is directly fermentable. ICEBERGS CROSSING THE PATH OF A NEW YORK STEAMER. 165 The others must change into grape, of diet and aid to digestion. Though the use of sugar as an article of food seems mainly to supply the carbon used in breathing, yet it undoubtedly contributes also to the production of fat, for during the severe labor of gathering the sugarcrop in in the West Indies, in spite of the great exertion and fatigues, it is said that every negro on the plantation, every animal, even the very dogs, will fatten. sugar before they will ferment, and the same change also takes place during digestion in the stomach. Nearly all the substances belonging to the before-mentioned sweet or glucic group can be more or less readily turned into grape sugar. Thus, when starch is boiled for a short time with dilute sul phuric acid, it assimilates the elements of water, and is changed into grape sugar, the acid taking no part in the change, except giving the impulse to it, for that can be withdrawn unchanged on completion of the process. Malt also contains a substance called diastase, which possesses to an astonishing degree the property of transforming starch into sugar. Let any one try the experiment of adding a little infusion of malt to a basin of hot and thick arrowroot or gruel, and allowing the mixture to stand for a few minutes in a warm place, it will be found that the previously pudding-like mixture has become quite thin and fluid from the transformation of the starch. Again, when any form of vegetable fibre, such as rags, sawdust or tow, has been digested for several hours with strong sulphuric acid, and the mixture, afterwards diluted with water, has been boiled for some time, the old rags will have undergone magical change, and will be sugar. A hundred parts of linen rags will yield one hundred and fifteen parts of sugar, the increase of weight being due to the elements of water absorbed during the change. In France a great deal of grape sugar is made from starch, and is known as starch sugar. Much of this is used for increasing the strength of beer (at expense of quality), by adding it to the wort before fermentation. It is also said to be largely employed in France for purposes of adulteration. Though grape sugar has the advantage of being thus easily manufactured, it is at disadvantage, since it has not so gre ta sweetening power as cane sugar, besides that it does not ystallise so easily, and is therefore more difficult to come marketable form. in a Starch sugar, in its usual form, appears in large concrete lumps of a light brown color, and of very slight crystalline texture; it has an agreeable taste, though its sweetening power is less than half that of cane sugar, and it is not so easily dissolved in water. There is need, therefore, that it be produced at a much cheaper rate than at present, if it is ever to be largely consumed for the same purposes as cane sugar. Milk sugar is, of all the varieties of sugar, the least sweet, and is therefore little used, except for some chemical and medical purposes. It is manufactured in many localities in Switzerland by evaporating, after the curd has been separated, the waste whey to a syrupy state, when the sugar crystallises out. Milk sugar is found in the milk of all animals; human and asses' milk containing six parts in a hundred. Though cane sugar so closely resembles other members of the glucic group, differing from them only by more or less of water or its elements, yet up to the present time all attempts of chemists to form cane sugar artificially, have failed. When future researches shall have solved the problem of the real relation of these bodies to each other, there can be no doubt that some process will be discovered for the chemical production of such sugar as we put into our tea, but shall hardly be able to compete with nature in economy. It will be seen from the foregoing facts and considerations that the sweetening power of any sample of sugar depends on the quantity of absolutely pure cane sugar it contains. The ordinary brown sugars contain, according to quality (not always price), from eighty-three to ninety-six per cent. of pure sugar, the remainder consisting of water, fragments of cane fibre, grape sugar, and a small quantity of vegetable substance resembling white of egg in nature, and which is the food of disgusting little insects which literally swarm in some samples of sugar, and can frequently be distinguished without difficulty by the naked eye. In some kinds of moist sugar the impurities occur in such quantity as not only to destroy its flavor but to render it unwholesome. The cheaper kinds of lump-sugar are in all cases purer than brown sugars, and lump-sugar, from its form, offers far less opportunity for adulteration, an advantage which belongs also to the soft sugar that is crystalline in its texture, and not so moist as to clot into brown lumps. Sugar is