thus the leak is completely covered on the inside and on the outside, and the water is kept out. That this means of safety can be made use of in the open sea, and under different circumstances, without the necessity of docking the ship, is not the least among its recommendations. AN ELECTRO-MAGNECTIC COPYING-PRESS.Signor Zuccato, an Italian, has devised an electrochemical method of copying writings, diagrams, or designs, which, while affording another instance of practical application of science, can hardly fail of general recognition. A description of the method is printed in the Journal of the Photographic Society. A steel plate is covered with a coat of varnish, and on this, when dry, the writing or design is scratched or written with a steel point. Should a fac-simile be required, this can be produced on the varnished plate by the process known to photographers, and then scratched, as in the former instance. The copying is effected in an ordinary copying-press, to which, above and below, wires from an electric battery are connected. Moist sheets of copying-paper, impregnated with prussiate of potash, are laid on the steel plate, and placed in the press. Immediately that the press is screwed close, the electric current begins to pass, and prints on all the sheets of paper, in from thirty to sixty seconds, whatever is scratched on the plate. The operation may be repeated as often as is desired; whereby copies can be multiplied to any extent, which in many cases would be highly advantageous. We hear that this new electro-chemical copying press is soon to be offered for sale by an enterprising firm in London. The TINFOIL HANGINGS.-Paper-hangings for walls are known to everybody. It is now proposed to use hangings made of metal; and an account of this new invention, which comes to us from Paris, has been read before the Society of Arts. metal employed is tinfoil, in sheets about sixteen feet long, and from thirty to forty inches wide. The sheets are painted, and dried at a high temperature, and are then decorated with many dif ferent patterns, such as foliage, flowers, geometrical figures, imitations of wood, or landscapes. When decorated, the sheets are varnished, and again dried, and are then ready for sale. Tinfoil is in itself naturally tough, and the coats laid upon it in preparing it for the market increase the toughness. The hanging of these metallic sheets is similar to paper-hanging, except that the wall is varnished with a weak kind of varnish, and the sheet applied thereto. Thus in this way a room or a house may be newly painted without any smell of paint to annoy or harm the inmates. Moreover, the tinfoil keeps out damp; and as the varnish is a damp-resister, the protection to the room is twofold. Experience has shown also that cornices, mouldings, and irregular surfaces may be covered with the tinfoil as readily as a flat surface; hence, there is no part of a dwelling-house or public building which may not be decorated with these new sheets; and, as regards style and finish, all who saw the specimens exhibited at the reading of the paper, were made aware that the highest artistic effects could be achieved at pleasure.-Chambers's Journal. TREE CULTURE.-An account of an experiment interesting to arboriculturists has been published in Luxemburg. As some travelers will remember, the roads near that city are planted with trees -ash, maple, and elm, alternately with poplars. The space between the trees was six metres (about seven and a half yards), and it was thought that the poplars, growing fast and tall, injured the other trees, and some hundreds were cut down. The elms, ash, and maples had then twelve metres in which to grow, and they profited thereby, for their annual growth increased from nine to eleven per cent. As the observations necessary to establish this result were carried on from 1859 to 1871, they may be accepted as trustworthy, and are, indeed, such as might have been expected. OUR PRAIRIES and Forests.-Professor Lapham, of the United States Telegraph Service, has drawn up a report on the great forest-fires of last year, some of which penetrated even into the States of New-York and Pennsylvania, and he shows that the great prairies of the Far West have been produced and are extended by these fires, aided by the operations of nature. In those regions, the autumn months are exceedingly dry, with prevalence of southwest winds. 'These conditions of climate,' says the professor, have existed for ages, and hence the normal condition of the great western plains is that of prairie; and so long as these causes exist, this region must always remain in this condition, unless changed by ingenious and persistently applied devices of art.’ At present, a constant struggle goes on where prairie and forest meet; and generally it is the forest which gives way, and border towns and villages also, and the prairie grows bigger. A system of give and take may be said to prevail; in a wet autumn, the forest holds its own, perhaps encroaches a little on the prairie ; but in a dry season, the fires assert their supremacy, and as they kill the roots of everything except prairie-grass, the extension of prairie-land naturally follows. But, as Professor Lapham says, the prairie-soil is as well suited for the growth of trees as the forestland is; and if some united and enforced endeavor were made, millions of acres might be covered with grateful shade, the extreme dryness of the atmosphere would be mitigated, and the wellfounded apprehensions that now prevail as regards a scarcity of timber would be effectually removed. SOUTH-AFRICAN AND SOUTH-AMERICAN GEOLOGY.