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diff --git a/77054-0.txt b/77054-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54bb10c --- /dev/null +++ b/77054-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1706 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77054 *** + + + + + +[Illustration: + +CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL + +OF + +POPULAR + +LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART + +Fifth Series + +ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832 + +CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS) + +NO. 156.—VOL. III. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1886. PRICE 1½_d._] + + + + +THE UNSEEN REGIONS OF A THEATRE. + + +That part of a theatre which is concealed from the view of the audience +is always a subject of interest and speculation to the uninitiated, and +most playgoers experience a desire to explore the mysterious region. +When, therefore, some years ago, an opportunity presented itself to +me of gratifying my curiosity in this respect, I did not fail to take +advantage of it. Since then, I have been behind the scenes of various +theatres, and my experience has convinced me that the public is not +aware how small a portion of the house behind the curtain is exposed to +the view of the audience, the regions both above and below the stage +being more extensive than is usually imagined. Indeed, when, several +years ago, the Opera House in Paris was burned, it was with surprise +that the public learned from the newspapers that the edifice had no +fewer than four separate underground floors. + +At the present day, in most first-class theatres in London and New +York the subterranean portion of the building consists of at least two +or three distinct stories. The fact is, it is now quite impracticable +to meet the requirements of a grand spectacular piece without ample +space being provided for the scenery underneath the stage. Many, too, +of the finest plays are so constructed that several changes of scene +are required in every act; and each scene must be a masterpiece of the +stage-carpenter’s art, to satisfy the exacting demands of a modern +audience. The old system, when an alteration of scene was necessary, +was primitive enough. In some instances, there descended from the +‘flies’ a large curtain, on which was painted a landscape, or the +interior or exterior of a building, as circumstances might require. In +other cases, wooden frames, termed flats, with canvas tightly stretched +upon them, were pushed upon the stage from either side, meeting at +the centre, and frequently presenting an ugly seam at the place of +junction. No little skill was demanded in handling a huge frame many +yards in height and width; for if it once lost its perpendicular, +it became unmanageable, and fell—then requiring the exertions of +several men to restore it to its proper position. The scenes also +had a tendency to stick in the grooves in which they ran, and when +this occurred, the disapprobation of the audience was incurred. It is +said that a mishap of this kind having once taken place at one of the +transpontine theatres, a spectator in the gallery called out: ‘We don’t +look for grammar at this ’ere ’ouse, but we think yer might see that +yer “flats” jine properly.’ + +All this is now altered. At the London theatres of the better class, +when a change of scene is requisite, it is effected in a few seconds +and in an admirable manner. An extensive landscape, or a lofty +battlemented castle—so strongly constructed that it seems as if it were +built of solid masonry—or a spacious apartment completely furnished, +is, as if by magic, placed before the audience. + +It has often struck us that playgoers scarcely adequately realise the +extraordinary mechanical ingenuity displayed in the production of +many of the pieces of late years presented to the public. Take, for +instance, the fairy spectacle entitled _Le Roi Carotte_. In it there +was a scene in which an old magician was dismembered in the presence of +the audience. The situation was this: an aged sorcerer, in order to be +rejuvenated, requests his friends to cut him into pieces and throw him +bit by bit into a red-hot oven; after which process he expects to come +out a young man. His wishes are complied with; he is put piecemeal into +the furnace without his leaving the stage or ceasing to talk. Seated in +an armchair, the old man asks that a large volume shall be brought in +and laid on a table in front of him. The book, on being placed in the +required position, becomes immediately vivified; living gnomes issue +from the pictures on its pages and skip about the stage; after which +they re-enter the book, and it is closed and carried away. Then the +legs and arms of the magician are cut off and thrown into the furnace; +next he is decapitated, and his head is placed on the table, where it +continues talking, giving instructions with regard to the trunk. After +this the head is cast into the oven, which bursts open with a loud +report, and a young and handsome man comes out of it. + +The transformation is so ingeniously effected that the manner in which +it is executed is incomprehensible to the ordinary spectator. This is +the way in which the feat is accomplished: when the volume is placed +on the table, the sorcerer, seated in the armchair, quietly withdraws +his legs from sight, placing them on a trap beneath the level of +the stage; at the same time he slips his arms under his loose gown, +_papier-mâché_ limbs being substituted in both instances for the real +ones. This is done whilst the attention of the audience is diverted to +the book and its animated pictures, which are little boys who come up +from underneath the stage, through holes in the table and book, which +is furnished with india-rubber springs, which close directly the gnomes +have emerged from the volume. After the magician’s legs and arms have +been taken off and thrown into the fire, nothing is left but his trunk +and his head. The latter is a mask which fits the actor’s face, leaving +nothing visible but his lips and eyes. One of the persons on the stage +tugs at the magician’s head until he pulls it off—that is to say, he +removes the mask. As this is being done, the sorcerer has sunk down a +trap, and he rises again through the table. The performer, with his +head inserted in the mask, continues to talk, giving instructions with +respect to the disposition of the trunk, which remains in the chair. +Finally, the artificial head and the trunk, which are also of _papier +mâché_, are thrown into the furnace. The magician in the meanwhile has +reascended by means of another trap farther back, slipping on a rich +dress on the way; and when the oven bursts, the old man steps forth +rejuvenated. + +The reader must now see what skill and ingenuity the feat demands—what +careful attention to every detail, what precautions against the +slightest error, what rapidity in working of the traps, and what +accuracy of movement on the part of the actor who plays the old +magician. But, indeed, the skill and dexterity demanded of those to +whom are intrusted the mechanical arrangements of some pieces, are far +greater than are supposed by the public, who content themselves with +admiring the results, without reflecting upon the care and labour they +have involved. + +In an opera called _Les Amours du Diable_, produced in Paris some years +ago, there was a curious scene which puzzled all who saw it. A slight +palanquin—constructed in such a manner that it was obvious that there +was no possibility of its having a double bottom—was brought upon the +stage supported on the shoulders of slaves. The actress, who occupied +it, withdrew the curtains and gave some orders to her attendants. Then +the curtains were closed for an instant, and again re-opened. But the +occupant of the palanquin had disappeared. What had become of her? +The feat had been executed close to the front of the stage, and under +a brilliant light; and the spectators could plainly see that it was +certain that the lady had not gone down a trap. The mystery remained +for some time unsolved. The explanation of the puzzle was simply this: +the pillars of the palanquin appeared to be very slight, but instead of +being wood, they were hollow metal tubes. Through these tubes, ropes +ran on pulleys at the top of the palanquin, descending in the inside, +and fastened to the frame, on which was placed the silk cushion on +which the actress reclined. To the other end of the ropes was attached +a heavy weight which exactly balanced that of the lady. One of the +slaves was impersonated by an expert machinist. So soon as the curtains +were drawn, he pulled a cord which released the counterpoise, and the +frame, together with its burden, rose to the dome of the palanquin. +There the actress lay quite comfortably, a wire-gauze overhead enabling +her to breathe freely. Pains had been taken in the constructing of +the palanquin to make it appear frail, whilst in reality it was very +strongly built, that the roof might bear the strain upon it of the +weight it had to support. The bearers were men selected for their +muscular strength, and they were drilled in the practice of taking up +the palanquin—after the disappearance of its occupant—and carrying it +off the stage at a sharp trot, as if it were empty. + +Of recent years, great improvements have been made upon the old plan +of representing the motion of the waves in a sea-scene. When, some +years ago, a comedy called _Surf, or Summer Scenes at Long Branch_, +was brought out at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, there was +a scene in which the heavings of the ocean and the breaking of the +waves upon the shore were imitated with excellent effect. Miss Logan, +the authoress of the play, has described the ingenious mechanical +appliances that were made use of on the occasion; she says: ‘There was +a large cylinder, reaching across the stage from wing to wing on either +side, and garnished with curling stiffened canvas, running around the +cylinder after the fashion of the threads of a screw. This was put in +revolution by means of a crank at the end, which was turned by a man +behind the wing. The curling canvas was painted to represent the foamy +surf. Behind the first cylinder were two others of similar character +which revolved in like manner. When the three were in motion together, +with a peculiar arrangement of light and shade upon them, the effect +was strikingly like the rolling in of the waves upon the beach. There +were various other appliances employed to heighten the illusion, such +as a large box of pebbles tilted to and fro behind the scenes in a +manner to closely imitate the sound of the waves; a gauzy painted +cloth worked up and down an inclined plane, and represented the thin +wave that rushes up the sands and retires again; rows of broom-corn, +painted green, simulated the seaweed. The characters of the play, who +are supposed to go in bathing at Long Branch dressed in the usual +costumes, sprang through openings made of india-rubber—painted like the +rest—which closed behind them as water might, could, or should do; +and a little later, the actors, having passed under the stage by means +of traps, reappeared at the back of the scene between the revolving +cylinders, and jumped up and down, as if disporting themselves in +the surf.’ The scene was very effective, and conduced largely to the +success of the play. + +Conflagrations on the stage are now so realistic as occasionally to +alarm the spectators, who can scarcely believe that some portion of the +scenery has not taken fire. But the precautions taken against danger +are so thorough that there is no likelihood of an accident happening +on these occasions. In a piece entitled _La Madonna des Roses_, which +the writer once saw in Paris, there was the best representation on the +stage of a conflagration he has ever witnessed. A fire was supposed +to break out suddenly in an apartment in a ducal palace. Smoke and +flame in a few moments poured forth in volumes from the windows and +doors, and extending quickly to the walls, they fell in. They were +constructed of two layers of wood, held together by thin cords, passing +through holes. At the proper time, certain portions of the scenery +were removed, leaving the others apparently burning fiercely—an effect +produced by small gas jets arranged in rows around the edges of the +frames. Behind the heavy set-piece at the back of the stage was a +transparent curtain, on which flames were painted; and when the wall +tumbled down, this scene being lit up, glowed with a lurid light in a +very natural manner. At the same time, burning naphtha projected sheets +of flame four or five yards in height, and large funnels overhead +poured out torrents of black smoke mixed with sparks. It was indeed +difficult for an audience to realise that the fire was not real, and +that the whole of the scenery was not a heaving mass of flame. + +In the description of the various mechanical contrivances resorted to +in order to produce the scenic effects, the writer has been in some +measure indebted to the theatrical reminiscences of Miss Olive Logan, +an American actress. + + + + +BY ORDER OF THE LEAGUE. + + +CHAPTER XX.—CONCLUSION. + +Turning into Holborn, he ran on blindly, never noticing another figure +following in his footsteps. It was getting very late now, and as he +hurried into the Strand, St Clement’s Danes struck midnight. Through +the crowd there blindly, on to the water-side, the snaky figure close +behind never off his track; on to the Embankment, and towards Waterloo +Bridge. Then he stopped for one brief moment to regain his spent breath +and think. + +The following footsteps halted too; and then some instinct told him +he was followed. Turning round again, full under the lamplight, he +encountered Paulo Salvarini, determination in his face, murder in his +eyes. In an agony of sudden fear, Le Gautier ran down the steps on to +the Temple Pier, standing there close by the rushing water. A second +later, with a clutch like iron, Salvarini was upon him. + +‘Ah!’ he hissed, as they struggled to and fro, ‘you thought to escape +me, you murderer of innocent women, the slayer of my wife! Now I have +you. Back you go into the river, with a knife in your black heart!’ + +The doomed man never answered; breath was too precious for that. And so +they struggled for a minute on the slimy pier, Salvarini’s grip never +relaxing, till, suddenly reaching down, he drew a knife. One dazzling +flash, a muttered scream, and Le Gautier’s lifeblood gushed out. +Footsteps came down the stairs, a shrill shout from a woman’s voice. +Salvarini started. In one moment, Le Gautier had him in a dying clasp, +and with a dull splash, they fell backwards into the rushing flood. +Down, down, they went, the tenacious grip never relaxing, the water +singing and hissing in their ears, filling their throats as they sucked +it down, turning them dizzy, till they floated down the stream—dead! + +Some boatmen out late, attracted by the scream, rowed to the spot; and +far down below Blackfriars, they picked up the dead bodies, both locked +together in the last clasp of death. They rowed back to the pier, and +carried the two corpses to a place for the night, never heeding the +woman who was following them. + +Next morning, they saw a strange sight. Lying across the murdered man, +her head upon his breast, a woman rested. They lifted her; but she was +quite dead and cold, a smile upon her face now, wiping out all trace of +care and suffering—a smile of happiness and deep content. Valerie had +crept there unnoticed to her husband’s side, and died of a broken heart. + + * * * * * + +For a few days people wondered and speculated over the strange tragedy, +and then it was forgotten. A new singer, a noted poisoning case, +something turned up, and distracted the frivolous public mind from the +‘mysterious occurrence,’ to use the jargon of the press. + +Maxwell lost no time in getting to Grosvenor Square the following +morning, where his greeting may be better imagined than described. He +told Enid the whole story of his mission, omitting nothing that he +thought might be of interest to her; and in his turn heard the story +of Le Gautier’s perfidy, and the narrow escape both had had from his +schemes. + +‘I do not propose to stay any longer in London,’ Sir Geoffrey said. +‘After what we have all gone through, a little rest and quietness is +absolutely necessary.—Enid, would you care to go down to Haversham?’ + +‘Indeed, I should. Let us go at once. I am absolutely pining for a +little fresh air again. The place must be looking lovely now.’ + +‘All right, my dear,’ the baronet replied gaily; sooth to say, not +sorry to get back to a part of the world where Sir Geoffrey Charteris +was some one. + +‘Then we will go to-morrow, and Maxwell shall join us.’ + +‘But Isodore? I have not seen her yet.’ + +‘Oh, she can come down there some time, directly we are settled.’ + +Later on in the same day, Maxwell heard the strange tale of Le +Gautier’s death. He did not tell the news to Enid then, preferring +to wait till a time when her nerves were more steady, and she had +recovered from the shock of the past few days. So they went down to +Haversham, and for three happy months remained there, ‘the world +forgetting, by the world forgot;’ and at the end of that time, when the +first warm flush of autumn touched the sloping woods, there was a quiet +wedding at the little church under the hill. + +Gradually, as time passed on, Sir Geoffrey recovered his usual flow of +spirits, and was never known to have another ‘manifestation.’ He burned +all his books touching on the supernatural, and gradually came to view +his conduct in a humorous light. In the course of time, he settled down +as a model country gentleman, learned on the subject of short-horns +and top-dressing, and displaying a rooted aversion to spiritualism. It +is whispered in the household—only it must not be mentioned—that he is +getting stout, a state of things which, all things considered, is not +to be regarded with incredulity. + +Nearly two years later, and sitting about the lawn before the grand +old house, were all our friends—Salvarini, mournful as usual, little +altered since we saw him last; Maxwell, jolly and hearty, looking +with an air of ill-disguised pride at Enid, who was sitting in a +basket-chair, with a little wisp of humanity in her arms, a new +Personage—to use the royal phrase—but by no means an unimportant one. +Lucrece was there, happy and gay; and Isodore, glorious Isodore, +unutterably lovely as she walked to and fro, followed by Salvarini’s +dog-like eyes. The baronet made up the party, and alas! truth must out, +looking—but we will be charitable, and say portly. + +‘How long are you going to stay with us, Isodore?’ Enid asked. She +would always be Isodore to them. + +‘Really, I cannot say, Enid. How long will you have me?’ + +‘As long as you like to stay,’ Maxwell put in heartily.—‘By the way, I +suppose I am still a member of the League?’ + +‘No, not now. Conditionally upon your promising never to reveal what +you have seen and heard, you are free; Sir Geoffrey likewise.—Luigi +here has resigned his membership.’ + +‘I am so glad!’ Enid cried. ‘I must come and kiss you.—Fred, come and +hold baby for a moment.’ + +‘No, indeed’—with affected horror. ‘I should drop him down, and break +him, or carry him upside down, or some awful tragedy.’ + +‘You are not fit to be the father of a beautiful boy; and everybody +says he is the very image of you.’ + +‘I was considered a good-looking man once,’ said Maxwell with +resignation. ‘No matter. But if that small animal there is a bit like +me, may I’—— + +They all laughed at this, being light-hearted and in the mood to laugh +at anything. Presently, they divided into little groups, Isodore and +Luigi together. All her cold self-possession was gone now; she looked a +very woman, as she stood there nervously plucking the leaves from the +rose in her hand. + +‘Isodore—Genevieve’—— + +At this word she trembled, knowing scarcely what. ‘Yes, Luigi.’ + +‘Five years ago, I stood by your side in the hour of your trouble, and +you said some words to me. Do you remember what they were?’ + +‘Yes, Luigi.’ The words came like a fluttering sigh. + +‘I claim that promise now. We are both free, heaven be praised! free as +air, and no ties to bind us. Come!’ He held out his arms, and she came +shyly, shrinkingly, towards them. + +‘If you want me,’ she said. + +With one bound he was by her side, and drew her head down upon his +breast. ‘And you are happy now, Genevieve?’ + +‘Yes, I am happy. How can I be otherwise, with a good man’s honest +love?—Carlo, my brother, would you could see me now!’ + +‘It is what he always wished.—Let us go and tell the others.’ + +So, taking her simply by the hand, they wandered out from the deepness +of the wood, side by side, from darkness and despair, from the years of +treachery and deceit, out into the light of a world filled with bright +sunshine and peaceful, everlasting love. + + + + +DIAMOND-SMUGGLING. + + +In accordance with rules of concealment laid down by Edgar Allan Poe, +some ‘clever things’ have of late years been done in the smuggling of +precious stones into the United States of America, the philosophy which +pervades Poe’s story of the _Purloined Letter_ having evidently been +studied to some purpose by the professional diamond-smugglers, who are +known to form a comparatively numerous body. + +Poe’s tale, the scene of which is laid in Paris, the characters +introduced being of course French, contains what may be called a novel +theory of ‘hide-and-seek,’ which, stated briefly, is, that the greater +the importance of the article which has been stolen, the simpler should +be its mode of concealment. On the assumption that an important state +document, or criminatory letter involving serious consequences to some +one, and the possession of which would enable another person to make +use of its contents for his own benefit, has been purloined, the more +conspicuous the place chosen to conceal it the better, till it can be +made use of. Should the recovery of the stolen document be a matter +of importance, which may be assumed, it will, of course, be carefully +sought for, and those searching for it will no doubt pry with care into +every secret hiding-place, with the hope of finding it; whilst—to put +the case in a homely way—it is ‘all the time staring them in the face,’ +those in search of it overlooking it because of their idea that, in +consequence of its great importance, the utmost care will have been +exercised in its concealment. + +Much incidental and curiously instructive information is contained in +Poe’s _Purloined Letter_ as to the modes of criminal search adopted +in France, where magnifying-glasses of great power, and microscopes, +play a part; where beds are dismantled and chairs are disjointed to see +that what is wanted has not been concealed in some part of them; where +libraries of books are turned over leaf by leaf, and picture-frames are +tapped to see that they contain no foreign material. As Poe points out, +that is all in the way of routine, and is traditionary among French +criminal investigators in the matter of every-day crime. It requires +a mastermind, however, to fathom the doings of a really well-educated +thief who purloins an important document in order to hold it in +terrorem over a political enemy or social foe. + +So in the matter of diamond-smuggling. Artists—if we may profane +the word—have come to the front, men far ahead of the original +stereotyped smugglers, who were contented to carry on their business +in old-fashioned ways; ever cudgelling their brains to find out modes +of concealment so elaborate as to make sure they would be discovered. +All the more extraordinary devices of concealment, as they were +thought to be at the time, were one by one found out and battled with +by the custom-house officers of the United States. Some of them were +thought rather remarkable, as, for instance, those managed by means +of artificial teeth—a set of these useful implements of mastication +being fashioned in such a manner that every tooth possessed a cavity +which contained one or more diamonds or other precious stones: the hole +being deftly filled up with cement, discovery was thought impossible. +By this ingenious mode of procedure, a large number of the rarer gems +were at first smuggled into the States without paying duty (ten per +cent. on diamonds), chiefly by means of female aid. Waxing bolder by +long-continued immunity from any discovery of their fraud, the officers +on duty began to wonder why the same ladies had so often occasion to +cross the Atlantic; and one of their number surmising that it was ‘for +no good purpose,’ determined to have a particular female carefully +watched during the voyage. A stewardess with whom the officer had a +friendly acquaintance was enlisted in the service; and this person +did all she could to find out why the suspected ladies so frequently +visited Europe, but to little purpose, as she thought, all she was able +to discover being apparently not of much consequence. One day, however, +whilst carefully examining the berth in which the traveller slept, she +found a broken tooth, which was hollow and exceedingly fragile. As the +stewardess used artificial teeth, she naturally enough felt interested +in the matter, and spoke to the voyager about the circumstance. The +lady at first looked embarrassed, but then said she had been cheated +by the dentist. At the end of the voyage the stewardess reported the +circumstance to the officer, who, after thinking it over, came to the +conclusion that there was more in the affair of the hollow tooth than +met the eye. New York, in fact, is celebrated for its dentistry; and +on consulting one of the professors, the officer discovered that teeth +of the sort had been made in quantity and from different moulds to +the order of a very ’cute man, who said they were wanted to be sent +to Europe. This statement afforded a sufficient cue; and accordingly, +at the termination of the next voyage, two ladies, sisters, were +respectfully but firmly requested to take out their artificial teeth. +Remonstrance was unavailing; the teeth were made to disclose their +hidden treasures; the result being that thirteen valuable brilliants +were confiscated, much to the chagrin of the fair smugglers. That +little episode put an end to that mode of smuggling diamonds. + +There is a never-ending demand throughout the United States for these +gems; and several of the earlier adventurers were known to have made +money by means of the smuggling business. In reality, diamonds are a +passion with many American ladies, who must have them, no matter what +they may cost. These gem-loving dames, in their eagerness to ‘trade’ +for jewels of all kinds, are not unfrequently cheated by persons who +sell them ‘bogus’ diamonds, made of paste, at a comparatively cheap +rate, under pretence of their being smuggled stones, and that, having +escaped the payment of duty, they are a bargain at the sum demanded. +Wealthy American ladies vie with each other at the various fashionable +resorts of the United States in their displays of costly jewels and +gems. It was stated a few months ago in an American paper that a rich +man’s wife wore upon her neck and breast every evening precious stones +of the value of forty thousand pounds; other ladies displaying jewels +to a lesser amount. Nor are American ladies free from the charge of +smuggling; many of them, indeed, are adepts at the business, able +to impart a secret or two to ‘the professionals.’ During a recent +Saratoga season, one lady was heard to boast that she had brought +over a suite of diamonds in the heels of several pairs of slippers +which she had made on purpose to contain them. These dainty articles +were ostentatiously displayed, and taken notice of by the searchers; +but the heels were not suspected to be hollow or to contain diamonds. +Hollow-heeled boots were at one time greatly in use as a part of the +smuggling machinery. That mode of carrying on the illicit traffic was +ultimately discovered by an under-steward of an American liner, who, +for ‘a consideration,’ communicated the secret to the custom-house +authorities. Then followed a series of contrivances in the shape of +double-bottomed trunks, valises with secret pockets, desks with hidden +drawers, and guns and pistols which were so contrived as to contain +a few of the much-coveted gems. All these contrivances were in turn +discovered: they were just the kind of concealments which the officers +had their thoughts fixed upon. For a time, we believe, the professional +diamond-carriers were discomfited; but their discomfiture was not +for long; the business was too profitable to be easily relinquished, +however great the risks might be. + +Just as the customs’ authorities were under the impression that they +had suppressed the illicit traffic, a new era in gem-smuggling was +inaugurated, and more diamonds reached the United States ‘duty free’ +than before. Smuggling, it may be said, developed into a fine art; at +all events, the incidence of the trade for a brief period became so +simple as to seem like child’s play; indeed, children were made to +play an important part in the business. A story which lately became +public shows how well the modern diamond-smugglers had laid to heart +Poe’s precepts. ‘Please to hold my baby whilst my husband helps me to +open my trunks; he will be quite good if you will shake his rattle,’ +said a lady passenger to the officer who was waiting to look over +her travelling gear. And that officer good-humouredly did as he was +requested, shaking the rattle, to the great delight of the little one. +The rattle in question, which, fastened to a ribbon, was tied to the +child’s waist, was filled with gems of great value, a mode of smuggling +that at the time was too too simple for detection. + +A clever female attired in the costume of a Sister of Mercy was passed +over by the officers because she had no luggage worth examining. She +possessed, however, a fine string of beads, which, with downcast eyes, +she kept telling. Safe on land, she was