not only a condiment; it is a most important article | The conversion of starch into grape sugar also appears to be the first step in its digestion; and it is probable that the greater difficulty with which cellulose is converted into sugar is the cause of its indigestibility and uselessness as an article of food. Sugar also plays an important part in many processes of the animal system, and appears to be necessary to the production of bile. It has been detected by Lehman and Bernard in the blood of man, and in that of the cat, dog and ox. Sugar also is supposed to be necessary to the process of incubation, where by its peculiar solvent action on the lime and phosphate of lime of the shell it is thought to assist in the formation of the bones of the chick, and though this idea has not yet been demonstrated, it appears highly probable from the general occurrence of sugar in the egg. As an instance of the marvellous processes going forward in the human frame, I may mention that in the terrible disease called diabetes, all the amylaceous food converted into sugar, instead of being assimilated by the system, as in health, passes away, the sufferer thus deriving no benefit from the food. Sugar lies under a ban for injuring the teeth. What shall we say of this? The negroes employed on agar plantations, who eat, perhaps, more sugar than any class of people, have almost proverbially fine white, sound teeth, which they retain in old age. But on the other hand, in England, persons employed in the sugar refineries, who are from their occupation obliged constantly to be tasting sugar, lose their teeth from decay after a few years. A strong solution of pure sugar appears to have no action on teeth after extraction, even after many months, and even when already decayed the action on them is scarcely perceptible. But sugar, in combination with a small amount of lime or alkali, has the property of dissolving phosphate of lime, a salt which is contained in large quantities by the bones and teeth; a circumstance which may explain in some measure the contradictory nature of the facts. Thus the inferior varieties of sugar and treacle, which always contain lime derived from the process of manufacture, and many kinds of confectionery into which lime enters as an ingredient, would be expected to have an injurious action on the teeth, especially if there should be a break anywhere in the outer coating of enamel. On the other hand, fresh honey and fruits, which contain a large percentage of sugar, but in which it is not likely to occur with lime in combination, are so far above suspicion, that some fruits as strawberries, plums, &c.—which contain much sugar, have even been recommended as aids to the securing of good teeth. ICEBERGS CROSSING THE PATH OF A NEW AMONG the many perils which vessels run in crossing the Atlantic in the earlier months of the year, even up to June, is that of coming into collision with the icebergs, which, disengaging themselves from the northern masses of ice, float in glittering grandeur down as far sometimes as the Gulf stream, melting lazily away as they near the warmer latitudes. That many of our missing steamers owe their fate to a collision with these mammoth juggernauts is undoubted, and the narrow escape of several others has been almost miraculous. Two years ago one of the Cunarders, going at the rate of fourteen miles an hour in a dense fog, only escaped instanteous shipwreck by one of those chances which only happen once in a century. Apart from the dangers attending them they are very beautiful objects, looking more like fairy edifices than the grim castles of death they frequently prove. Lord Dufferin thrus sketches his first acquaintance with these icy visitors: "I was standing in the main rigging, peering out over the smooth blue surface of the sea; a white twinkling point of light suddenly caught my eye about a couple of miles off on the port bow, which a telescope soon resolved into a solitary isle of ice, dancing and dipping in the sunlight. As you may suppose, the news brought everybody upon deck, and when almost immediately afterwards a string of other pieces-glittering like a diamond necklace-hove in sight, the excitement was extreme." The corvette and her companion were soon enveloped in an innumerable fleet of icebergs, which Lord Dufferin says: "In quaintness of form and in brilliancy of colors, these wonderful masses surpassed everything I had imagined; and we found endless amusement in watching their fantastic procession. At one time it was a knight on horseback clad in sapphire mail, a white plume above his casaque. Or a cathedral window with shafts of chrysophras, new powdered by a snowstorm. Or a smooth sheer cliff of lapis lazuli; or a banyan tree with roots descending from its branches, and a foliage as delicate as the efflorescence of molten metal; or a fairy dragon, that breasted the water in scales of emerald; or anything else that your fancy chose to conjure up." HERODIAS. "AND she, being instructed of her mother, said, "Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger."-MATTHEW xiv. 8. IN yon proud chamber, cool and still, Whilst yet the dance's joyous thrill Throbs in those fairy feet. The damsel prattles, as a bird But scarcely half her tale was heard, "No, child, I was not there to ɛee; "Let time to come send gems and goldOn whispering love they wait; This precious hour is mine, I hold And claim it all, for hate. A head which God, forsooth, hath sown "What? faint and white? what, dost thou dare To gasp a girlish 'No?" Is, then, thy spirit light as air, Off with that wan, imploring face, Like the false growth, whose mock embrace "The venom of the man I hate Fell on us both alike, Kind heaven hath armed thy hand with fate, And yet thou wilt not strike. Why, then with idle words have done, Keep idler tears aloof, And waste not shows of love on one Who seeks a single proof. "Lo! from its secret shrine, I bring This vessel rich and are ; Kept sacred, from each meaner thing, A prophet's head to bear. To yon crowned dastard speed like fire, Who knows not what he swore ; Wring from that oath my soul's desire, Or see my face no more." The maid had come, in maiden mirth, To greet that mother mild; Whose tenderness, e'en from her birth, Had never failed the child. Can this be she, with fevered breath, Forth shot, from that electric eye, Against their rushing floods of strength, And still, to every sobbing prayer, The savage face she met, Then died of her despair the cry, Beat down unheard, and silenced by So fitful gusts, whose shuddering moan Are crushed and quenched, whilst from his throne The charger to her head rose slow, Embossed with golden flowers; As noiseless as the stars that fall The woman watched with haughty sneer, Till, all at once, the roar Of the long revel, sounding near, "That silence speaks," she murmured then: That Herod breaks his vow." Then, pressing down her deep desire, Hissed through the shivering loom. That steady hand, that eye of power, Worked fiercely, firm and true; Leaf after leaf, each woven flower, Beneath her fingers grew. Tumult arose, with anger blent, She did not seem to heed; But toiled like one whose hours hard spent Can just her children feed. Faint steps at length were heard to beat, And, reddening those remorseless feet, The woman raised her ghastly prize, She watched them curdle into gore, And coldly said, ""Tis well!" Men left their fields half tilled, next morn, Half pruned their spreading vines; To lift in prayer their hands forlorn, It seemed as if the Lord of Hosts No longer cared to reign; Whilst Israel mourned, throughout her coasts, That more than Prophet slain. SAVED BY A BARREL: A TALE OF THE SEA. An old shipmate called to see me a few days ago, at my lodgings in street. He had followed the occupation of a sailor from the time that he was thirteen years of age, and although the thrilling adventures, hairbreadth escapes, and singular vicissitudes of his wandering life might, if written, have filled a dozen foolscap journals, they were all clearly traced upon the tablets of his memory, even to the most minute details. As we conversed of old times, the hours flew by unheeded. The clock struck eleven-my old chum's eyes brightened-he looked at me wistfully. Understanding the mute appeal, I nodded consent, whereupon my shipmate set his "spinning machine" to work, and the following yarn began to unwind: "Forty years ago at this hour precisely-I remember the circumstance as well as though it had happened but a few nights since I stood at the helm of the ship Champion, leaning against the barrel of the wheel, and looking up in a sort of dreamy reverie at the stars, which, it seemed to me, were all dancing back and forward, like so many little imps peeping over the yards, retreating beneath the sails, or looking slily down at me from behind the masts, the appearance being caused by the motion of the vessel as she rose and fell upon the long lazy swell of the equatorial waters. There was not a breath of air stirring, and the sails kept up a loud racket as they flapped heavily against the masts, with their broad shadows swaying to and fro upon the moonlit sea. "It was one of those kind of nights, in fact, which are calculated to create a drowsy feeling throughout the whole of Jack's system a feeling which, joined to the slow rocking of the vessel, the warmth and dreamy softness of the night, and the calm, steady gleaming of the silvery moon, produces an influence that it is almost impossible to resist. "Fvery man composing the watch on deck, with the exception of myself, had fallen into a deep sleep; and although I was struggling hard against the inclination to follow their example, my eyes would close every now and then, as though weighed down by some invisible hand. But from these