-The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society contains interesting papers on the diamond fields of South Africa, which should be read by the enterprising folk who desire to have trustworthy scientific information about that now attractive country. One of the explorers states that the diamond gravel is not of local origin, that it has been brought from long distances, and by some other agency than that of water. He considers that the greater part came from the Draakensberg mountain range and its northern offshoots, and he thus sums up his views: "The vast unstratified deposits, the promiscuous piling together and intermingling of boulders, the remarkable polish of many of them, the terrace-like mounds and accumulations, all evince physical conditions far different from those at present in operation; while the entire absence of all recent fossils in these gravels almost forces on us the conviction, that they must have been laid down under circumstances inimical to animal and vegetable life; and these circumstances, judging from similar deposits in other countries, have been brought about by the action of ice.' Another scrap of geological news appears to confirm Mr. Darwin's supposition that Brazil, and indeed the whole continent of South America, is slowly rising. The group of islets known as Fernando Noronha is one hundred and ninetyfour miles from Cape St. Roque, the most easterly point of the southern continent. The channel between the islets and the main is shallow when compared with the deep water on each side thereof; and, as there are signs of elevation on the islets, the inference is, that, with the gradual upheaval, they will some day be connected with the cape by a long neck of rocky land. Those idle people who complain that the age of wonders is past may lay this fact to heart. ART. AN OLD PORTRAIT.-A notable discovery, according to the London Echo, has just been made by some workmen at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, which was formerly in the possession of the Earls of Kilmarnock. The house now belongs to the Marquis of Bute, and the men, in repairing the roof, found two half-length portraits rolled up and hidden in the rafters. On examination, one proved to be the portrait of that Earl of Kilmarnock, who was executed for rebellion in 1746; but the other had no name with it, and perplexed those who attempted to identify it. Photographs of each were taken, and sent to London to an expert, with the information that in the unnamed picture the nobleman represented wore the Order of the Thistle, with blue ribbon. As the color of the ribbon of this order was changed from blue to green in 1703 by Queen Anne, it was evident that the picture must have been painted before that date. It was then found that the only person, being a Knight of the Thistle, who could be the subject of the picture, was John Drummond, Earl of Melfort, who was outlawed in 1694 and died at St. Germains in 1714. The fact that these portraits were taken from their frames, and thus hid den away, forcibly suggests the political perils of former days. And one understands better how widespread these perils were, on hearing that another portrait of the same nobleman, which was engraved and published by Vanderbanc, was named not Melfort, but Lundin, Lady Melfort's family name--the name of Melfort being tabooed. THE Scott Statue, designed for the Central Park, is of bronze, nine feet in height, and was cast by Steele, of Edinburgh, from the original marble statue by him in the same city. The pedestal is of selected red Aberdeen granite, highly polished. The Park Commissioners have finally decided to locate the work on the southern end of the Mall, directly opposite the Shakespeare statue. It was designed for presentation to the Corporation of New-York by resident Scotchmen and sons of Scotchmen, and will probably be in position ready for unveiling on St. Andrew's day, when the formal, presentation will be made. THE Nordische Presse announces that there has been lately discovered at St. Petersburg the only work of sculpture by the hand of Raphael, consisting of a group in marble, representing a child reposing on a dolphin. Models in plaster and engravings of the group are well known, but the original, the existence of which at Paris about the year 1770 is incontestably proved, has disappeared since then, and it is not improbable, says the Presse, that the group which has been found, among other objects of art bought in the time of the Empress Catharine II., to adorn the Palace of the Taurida, is really the original by the chisel of Raphael. Nevertheless, the intelligence is given under reserve. VARIETIES. POE'S LAST DAYS.