affectionately welcomed by +two persons dressed in costumes similar to her own. Need it be told +that she was a smuggler, and that her beads were so constructed that +each held a diamond weighing seven or eight carats. Another ingenious +person hit upon the plan of placing a few precious stones in a toy +kaleidoscope which had been given to a child, who carried it ashore in +safety. A number of homing pigeons kept in cages, and purchased at a +village in Belgium, and brought to the United States by way of Paris +and Havre, also played a profitable part, each of the pigeons being +freighted with a cargo of exquisite gems, concealed in quills, and +carefully fastened to the message-bearing dove. An extensive system +of diamond-smuggling was at one time carried on from Canadian ground +by the aid of homing pigeons. The discovery of this illicit trade was +made accidentally by a farmer, who happened to shoot one of the birds, +and on examining it found that there was fastened to its leg a quill +containing a number of diamonds! A clue being obtained, the local +habitation of the pigeon proprietors was discovered and their mode of +business put an end to. The scheme, stated simply, was to fly every +week or ten days a flock of a dozen or fifteen pigeons, each carrying +about half-a-dozen gems. As the duty on diamonds amounts to ten per +cent., the trouble taken to smuggle these gems into the United States +does not seem so very remarkable. The value of the precious stones +honestly imported into the States is between eight and nine million +dollars per annum, and it has been calculated that gems to half that +sum escape payment of the duty. + +Many tales have been circulated with regard to diamonds, some of them +of a rather curious kind. We have read of faithful messengers who, +rather than yield up the stone they carried, swallowed it. The owner +of a slave who had done so, and who had been killed by robbers, was so +convinced of his servant’s fidelity, that he gave directions for the +opening of the body, and found that the honest fellow had swallowed +the precious gem. Dishonest servants employed at the diamond mines +frequently display wonderful ingenuity in concealing stones which they +have purloined while at their work. About a year ago, a rough diamond +weighing four hundred and fifty-seven carats was stolen by a person +in the employment of the Central Diamond Mining Company at Kimberley +(South Africa), who sold it for the sum of three thousand pounds to +four persons who dealt in stolen stones. It was then sold at Cape +Town to a firm of illicit dealers in diamonds for nineteen thousand +pounds; and was ultimately purchased for forty-five thousand pounds +by a syndicate of London brokers in precious gems. The means by which +this magnificent brilliant was smuggled from the mines and ultimately +got to England was never made known. It is notorious enough, however, +that a large trade in fraudulently obtained stones is carried on at +the South African gold-fields; and stories are told of buyers around +the diamond mines who have made large fortunes by purchasing stones at +nominal prices from labourers who possessed the cunning and the courage +to successfully brave the authorities and bring to the resetters their +stolen goods. + +It has been calculated by persons engaged in the business that +twelve per cent. of the fall in the price of rough diamonds, which +has taken place within the last few years, should be set down to the +sale of stolen gems, which, to the value of more than half a million +sterling, annually find their way to the markets. These stones +are the direct fruits of theft, those selling them having made no +contribution whatever to the cost of obtaining them. When first the +work of diamond-seeking at Kimberley began, there were no thefts of +any importance, because each man was then working for his own hand, +or as one of a limited but friendly partnership. It was not till the +work of diamond-mining required the aid of hired labour that the work +of systematic robbery commenced, and ‘I. D. B.’ (illicit diamond +buying) became an institution of the Diamond Fields. Many of the +persons employed, soon fell into habits of peculation, not being able +to withstand the temptation presented by the appearance of a little +bit of stone that might be worth, perhaps, a thousand pounds, if they +could succeed in carrying it away without being detected. In every +branch of the process of gem-finding, valuable diamonds, it has to +be explained, are always at the mercy of the men employed, some of +whom are never slow to take advantage of any chance that may present +itself of securing a stone. Such thefts during the last few years have +proved a source of serious annoyance and trouble in connection with the +industry. The ‘I. D. B.’ trade, as it is locally termed, has tended to +sap the morality of the place, and given rise to the many evils which +result from resetting. There is an old adage which says that ‘if there +were no resetters, there would be no thieves.’ + +Great precautions are taken by the various diamond-digging Companies at +Kimberley to prevent the theft of stones; whilst the crime of reset is +always punished with much severity. A license to deal in rough diamonds +costs a sum of fifty pounds per annum; and dealers, in addition to +procuring this authority to trade, are required to find security to a +large amount. Dealers are bound by the terms of their license to make +exact entries in their books of every parcel of stones they purchase, +and also how they dispose of them. Large diamonds must be described in +detail and minutely. Should the detective department suspect any dealer +of illicit traffic, that dealer may at any moment be visited, and have +his books and stock overhauled and compared; and should he possess a +few stones which he is unable to account for, he is liable to have his +whole stock seized. Upon a late occasion, a friend of the writer’s, +while on a visit to the Kimberley Diamond Fields, was informed that two +well-known diamond dealers had just been visited by the detectives; +and one of these persons having about eight hundred carats, and the +other about seventy carats, not accounted for in their books, the +police seized their stocks—upwards of ten thousand carats in all; and +within one month from the date of the seizure, both dealers were tried, +convicted, and sentenced; and if still alive, they are now working out +their time on the breakwater at Cape Town. One of these men was reputed +to be worth over a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. At the present +time, there is quite a colony of convicted ‘illicits,’ as they are +sometimes designated, working out their sentences on the harbour-works +at Cape Town, a goodly proportion of the gang being worth large sums of +money. + +Although there is a considerable and clever detective staff on the +Diamond Fields, there are those at Kimberley who can outwit the police, +at anyrate for a time, and so it happens that such a number of stones +is annually stolen as to prove a factor in disturbing the market price. +The chances of detection are no doubt great; but the hope of securing +a few hundred pounds by a little peculation is so tempting, that there +are always hundreds of men at ‘the game.’ Some of the thieves—that is, +the men who steal the stones they are paid for unearthing—display great +ingenuity in carrying away the gems. The business of diamond-digging +is naturally of a rough-and-ready kind, and presents opportunities +for fraud which are not available in other industries. When +diamond-stealing first became a business, those interested, suspecting +no evil, were easily cheated. Stones were then carried away concealed +about the person of the labourers. But, as the thefts increased, +greater precautions were taken to insure the detection of the thieves. +Some of the ‘dodges’ which have been resorted to in order to carry +diamonds from the diggings have been not a little remarkable; we have +only room, however, for a sample or two. Upon one occasion, it is +related that an ingenious labourer wrapped the stones in a small piece +of soft bread, the morsel being greedily snapped by a dog. The dog +was carefully looked after till the mine was left behind, when it was +ruthlessly killed, to obtain the hidden diamonds which were contained +in its stomach. Domestic fowls have been trained to swallow the smaller +stones, which have afterwards been cut out of their crops. A parcel +of stolen gems has been known to have been got out of a well-watched +digging by having been ingeniously fastened to the hair of a horse’s +tail! + +Any individual suspected of being an ‘I. D. B.’ may expect, on leaving +the Fields, to be overtaken on his road to the coast by detectives, +who will search him in order to find if he be in possession of any +stones. Many devices have been resorted to for the concealment of the +diamonds. A Dutch Boer who had been for some time under suspicion, +on leaving the Fields with his wagon was followed by some detectives +who had determined to search him. Just before he was overtaken by the +officers, he was seen to detach one of the bullocks from his team and +deliberately shoot it. By the time the police came up the Boer was busy +removing the hide. A thorough search was made by the detectives; but +no gems were found. The phlegmatic Dutchman had placed the diamonds in +the barrel of his gun, and had fired them into the body of his bullock, +from which of course he had to extract them; and he did so as soon as +the police turned their backs upon him. + +The various modes of diamond-smuggling revealed in the foregoing +narrative present no peculiar features of endurance or romance; but +cases have occurred in which pain and suffering have played a part +in the business of diamond-hiding. There is, for instance, the story +of the magnificent gem which in its rough state formed the eye of +an idol in a temple near Trichinopoli, and which was stolen by a +Frenchman, who escaped with his prize to Persia, and who, fearful of +being discovered, was glad to dispose of