelty, are simply abominable, whoever expresses them, and however great his powers. Human nature, unluckily, is not all that could be wished. There are people to whom it is a pleasure to dwell upon foul and cruel impulses, who hate virtue, and therefore deny its existence. They are simply a nuisance; and, if they can't be stamped out by sterner measures, they should at least be kept in order by public opinion. The artist, it is often said, should not be condemned to write for school-girls. Certainly not; but to use such an argument on behalf of vice is simply to say that we ought all to get drunk because we are not all bound to retire to a cloister. "You," we say, "are a wretched debauchee." "Well," it is replied, "I can't be a milksop." There are, luckily, other alternatives. To the doctrine that novels should be written for men as well as school girls we should add that there is only one class of human beings for whom they should not be written. That is the class who have become men, but have ceased to be manly. Nobody should compose poems for human beasts. Prudery is a bad thing; but there is something worse. |