-In the latter part of the summer of 1849 Poe left Fordham for Virginia. When he got as far as Philadelphia he fell in with some of his old boon companions, and was overcome by his old temptation. It was "hail-fellow well met " with him while his money lasted. When it was all gone, he was obliged to solicit charity for the means of reaching Richmond. So Dr. Griswold says, and, from what occurred after Poe's arrival in Richmond, I feel sure that he was not misinformed. When Poe was first heard of by his Richmond friends, he had been for several days at a sort of common tavern in a part of the city known as Rockets. One of these friends—a man of letters-took a carriage and drove thither with the intention of fetching him away, but he had disappeared. The tavern-keeper, a man named Jacob Mull, knew nothing of his whercabouts or who he was, except that he said his name was Poe, and that he had slept for a number of nights on the sanded floor of the bar-room. At the end of a week or ten days, Poe appeared one at morning at the office of his literary friend, whom he knew only by correspondence, and introduced himself. His garments were old and seedy, but brushed with scrupulous care, and there were no signs of dissipation in his clean and fresh-shaved face. He asked permission to have his letters directed to his friend's box, and room enough in his office to write in, both of which requests were, of course, cordially granted. A desk was given him, and he was soon at his literary work, a portion of which consisted of the sharp paragraphs entitled "Marginalia," which were published from time to time in the first magazine that he had ever edited-the Southern Literary Messenger. What Mr. Kennedy had done for him about fifteen years before was done now-he was rejuvenated as regards his clothing, and made presentable in society by the tailor of his friend. For a time all went well with him, but at last he disappeared. At the end of several days he returned with a damaged eye. He had been mistaken for some one else by a ruffian in a bar-room, and knocked down without a word. He returned to his work, to disappear again. He was next heard of at a fashionable drinking-saloon called the "Alhambra," where he was found explaining "Eureka" to a motley crowd of bar-room loungers. Не returned to his work again, and seemed in a fair way to reform. He joined a temperance society, and gave a lecture, which was tended by the best people in Richmond. He renewed acquaintance with a lady whom he had loved in youth, and who was now a widow, and became engaged to her. He had but two things to do before they were married-one was to go to Philadelphia and write a preface for a volume of poems by a lady, the other was to go to Fordham and fetch Mrs. Clemm to the wedding. He started from Richmond on the 2d or 3d of October. What happened during the next four or five days is involved in considerable obscurity, but the facts, as far as they can be ascertained, appear to be these: He arrived at Baltimore safely, but between trains unfortunately took a drink with a friend, the consequence of which was that he was brought back from Havre de Grace, by the conductor of the Philadelphia train, in a state of delirium. It was the eve of an exciting municipal election, and as he wandered up and down the streets of Baltimore he was seized by the lawless agents of some political club, and shut up all night in a cellar. The next morning he was taken out in a state of frenzy, drugged, and made to vote in eleven different wards. following day he was found in the back-room of a "head-quarters," and removed to a hospital on Broadway, north of Baltimore street. He was insensible when found, and remained so until Sunday morning, October 7. A doctor and nurse were with him when he first showed conscious ness. The "Where am I?" he asked. The doctor answered, "You are cared for by your bes friends." After a pause, in which he appeared to recall what had occurred, and to realize his situation, Poe replied, "My best friend would be the man who would blow out my brains." Within ten minutes he was dead! Oh! let him pass! he hates him That would upon the rack of this rough world He was buried on the 8th of October, in the burial-ground of the Westminster Church, at the corner of Fayette and Green streets. The funeral was attended by a cousin, a member of the Baltimore bar, a class-mate, who was afterward judge of the Baltimore Superior Court, and a Methodist minister, a relative by his marriage. The spot selected for his grave was near the grave of his grandfather, General David Poe. There was a vacant place left, but it was filled several months since by the body of Mrs. Clemm, who died, up. wards of eighty years old, in the same hospital where her dear Eddie" expired some twentytwo years before, and was buried at her own request by his side.-Harper's Magazine. NIAGARA. About 9,800 cubic miles of waternearly half the fresh water on the globe-are in the upper lakes, and 18,000,000 cubic feet of this plunge over Niagara Falls every minute, all the water of the lakes making the circuit of the Falls, the St. Lawrence, the ocean, vapor, rain, and lakes again, in 152 years. Through the Illinois Canal about 8,000 cubic feet of water are taken every minute from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River; through the Welland Canal 14,000 cubic feet flow every minute; from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, and through Erie Canal 30,000 cubic feet pass every minute, from the same lake into the Hudson. Thus, 52,000 cubic feet of water, which nature would give to Niagara, are diverted every minute by artificial channels, some into the Mexican Gulf and some into the bay of New York. Add this to 18,000,000, it is as a drop in the bucket, and would make no appreciable difference in the character of the Falls or their rate of recession. Was there ever a time when the Niagara was appreciably