his ill-gotten gear for a sum +of about two thousand pounds sterling. The man who bought the stone, +a Jewish merchant, sold it to one Shafras, an astute Armenian, for +twelve thousand pounds sterling. Shafras had conceived the idea that +by carrying the stone to Russia, he would obtain from the Empress +Catharine the Great a princely sum for it. How to travel in safety +with the stone, the theft of which had of course been discovered and +proclaimed, became a grave consideration. It was too large to swallow, +and no mode of concealment presented itself to Shafras that seemed +secure from discovery. The way in which he solved the problem was +remarkable. He made a deep incision in the fleshy part of his left +leg, in which he inserted the stone, closing the wound carefully by +sewing it up with silver thread. When the wound healed, the Armenian +merchant set out on his travels quite boldly, and although more than +once apprehended, rigorously searched, and even tortured a little, he +was obdurate, and firmly denied having the stone in his possession. +Having at length reached his destination, he asked from the Empress +the sum of forty thousand pounds for the gem, an amount of money +which Catharine was unable to raise at the moment. We next find the +Armenian at Amsterdam with the intention of having his diamond cut. +Here the stone was seen by Count Orloff, who determined to purchase +it for presentation to his royal mistress, the Empress Catharine. The +sum ultimately paid for the gem was about seventy thousand sterling in +cash, together with an annuity of five hundred pounds, and a patent of +nobility. Shafras flourished exceedingly, and died a millionaire. Such, +in brief, is the story of the Orloff Diamond. + + + + +‘DOUBLEWORKS.’ + +A STORY OF ATHLONE. + + +Who has not heard of the old historic town on the Shannon called +Athlone, believed by its inhabitants to be the exact centre of Ireland; +celebrated at one time—for it has been now some years removed—for the +old bridge built in the reign of Queen Bess, whose arms and monogram, +E. R., were engraved on a stone built into a kind of monument on the +parapet. Celebrated also for its old church bell, bearing in relief +the inscription—THIS: FOR: ST: MARY’S: CHVRCH: IN: ATHLONE: 1683—this +being the identical bell which, at six o’clock in the afternoon of the +30th of June 1691, clanged the signal for the attack on the forces of +King James, commanded by the French general, St Ruth, and holding the +castle, &c., by the troops of the Prince of Orange under Ginkell. The +old house occupied by him as headquarters during the siege is still +in existence, having the date of its erection, 1626, carved on the +doorway. We might go on detailing many other things for which the old +town is celebrated, but _cui bono_? Enough that it is celebrated in +song as the residence of ‘The Widow Malone, Ochone!’ + +Often as we have been reminded of the existence of Athlone by hearing +the above-mentioned humorous ditty trolled forth at mess by one of +Ours, who, being a genuine son of the soil, was fully qualified to +do it ample justice, it had never been our good fortune to cast eyes +upon it until some forty years ago, when, one fine afternoon, we found +ourselves, with some thousand or so other candidates for martial glory, +marching gaily through the by no means sweet-smelling town, over the +beautiful new bridge which spans the river, and under the walls of the +ancient castle, to the merry strains of the _Lass o’ Gowrie_. These +forty years are a long time to look back upon; many a long march under +foreign suns have we made with the old regiment, and in many a stirring +scene and hard-fought field have we accompanied it since then; but +somehow our memory recalls few things more vividly than the appearance +of that long column of dusty, travel-stained men, who were finishing +their hot day’s march that summer afternoon, tramping along briskly and +cheerily to the old familiar air of the regimental quick step. + +We quickly settled down in our new quarters, and before long, had +formed many pleasant acquaintances, all only too delighted to show +us every civility in their power; and jolly nights at mess followed +fishing and boating parties during the summer, while, as the days began +to shorten, there was good hunting and shooting; and dinner-parties and +dances were by no means unfrequent. + +In most garrison towns in which we have been quartered in Ireland, +there were generally one or two peculiar hangers-on loafing about the +barracks, queer nondescript bipeds, ever ready to run messages all over +the country, or carry a fishing-basket or a game-bag, who eked out a +precarious existence by tips from the officers and others who employed +them, and picking up odd meals at the different barrack-rooms of the +men. Athlone was not singular in this respect; and you constantly +met, shambling across the barrack square, at a kind of half-trot, +or lurking in rear of the officers’ quarters, an odd, half-witted, +but quite harmless creature, who went by the curious appellation of +‘Doubleworks.’ Who gave him that name, or whence it was derived, we are +unable to say; we only know that he answered to it, and we had it from +the regiment in whose place we had come. There was a kind of sporting +air about this poor creature; he always wore an old hunting-cap and a +shooting-suit, evidently the gift of some former patron of far burlier +proportions than the poor attenuated frame which they now enveloped; +and an ancient pair of Wellington boots, much down at heel, into which +the ends of the trousers were shoved, completed the costume, which, +however, was varied on hunting-days, when the hounds met in the square +or neighbourhood of the barracks, when, in honour of the occasion, an +aged and much stained, once scarlet hunting-coat took the place of the +shooting-jacket. + +Like the other hangers-on of the Athlone barracks, poor Doubleworks +subsisted, as we have said, upon the benevolence of his military +patrons and friends; but, unlike the others, he was possessed of +an accomplishment, not an elegant one, perhaps, or suitable for +very refined society, but nevertheless one that brought him by its +performance many an odd sixpence or shilling—he could hunt the badger! +or was supposed to give a truthful representation of the ‘drawing’ of +the above-named quadruped by a canine foe. This performance was vocal, +and commenced by a series of whines, growls, and impatient barkings, +mingled with grunts and low savage yelps, which we believe were meant +for cries of rage and defiance from the badger; these, after lasting +with variations for some time, gradually increased in intensity, at +length culminating in an unearthly din, perfectly indescribable, but +which was stated by the ‘fancy’ and capable authorities to be quite +true to nature. For ourselves, not having had experience in such +matters, we are unable to offer a personal opinion, and can only +observe that the din was marvellous as the production of a single pair +of human lungs, and once heard was not likely to be ever forgotten. + +His performance was not confined to any particular part of the +barracks; it might be heard at any hour of the day in the artillery +square, the cavalry square, the infantry square, or amongst the +barracks occupied by the scientific arm of the service, the Royal +Engineers; but it took place most frequently at the officer’s +guardroom; for in those days there used to be an officer’s guardroom +and an officer in it at the main barrack gate, which led directly from +the infantry square into the market-place of the town. This guardroom +was in the centre of a small block of buildings to the left of the +gate as you went out, having on its right the regimental orderly-room, +where the colonel administered justice every morning, and where the +orderly-room clerks smoked strong tobacco, and filled in forms and +sketched caricatures of regimental and other authorities every day. The +men’s guardroom adjoined that occupied by the officer, from which it, +as well as the orderly-room, was separated by a partition wall, the end +wall of the men’s guardroom being next the street. In front of these +rooms was a small veranda, and beyond this the guardroom sentry paced +his ‘lonely round.’ We are thus particular in describing the locality, +as it pleases us to recall it after so many years, because it will give +our readers a better idea of what is to follow. + +The guardroom—we mean the officer’s—was in those days a kind of +club or place of call for all officers going out of or coming in to +barracks. It was considered incumbent on every passer-by to drop in +on the officer of the guard and help him to while away the tedium of +his confinement by retailing any news there might be going; while +he on his part provided alleviation for any thirst accruing from +dry narration. By night, the guardroom was generally pretty full +until a late hour. A recent order of the Duke of Wellington, then +commander-in-chief, and which procured for him the cognomen of ‘the +Tobacco-stopper,’ prohibited the use of tobacco in the precincts of +the mess; and though this order was afterwards so far modified as to +permit smoking in the anteroom, it was confined to cigars; so those who +preferred the luxury of a pipe had either to indulge the propensity in +their own rooms or seek the shelter of the guardroom. Needless to say, +the latter alternative was the one most generally followed, and the +hospitality of the subaltern on guard was accepted as freely as it was +offered. Altogether, the main-guard was not a disagreeable place to +spend twenty-four hours, especially if it rained, which it can do in +those parts, and we ourselves preferred it to the duties of regimental +orderly-officer. + +One day in the mid-winter of 1846, it came to my turn to mount this +guard. The weather had been unusually severe—it had been snowing for a +day or two, and the ground was covered to the depth of several inches, +while a smart frost had served to make the snow hard as a brick; so +that, as I marched my guard across