oblivious relapses I would rouse myself with a powerful effort, and again fix my gaze upon the stars, mentally vowing that the drowsy god should not get the better of me. But nature will assert her rights. I had been up the greater part of the preceding night watching by the side of a wounded chum-whose leg had been severely hurt a few weeks prior to this time, when the boat to which he belonged was stoven by a sperm whale-and on that account needed sleep much more than any of my shipmates. "Gradually the stars again faded from my view-my heavy eyelids closed-and I was about to sink into another doze, when a noise, close at my right hand, caused me to awake with a sudden start. Upon looking in the direction of the sound I perceived that it had been caused by the third mate, who, while blundering along, half asleep, in the direction of the binnacle, probably with the intention of looking at the compass, had stumbled over an empty barrel that obstructed his way. "With a fierce oath, uttered in an angry voice, he lifted the unconscious object of his wrath from the deck, and hurled it over the rail into the sea. It was well for me that he did so." "How? What connection had you with that empty barrel?" I interrupted. "Be patient and you shall hear," responded my chum ; "but I again repeat, it was well for me that he hove that barrel overboard. I have since thought the act must have been performed through the instrumentality of some good spirit who watched over my welfare. But to proceed with my story. "Having thus vented his indignation, the third mate gave a glance at the compass, and then returned to his comfortable quarters near the steerage-hatch, where, stretching himself out upon the deck, and resting his head upon his pillow-a bag of potatoes he was soon snoring away in a lusty manner. A few minutes afterward my eyes closed again-the noise from the officer's respiratory organs died upon my ears, and I found myself once more in the land of dreams. "I seemed to be standing near the verge of a precipice. The sky was clear-it was night-and the moon was sailing majestically along the heavens. Suddenly I beheld a dark cloud swiftly advancing from the west. Nearer and nearer it seemed to approach every moment, and I could perceive that it was followed by a number of black-looking objects, which, upon a closer inspection, I distinguished to be locusts. The loud, humming noise emitted by these insects fell with a strange, weird sound upon my ear. "At length the cloud passed over the moon; the wind rose, the lightning flashed, the thunder rolled. The force of the gale seemed to be carrying me to the verge of the precipice. In vain I resisted-nearer and nearer toward the frightful spot was I borne. Another step, and I would be precipitated from the dizzy height. My brain reeled as I gazed below; a broad expanse of water rolled thundering, hissing and foaming, at the foot of the height. At that instant a loud crash of thunder greeted my ears, and I awoke. Half bewildered, I rubbed my eyes and looked, or rather strove to look about me. But an impenetrable gloom had settled around the ship, and I now comprehended that during my sleep a tempest had been gathering. I leaned anxiously forward to look at the compass. At that moment there was a loud, rushing sound, and the storm burst howling and shrieking upon the vessel. The ship went down upon her beam ends before the fury of the blast; there was a crash of snapping spars up aloft, a wild slatting of sheets rent asunder, mingled with the thunder-like report of the topsails as they were split open by the gale.. "The next moment the wheel gave a sudden violent jerkone of the revolving spokes caught in the buttonhole of my jacket, and I was sent like a shot to leeward over the ship's rail into the boiling, foaming waters of the wild sea! When I rose to the surface I caught a last glimpse of the vessel as she receded from my view amid the deep gloom. "I was an excellent swimmer, but hope faded from my heart with the vanishing form of that ship, and I felt that I was doomed to perish. "Alone upon the ocean, east amid the merciless waves, with the wild spray dashing over me, and the storm wind howling in my ears, what could I look forward to but death? "Still I clung to life with the energy of despair, cleaving the raging waters with my arms as though some friendly shore near by was cheering my vision. Suddenly my hand struck against a hollow wooden substance, and an involuntary cry of joy escaped my lips, as I perceived that this object was the empty barrel which the third mate of the Champion had thrown overboard about half an hour previously. As I continued to feel it, I noticed that one of the iron hoops had become considerably loosened. Unfastening my belt from my waist, and also the silk handkerchief from my neck, I tied them securely together, and then lashed myself to the friendly barrel. Minutes and