a greater river than now? We assume, then, from all the monuments the river has left of its own history, that the present rate of recession would be a fair measure of the past, except at the Whirlpool and Ferry Landing. Six inches a year, measured on the channel, would place the Falls at Lewiston 74,000 years ago. We have no means of knowing how long the quartzose sand-stone, which forms the lowest part of the bank at the Whirlpool, would have arrested the cataract. This stratum is twenty-five feet thick, and, as its southward dip is twenty feet a mile, and the slope of the river-channel fifteen feet a mile, the Falls would have to cut back through this rock more than half a mile. The halt may have been many thousand years. Add another period for the halt at the landing, and the age of the channel from Lewiston to the Horseshoe may not fall below 200,000 years. Unquestionably the channel has been excavated since the close of the glacial epoch, which science has well-nigh demonstrated occurred about 200,000 years ago. But this channel is only the last chapter in the history of Niagara.-Popular Science Monthly. THE FRENCH FLAG.-The Comte Louis de Bouillé has been publishing an essay (which we find criticised in the Revue des Deux Mondes) on the French flag. If the Count's antiquarian conclusions are well founded, it would seem that there is, properly speaking, no French flag-that the famous Drapeau Tricolore is a scratch flag, made up of odds and ends; the Drapeau Blanc a mere historical mistake. Clovis went to war against the Visigoths, an heretical race, under the blue flag, because blue was the color of the "chappe," hood, of his favorite saint, Martin of Tours-that saint whom he described as a "stout ally in battle, but hard at a bargain," in allusion to the heavy expenses which his devotion had occasioned. The red was the color of Saint Denis, of whose famous abbey the kings of France acquired the patronage under the second dynasty. In the middle ages, the blue seems to have been borne by the troops of the Crown, the red by those of the Communes, with whom St. Denis was always a popular personage. The white seems to have slipped in, no one knows how; it was the color of the maid of Arc; it became afterward radical and revolutionary, having been worn at Jarnac and elsewhere by the Huguenots, in opposition to the Royal Blue; but it was also commonly the color of command, appropriated to those who immediately followed the chief in battle. Whether the Count is endeavoring, in a sarcastic way, to "sap a solemn creed with solemn sneer," or whether he is merely a painstaking examiner of authorities, we can not say. But if he is right, the tricolor would seem to be more conservative of past usages and memories than the latitudinarian white. STONEHENGE.-Had our ancestors been as wise and provident as they might have been, even so late as three centuries ago, these singular remnants of a dead religion and a worn-out civilization might have been made national property, and preserved at the national expense from the hands of the spoiler. But this unfortunately was not done, and of the great temples of Avebury and Stonehenge, but little now remains to testify to the Titanic architecture of the people who inhabited the British Isles a thousand years before the invading hosts of Julius Cæsar set foot upon the shore. The Avebury stones have suffered greatly from the depredations of 'the Wiltshire farmers and proprietors. In the year 1648, when John Aubrey, the antiquary, visited the place, he counted sixty-three of the pillars still standing within the circular trench. In 1720, Doctor Stukeley found only twenty-three remaining; and in 1812, Sir Richard Hoare found but seventeen. At present only two monoliths of the great western avenue are standing. The rest have been broken into pieces, and removed-possibly to build pig-sties, possibly to build barns or outhouses for the greedy or unthinking depredators, who never heard of the difference between a Druidical high-priest who lived three thousand years ago, and a clodhopper who perpetrated these acts of vandalism the day before yesterday. For some time past, the antiquaries and scholars of Wiltshire and elsewhere have been up in arms to prevent these encroachments-but "" may not a man do what he will with his own ?" And as the scholars and antiquaries were either unable or unwilling to purchase the land and its precious relics from the legal owners, these latter did as seemed best in their own eyes, and left scholarship and antiquarianism to show their teeth in the approved British fashion-without biting. Fortunately one gentleman with the means, the knowledge, and the public spirit, was found to do what ought long ago to have been done by the State. Sir John Lubbock stepped forth to the rescue of Avebury, and by his liberality its monuments will be preserved as they stand-safe from all further danger.-All the Year Round. A PICTURE. THROUGH heather, moss, and golden rod, Were glad, because we were together. And flecked with shadows, lay a pool. The wild bees murmured over it. 'And this the wishing well,' she cried, 'Where they who drink a boon may crave;' And kneeling there, the spell she tried; And though she smiled, her eyes were grave. Small hands together lightly pressed From the cool spring she lifted up. And half in earnest, half in jest, She offered me the rosy cup. And in the pool her shadow came, |