the square to where the old guard +was drawn up, waiting our arrival, the men’s tread made no more track +than if we had been marching on the surface of the square itself. The +preliminaries of relieving guard having been got over as quickly as +possible, we paid the parting compliment to the old guard of presenting +arms, as it moved off in slow time; and then dismissing our own, we +visited the sentries, to ascertain if they had the orders of their +respective posts correctly, and then gladly dived into our own den, +and doffing our cloak, proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable in +front of a huge peat-fire as it was possible to be, braced up in a high +stiff stock and tightly fitting coatee and epaulets, as was then the +regulation. + +The day passed like most others on guard; but, owing to the weather, +the passers-by were fewer, and our after-mess visitors didn’t stay so +late as usual; by eleven or half-past, all had taken their departure +for their respective quarters; and about midnight we proceeded to go +round the sentries. There was a bright moon, with a clear star-studded +sky. It was not unpleasant walking over the hard frozen snow, and we +were not long reaching the farthest-off and last of the sentries, who +was posted at the hospital gate. Besides the usual orders, he had +special directions to look after the dead-house, a small building +situated close inside the hospital gate, to which the bodies of +deceased men were conveyed until interment, and to allow no one to +enter it unless passed in by the hospital-sergeant. The sentry, when +giving up his orders, added that a man had died in the hospital late +that evening, and that his corpse was now lying on the table in the +dead-house. Accompanied by the corporal of the escort, we walked +over to the window, and by the bright moonlight could see something +extended on the table, as the man had said, covered with a sheet. After +this, we came back across the square to the guardroom, and lighting +a pipe, were soon deeply interested in a book that we were reading. +Gradually we began to nod, and the book to slip from our hand, and +the grand-rounds having already visited the guard, and there being +but little danger of having to turn it out again before the morning’s +reveille, we were about to go to sleep in earnest on the guardroom +sofa, when we were startled from our semi-somnolent condition by +hearing the loud challenge, ‘Who goes there?’ from the sentry who had +been pacing up and down in front of the veranda. We could hear the +rattle of his arms as he threw his firelock to the ‘port,’ and the +rapid tread of some one running towards the guardroom and crunching the +frozen snow. Presently the challenge was repeated in a quick peremptory +tone, but, as in the former case, without obtaining any response; and +then there came a kind of half-articulate gurgling cry, followed by the +sound of a heavy fall, and the crash of arms and accoutrements, and the +shout of, ‘Sergeant of the Guard!’ + +Fearing that something bad had happened, we jumped up and dashed out of +the guardroom, and saw lying on the snow, close to the sentry, who was +standing at the ‘charge,’ the figure of a soldier clad in his greatcoat +and fully accoutred, and a little way from him his firelock with fixed +bayonet lying on the snow, as it had escaped from his grasp in falling. +The sergeant and all the men of the guard had rushed out at the same +time as we had, and were now engaged lifting the prostrate figure, who +at the moment we feared had been run through by the sentry for not +replying to the challenge, and trying to run past him. Such, however, +happily was not the case; the sentry hadn’t touched him, and said that +the man had come rushing towards him from the far angle of the square, +and instead of answering the challenge, had continued to approach, +making the queer gurgling sound which we had heard, and falling as if +shot when he came to where he now lay. + +The sergeant of the guard now reported to me that the man was alive, +though quite insensible and making a moaning noise, as if in a fit. +He further stated that he was the sentry who had been posted at the +gate of the hospital. We at once sent a man of the guard for one of +the assistant-surgeons of the regiment whose quarters were close +at hand, and had the insensible man carried into the guardroom and +laid on the guard-bed, his stiff leather stock removed, coat, &c. +unbuttoned, and water sprinkled on his face; but all, seemingly, to +no purpose: he remained unconscious, and kept up the moaning noise, +while now and then struggling hard with those about him. At last the +doctor arrived; and having administered some restoratives, after a +while the poor fellow became sensible, and sufficiently calm to inform +us why he had committed the serious offence of deserting his post. He +stated that he had continued to walk about on his beat at the hospital +gate for some time after we had visited him, and that all was quiet, +when suddenly sounds as if of chairs being upset and knocked about +appeared to come from the dead-house; that he had gone up to the +window, as we had a short time before, and looked in, and that he saw +the corpse off the table, and standing up close inside the window, +and that it, as he said, ‘jeered’ at him; that this fearful sight had +so unmanned him, that without more ado he had taken to his heels, and +had no recollection of anything else that happened until he returned +to consciousness on the guard-bed. He was evidently suffering from a +terrible shock to his nervous system; and it was only with the greatest +difficulty that, mingled with heavy sobs and shudderings, we could +manage to get the poor fellow to speak: he was driven nearly demented +by the ghastly sight which he was persuaded that he had witnessed. + +As soon as he could be left with safety to the care of the guard, who +were directed not to pester him with questions, the surgeon and I with +a corporal and file of men set off for the hospital; and as we crossed +the square, strange noises began to reach us, the growling, snarling, +and other sounds of canine conflict mingling with the unmistakable +howls with which Doubleworks interlarded his performance. + +‘Hillo!’ we said to the doctor; ‘do you hear that? What an hour for +Doubleworks to be hunting the badger; we thought he was never allowed +in barracks after tattoo.’ + +As we neared the hospital, the badger hunt, which had ceased for a +few moments, broke out afresh, this time mingled with shouts of wild +unearthly laughter, and proceeding unmistakably from the dead-house, +in which the corpse of the dead soldier had been deposited. We roused +up the hospital sergeant, who, good quiet man, snored serenely through +it all, and got from him the key and a lantern, and opening the door, +found that with the dead man the wretched Doubleworks had been locked +up. How he got there unnoticed, no one could tell; he had not been +observed by any one about the place; and the only conclusion that we +could arrive at was, that he had slipped in when the body was being +placed on the table, and had ensconced himself behind the door until it +was pulled to and locked upon him. + +However true this theory might have been, there was no means of +verifying now, for, from whatever cause arising, it was but too evident +that poor Doubleworks had become quite insane. He had removed the sheet +from the body of the dead man, which lay there in its solemn stiffness +before us, in strange contrast to the mad pranks of the lunatic, who, +having, no doubt, wrapped himself in the sheet, had presented himself +so disguised to the sentry, when he looked in at the window, thereby +almost driving him as mad as he was himself. + +Why he didn’t favour us with a similar exhibition when we went to look +in at the window, we can’t imagine; perhaps he may have objected to the +presence of more than one spectator, for he must have heard the steps +of the corporal and file of men who were with us when going our rounds. +At anyrate, he made no objection to leaving the dead-house now, though +he seemed in no way in dread of the other occupant of it. He was next +day made over to the civil authorities, and was afterwards transferred, +we heard, to the district lunatic asylum; and what was his subsequent +fate, we do not know. The sentry he had so horribly frightened, after +several weeks in hospital, returned to his duty; but we don’t think he +ever quite got over the shock, and he was discharged from the service +within a twelvemonth after. Perhaps he may be still alive, and if so, +we will bet a trifle he has not forgotten Doubleworks. + + + + +RUSSIAN PETROLEUM. + + +Mr Charles Marvin, who has already done much to familiarise English +readers with the Russian petroleum industry and the extraordinarily +prolific nature of the oil-wells at Baku, on the Caspian, has again +returned to the subject in a pamphlet entitled _The Coming Deluge of +Russian Petroleum_ (Anderson & Co., Cockspur Street, London). As these +wells, when transport facilities are more perfect, may seriously affect +the home and American oil-trade, the facts brought out in Mr Marvin’s +pamphlet are worthy of attention. + +We learn that of the five hundred petroleum wells at Baku, the majority +are situated on the Balakhani Plateau, eight or nine miles to the +north of the town. The latest ‘spouter’ of Tagieff’s is, however, in +a different locality, being situated on a promontory three miles to +the south of Baku. Here Gospodin Tagieff began boring about three +years ago. At first, the oil was slow to come, and at its best had +never yielded more than sixteen thousand gallons a day. On the 27th +September last, having touched oil at seven hundred and fourteen feet, +the well began to spout oil with extraordinary force. ‘From the town, +the fountain had the appearance of a colossal pillar of smoke, from the +crest of which clouds of oil-sand detached themselves and floated away +a great distance without touching the ground. Owing to the prevalence +of southerly winds, the oil was blown in the direction of Bailoff +Point, covering hill and dale with sand and petroleum, and drenching +the houses of Bailoff, a mile and a half away. Nothing could be done to +stop the outflow.’ It seems that the whole district was covered with +oil, the outflow being at the rate of thousands of tuns a day, which +filled up cavities, formed a lake, and on the fifth day began to escape +into the sea. The square in front of the town-hall of Baku was drenched +with petroleum. On the eighth day, the outflow reached the highest +ever known—a rate of eleven thousand tuns, or two and three-quarter +million gallons a day. ‘Thus,’ says Mr Marvin, ‘from a single orifice +ten inches wide there spouted daily more oil than was being produced +throughout the whole world, including therein the twenty-five thousand +wells of America, the thousands of wells in Galicia, Roumania, Burmah, +and other countries, and the shale-oil distilleries of Scotland and New +South Wales.’ By the fifteenth day, those in charge had got the outflow +so far under control as to restrict it to one quarter million gallons a +day. It was certainly a misfortune that of the ten million gallons of +oil ejected from Tagieff’s well, most of it was at first lost for want +of storage accommodation. + +The yield of oil at Baku is thus much ahead of the greatest product of +the American wells. Nobel Brothers’ No. 18 Well has yielded, from a +depth of seventeen hundred and twenty-one feet, nearly thirty million +gallons of oil; and their No. 9 Well, from a depth of six hundred +and forty-two feet, forty million gallons. Some of these wells are +kept closed while oil is being sold at so cheap a rate. Against the +assertion that the product of these wells may dry up and will not last +very long, Mr Marvin says that there is ample historical evidence +that petroleum has been flowing from the Apsheron peninsula for two +thousand five hundred years, and that there seems more likelihood of +the American wells drying up than those of Baku. Besides, the petroleum +region of the Black Sea has scarcely been touched, and there the oil +seems as plentiful as in America. + +Owing to this prodigious outflow without a ready market, oil was +selling there, in the beginning of October last, at _one penny per +sixteen gallons_. The best refined petroleum or lamp-oil is sold at +three-farthings a gallon. The production of crude petroleum last year +exceeded four hundred and twenty million gallons; there are now one +hundred and twenty firms with oil-refineries at Baku, which last year +turned out one hundred and twenty million gallons of refined petroleum. +The production in 1878 was only one and a quarter million gallons. The +bulk-system of transport, as distinguished from carrying in barrels, +first adopted in 1879, has had a tendency to revolutionise the trade, +and now there are one hundred oil steamers on the Caspian. Some of +these steamers have a capacity of carrying eight hundred tuns of oil +each trip. + +After extracting thirty per cent. of lamp-oil, and allowing ten per +cent. for waste and dregs, the remaining sixty per cent., out of every +hundred gallons, is used for lubricating and other purposes. Large +quantities are imported by certain firms in London, for the manufacture +of lubricating oils. Although thus exported, the supply of this waste +or residue is so great that it has become the principal fuel in +South-east Russia. Steamers purchase it at Baku at fourpence a tun, +to be used as fuel. When sent by rail to Batoum, the price rises as +high as one pound per tun, which is still cheaper than English coal. +More than two hundred and fifty tank and many passenger steamers and +locomotives now use this waste oil as fuel in place of coal. A tun +of liquid fuel is said to do the work of two or three tons of coal: +the chief advantage of its use consists in the fact that it can be +turned off and on like gas; it is clean, and takes up very little +bunker-space, a matter of great importance to steamers travelling +to long distances. The Black Sea Steam Navigation Company, owning +seventy-six steamers, intend to commence using this oil-refuse. + +The chief outlets for the transport of Baku oil at present are by the +Volga and the Transcaucasian Railway. A concession has been granted by +the Russian government for laying down a petroleum pipe six hundred +miles long for the carrying of the oil from Baku to a point on the +Black Sea. The pipe must be large enough to carry one hundred and +sixty millions of gallons of oil a year; and it is expected that three +years will elapse before it is in working order. Meantime, the North +Caucasus Railway will be completed in 1887, and it is expected that it +will convey at least one hundred million gallons of oil to the port +of Novorossisk, on the Black Sea. Thence it can be shipped in tank +steamers to Europe. + +We learn that a huge iron reservoir is being built at a remote spot in +the outer harbour of Amsterdam for the storage of petroleum. It will +be nearly thirty-three feet in diameter, and of the same depth, and is +calculated to hold nearly one million seven hundred and forty thousand +gallons. The petroleum will be brought direct from Russia in these tank +steamers, and will be pumped out at Amsterdam into the tanks, thus +saving the expense of filling and emptying casks, besides diminishing +the risks of accidents. + +Mr Marvin is of opinion that the world is consuming more oil yearly, +and he calculates the daily consumption at two million gallons. Along +with the cheapening of the oil have also come great improvements in +the make of lamps, such as the Defries Safety-lamp, in which the +receptacle for the oil is formed of brass. Mr Marvin makes the sensible +suggestion, that as Russia is flooding the surrounding countries with +oil, our manufacturers might supply the south-east of Europe with +lamps, and thousands of cooking and warming stoves. It appears that +there is not a country in Europe to which Baku oil is not now shipped, +and the figures quoted show that American petroleum is being driven +from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Mr Marvin is of opinion that +the shale-oil industry of Scotland already shows signs of yielding to +the competition of America, ‘and unless special circumstances should +arise, must eventually be crushed by the rivalry of Russian petroleum, +when imported in bulk.’ And apparently he has written his pamphlet in +order to rouse British ship-owners, manufacturers, and capitalists to +secure a share in the expansion and development of the Baku oil-trade. + +[We have on more than one occasion advocated the use of oil in calming +_broken_ billows at sea, and thus saving a ship or boat which otherwise +might succumb to the fury of the storm. Might it not, therefore, be +worth while to make further experiments in the abandonment of costly +coal, and fit up steamers with this comparatively cheap material, +which, while driving the ship, might in a heavy seaway save her, if the +oil be allowed to ooze from bags made fast to windward? The use of oil +at sea during rough weather _cannot be overestimated_.—ED.] + + + + +TOBACCO-CULTURE IN SCOTLAND. + + +It is quite right for agriculturists to do what is possible in the +direction of introducing new kinds of crop that may possibly turn +out remunerative; and in this view, some interest is attached to +recent experiments in the culture of tobacco. If the North Americans +can compete with British farmers in the production of good beef and +mutton, Britain may possibly maintain the equilibrium by cultivating +the weed of which the New World has long had a monopoly. Potatoes were +introduced into this country from America, and have proved to be a +rich benefit. It is just possible that tobacco also may turn out to be +a not less lucrative gift to the producer. More than a hundred years +have elapsed since a trial was made in Scotland, principally, but not +exclusively, in the south-eastern counties. It failed at that time, +through the combined influences of a bad season, the interference of +the government—believed to be at the instance of Glasgow merchants—and +ultimately of a rapid fall in the price of imported tobacco, a +combination of circumstances not likely to occur again. + +Of the trial made towards the close of last century, a detailed account +has been left on record by the Rev. Dr Somerville of Jedburgh. In +consequence of the war with America, tobacco had continued to rise +in price, till, in 1781, it reached the unprecedented price of two +shillings the pound. Dr Jackson, a gentleman who possessed a small +estate near Kelso, had for two years previous laid out a few acres in +the culture of tobacco, the science of which he had learned from long +experience in America. In 1781, his whole crop had been sold at the +extraordinary rate of two shillings and sixpence a pound. His example +and reputed success led others to follow in the same line. Even the +minister of Jedburgh had five acres of his glebe laid out as a tobacco +plantation; and his statement is that, in 1782, many thousands of acres +in the counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, and Selkirk were planted with +tobacco, nearly every farmer in these counties having devoted some +considerable part of his arable land to this adventurous speculation. +In Berwickshire, complaints were made that many acres of the best land +were occupied with tobacco instead of being cropped with grain. + +The year 1782 is notable as having been one of the most inclement +seasons either in the eighteenth century or the present. Snow, which +had fallen plentifully during the winter, remained so long on the +ground that the sowing of grain was delayed at least a month after the +ordinary time. The summer was uncommonly wet and cold; the harvest +was so late that even in early districts corn was not cut down till +October, while a great part of it was reaped only in November; and +much of it in the higher grounds never ripened at all. Tobacco, like +other crops, suffered from the cold rainy season; and its destruction +was completed in the month of August by a