hours went by, but the storm continued as terrific as ever. Buoyed up by my life-preserver, I was tossed hither and thither upon the mighty waves. My head swam, and the darkness seemed to revolve about me, and every bone in my body ached. "At last it began to grow lighter, but as far as I could see nothing met my gaze, save the dark clouds rushing wildly over the heavens, and the mass of wild foaming waves that rolled thundering and foaming across the broad bosom of the sea. Once I thought I could perceive a sail in the distance, and my heart leaped joyfully in my breast; but as the object drew nearer I saw that it was a large seabird. He came close to the spot I occupied, and with wild, unearthly screams, flew in circles about my head. "There is no hope!' I mentally exclaimed ; even that bird's instinct tells him that I must die, and he is waiting that he may have the pleasure of feasting upon my body!' "At that moment, as if to encourage me, a ray of sunlight pierced the dark pall of clouds above, and shone upon me. The howl of the blast began to subside a little, and I knew that the storm was going down. As I looked keenly to the eastward, I again saw something white, but supposing that it was another bird, I checked the exultant feeling that was rising in my breast. A tremendous wave bore down upon me-lifted my form high upon its mountain crest, and then seemed to roll onward in the direction of the object I had just seen. I watched it as it receded far in the distance, hiding the speck from my vision; but a few minutes later this last again came to view as it was raised high above the level of the sea-and then my JONES (in Photographic Studio)-" 4-look 'ere, you know, mister, I don't want my Cart published, you know, but if any nice gal or lady of position should want a copy, why you can sell it to her, you know!" doubts were at an end. It was a vessel! I distinctly saw a black spot mingled with the white of the sails, which I knew to be the hull of the craft, and this circumstance convinced me that she was not so far off as I had supposed. physician on board the barque, and accordingly, taking me in the boat, they made all possible haste to reach their vessel, which, as you have perceived, they succeeded in doing in time to save my life. "Attempts to describe the joy which thrilled my frame at "A few more words will serve to conclude my story. In a this discovery would be a vain one. I took my soaked hand-month I had so far recovered from my wound, that I was able kerchief from my pocket and waved it over my head as a signal, whenever a wave lifted me in the air; and as I continued to watch the vessel, I knew by the apparent increase of her size that she was approaching in my direction. "They have seen me!' I shouted exultingly. "At that moment the bird-who all this time had continued to wheel in circles above my head-suddenly made a downward dart, with the probable intention of seizing upon some fish she had seen in the water. By some means or other, however, she missed her aim, and the end of her sharp bill came into contact with my neck and pierced it. An agonising sensation of pain thrilled my whole frame, and the next moment I felt the warm blood gushing from the wound, as the creature flew screaming away. "A deadly faintness soon came over me; the sky and the vast ocean appeared to whirl before my vision-everything seemed shrouded in mist-then to grow dark-and the next moment I became unconscious. "When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in the cabin of a strange vessel. There were bandages about my -throat, and as soon as I could collect my scattered faculties, I knew that the flow of blood had been stopped. to be on deck. Soon afterwards the barque arrived at Valparaiso. I there shipped in a merchant vessel bound to the East Indies, and from thence to China. "Three years elapsed before I again returned home. Upon reaching Liverpool I sought out the owners of the Champion, to whom I related the foregoing incidents; and in their turn they stated the fact that this vessel had not been seen or heard from since the date of my accident. "There was, accordingly, no reason to doubt that she had been lost at sea, and that all hands had perished with her. I then felt as I feel now, almost certain that the catastrophe took place on the same night that I met with my accident; and that had the watch been awake, as they should have been, ere the storm struck the ship, they could easily have saved her. "Such is my story," continued the old seaman, as he put down his empty pipe; "and I hope that you may profit by the moral it contains, which is this: Always be faithful, and wide awake at the post of duty." DRESS. "Two men stood by the side of my bunk, looking down SIR RICHARD STEELE has told us that "it is worth while to conupon me. My eager inquiries were soon answered. "I was told that I was in an English barque bound to Valparaiso. My signal had been descried by one of the seamen, and the vessel had been put directly for the spot. Soon afterward, having approached sufficiently near, a boat was dispatched to pick me up. But great was the surprise of the crew when they perceived my unconscious state, and the ghastly wound in my throat. Luckily they had a skilful sider the force of dress, and how people of one age differ from "that which, by the way, is the same as that of our Beefeaters at the | in his manner. Cause runs into effect, and effect becomes cause. Tower, lately and foolishly altered for the worse, 66 was as sumed not without a good and politic view, because they look a .foot taller and a foot and a half broader; besides that, the cap leaves the face expanded, and consequently more terrible, and fit to stand at the entrance of palaces." What affects one man will do so to thousands. Those who are dressed alike generally think alike, which is only putting Steele's observation in new words. Voltaire said of war that it was merely a freak of seventy thousand men in cocked hats, trying very hard to kill twenty thousand men in turbans, and really the majority of those ninety thousand people did not in his time differ much. With them neither Christianity nor Mohammedanism had very great weight. Religion was at least more ponderous on the side of the Turks than on that of the Christians. We He here hits upon the right vein. Dress has a meaning in it. It is not so foolish nor so slight a thing as people think. Here is lately an artist from Italy who has published a little book upon folds and bows in neckties and cravats, or in the ribbons of a lady's gown, and who maintains that knots are abominations, unnatural, cruel, wrong; that they distort the proper fall and arrangement of the ribbon. This is not sheer coxcombry, nor midsummer madness. Of course this gentleman looks upon everything with the eye of an artist, and, to him, many points are positively wrong, which to others seem right. So again with colors. We English have long ago had the character given us (we believe by ourselves) of being the worstdressed people in the world; not, indeed, as to quality, but as to manner. The reason is, because our country women have never studied color. If they looked with a little thought upon the arrangement of the colors of flowers, how different shades of green are allotted to various highly toned colors; how certain combinations are never found together, and how sundry tints fade insensibly into others, they would never make a mis-cut collar of the Quaker, all mean something. Not without take. But if certain incongruous hues are placed together, the lady who wears them will always look badly, if that which she stands up in be worth twenty thousand pounds. The potency of external difference has long been seen. have old proverbs about it. "The hood makes the monk," or as we sometimes misquote it," the hood does not make the monk." All religious bodies, of whatever country or age, have felt the great distinction of dress. The priests of Jupiter, the Augurs and Aruspices, the Flamen and the Pontifex Maximus were dressed very differently from the common everyday Roman, and the knight differed from the citizen, and the freed man from the slave. So also the priests of the Sun, who sacrificed before Montezuma when Cortez landed in Peru, the Bonze in China and the Dervish of the Desert were distinctively clad. The ephod and the breastplate, the jewelled head-dress of the high priest, the lawn sleeves of the bishop and the straight reason did the Pharisee of old make broad his phylactery-a sacred scroll from which he read-and enlarge the edge of his garment A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn. But dress as we have asserted, has an effect upon character. Not only may we be sure that an ill-dressed man will never be says Pope; and Lackington, the bookseller, tells somewhere a so much at ease as one who is well dressed, but we are certain good story of a young fellow who was cured of swearing by putthat he will not think so highly nor so well. A mean and ting on a Quaker's dress and constantly wearing it. It seemed shabby appearance gives a man mean and shabby ways. A to him incongruous to swear in a Quaker's coat. Half the slattern in her gown and cap is too often a slattern at home. spirit of soldiers is given them by their uniforms. "Directly A finicking, foolish, smart little 'gent" of a coxcomb, is a man puts on the Queen's cloth," cries the sergeant, "he is a finicking and foolish in his ways of thinking. A sharp young gentleman." And he says so truly. He behaves more like a city clerk, a dapper, tidy little fellow, is active, dapper and tidy gentleman. He has more honor about him, is more obedient, MISS STOUT-" You see, dear, I thought your Swiss dress so pretty, that I have made one exactly like it. Why we shall be taken for sisters!" |