thunderstorm of unusual +violence, accompanied with a great fall of hail. The succulent leaves +were riddled; many of the most luxuriant plants were destroyed; and the +prospects of speculative farmers were seriously blighted. + +The discomfiture of tobacco-planters, begun by the unpropitious season, +was completed through the interference of Glasgow merchants. The +tobacco trade in that city had gradually grown to large dimensions. It +had begun in a small way soon after the union with England in 1707. At +first, Glasgow merchants had no ships of their own, but were dependent +on English vessels; and not till 1718 did the first Glasgow ship cross +the Atlantic. Gradually the tobacco trade of Glasgow increased, till +it roused the jealousy of merchants in London, Liverpool, Bristol, and +Whitehaven, who made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to crush those +enterprising Scottish traders. The traffic continued to flourish till +in 1775 there were fifty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-three +hogsheads of tobacco imported from Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. +At the instance of these Glasgow merchants, the government officials +came to understand that the revenue would suffer if tobacco grown in +Scotland were carried free of duty into England. Accordingly, an Act +was passed in 1782 permitting the use and removal of tobacco, the +growth of Scotland, into England for a limited time under certain +restrictions; but liable to duties similar to those due and payable on +the importation of such tobacco, the growth and produce of the British +colonies or plantations in America. + +By a subsequent Act, provision was made for granting relief to the +proprietors of such tobacco, in consideration of the inferior quality +thereof, or any accident or defect that may happen in the growth or +culture of the crop so as to render the same not marketable or worth +the duties imposed thereupon. For this purpose, it was enacted that +the Commissioners of Customs at Edinburgh might allow, and order to be +paid to the owner or proprietor of such tobacco, out of any revenue +under their management which is applicable to the payment of incidents, +at the rate of fourpence for every pound-weight thereof, for which +the owner or proprietor thereof shall refuse to pay the full duties +imposed by the said recited Act, provided the commodity shall be given +up and _burned_, the owners being compensated at the rate of fourpence +a pound. Even at that moderate figure, it was said that thirteen +acres in the parish of Crailing brought one hundred and four pounds +sterling, or about eight pounds an acre. The return would have been +three times as much, but for the Act of Parliament which fixed the rate +of compensation so low. Altogether, the county of Roxburgh was believed +to have lost fifteen hundred pounds by the arrangement. The experiment +was not renewed in 1783, one reason for which is doubtless indicated in +the announcement made on the 21st of March that year, that ‘tobacco has +fallen fourpence a pound this week.’ + +The more recent experiments of growing tobacco near Kelso were, +we understand, quite successful so far as plant-production of a +good quality was concerned, but excise difficulties prevented the +utilisation of the crop. It only remains for us to assure our readers +that a tobacco plant, grown in a pot, is a pretty household ornament. + + + + +THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS. + + +The Japanese sanitarium, Kusatsu, possesses such important remedial +properties that it is believed that when its reputation becomes more +widely known in Western countries, patients will flock to it from all +parts of the globe. Here, in the volcanic soil, are a series of natural +baths of different temperatures, the waters of which are charged with +sulphur, arsenic, copper, alumina, magnesia, in various proportions. +To these baths come the halt, the maim, and even those who are as +far blind as that too common disease ophthalmia can make them. They +bathe here in waters which are described as caustic and evil-smelling, +some of which consist of little else than dilute sulphuric acid. This +treatment, owing to the great temperature and searching action of the +different chemicals dissolved in the water, is often most agonising to +the patients, who can only bear it for several minutes at a time. But +its efficacy in various species of disease is said to be most thorough, +even incurable maladies being mitigated by these wonderful waters. + +The _Builder_ calls attention to the careless construction of flues +and party-walls in houses, which constitutes a common cause of houses +being burned down. The evil is best described by showing what occurred +at a private house in London not many weeks ago. A smell of fire was +detected, luckily in the daytime, when people were about and able to +seek the cause. Upon examination of a certain flue, it was found that +ties of fir covered with lead passed on each side of it. These ties +had ignited, and had communicated their fire to a library bookcase. +Although the Building Act forbids this mode of construction, there +are many houses which were built before it became law, and doubtless +a large proportion of them have wood in dangerous proximity to their +flues. Although at the time of building, such woodwork may have been +partially protected, the modern method of sweeping a chimney is apt to +knock off projections and to move bricks out of place, thereby giving a +ready means of access to fire. + +At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, a paper was +read by M. Pasteur on his Treatment of Hydrophobia. As Pasteur’s +work has recently been much criticised, sometimes not too kindly, it +may be as well briefly to state the results which he has recorded +after inoculating nearly 2500 patients. Of these, 80 were English, 52 +Austrians, 9 Germans, 107 Spaniards, 10 Greeks, 14 Dutch, 165 Italians, +25 Portuguese, 191 Russians, 1726 French and Algerians, and 54 of other +nationalities. Confining his remarks to the French cases, as being, we +presume, those only the subsequent history of which could be followed, +M. Pasteur said that out of the large number stated, the inoculation +had proved ineffectual in ten cases only. Six of these ten were +children, and one a woman seventy years old. As a result of studying +these failures, M. Pasteur came to the conclusion that for deep wounds +his treatment was insufficient. He has now modified it by making the +action more rapid and energetic for all cases, and he considers that +this alteration has already been productive of very favourable results. + +A Russian doctor says that he has successfully treated with cantharides +some patients who were bitten by a rabid wolf. Three men were badly +bitten by the animal in various parts of the body, and cantharides +plasters were applied to the wounds. At the same time, powdered +cantharides was administered to each in doses of one grain each day, +until certain well-known symptoms were exhibited. These patients have +now been in perfect health for eight months since the bites were given, +and it is hoped that cantharides has thus proved a successful remedy to +the dire disease with which they were threatened. + +A petroleum engine has been invented by Herr Siegfried Marcus of +Vienna, and adopted by the German government as a motor for torpedo +boats. It is said to be far more powerful than a steam-engine of equal +bulk, while its fuel takes up much less space than coal. The engine is +said to work well and without any risk of explosion. + +We are always glad to note anything new in the way of utilising waste +products, for such saving represents a distinct gain to the country. +The last item of this kind that has been recorded is a method, +which has been patented, of making use of spent dye liquors for the +manufacture of writing-ink. The spent liquor of bichromate of potash, +or soda, such as may have been used for mordanting wool, &c., is boiled +with the waste logwood liquor from dyeing-vats. The result, after +certain additions have been made, is a non-corrosive and permanent ink. + +A successful attempt has recently been made, near Liverpool, to +acclimatise a beautiful variety of carp called the ‘Golden Orfe,’ a +fish which comes from Bavaria. The ornamental gold-fish which are +commonly seen in aquaria in our own country will not, as a rule, breed +here, and if they do, their descendants are black rather than golden. +But these Bavarian fish, while quite as beautiful, will breed freely, +and their young will retain the colour of the parents. The fish is +about one foot in length, and is said to attain a weight of six pounds. +It will be valued by anglers for the reason that it will rise to a fly +in waters which are inclosed, so that by its help fly-fishing may be +still further enjoyed in landlocked waters. Some ponds near Liverpool +have been stocked with this hopeful fish; and if present anticipations +are realised, its culture will no doubt be taken up in other parts of +the country. + +The experimental crop of tobacco grown at Sydenham, close by the +Crystal Palace, by Messrs Carter & Co., has, so far as cultivation and +preparation for market are concerned, proved a decided success. The +experiment shows that the fragrant weed can be produced and prepared +by hands unused to the work, in an uncertain climate such as ours. +The total crop raised by Messrs Carter covered only three-quarters +of an acre of ground, and its estimated weight is about fifteen +hundredweight, having a market value of forty-two pounds, or at the +rate of fifty-six pounds per acre. This estimate is of course the +value of the raw material free of all duty. The operations involved in +tobacco-growing are such as could be undertaken by small cultivators, +and it remains to be seen whether the government will allow this new +kind of farming to be tried on a more extensive scale. Their decision +should come quickly, so that farmers may have time to prepare their +ground for the new crop. + +A new method of preserving polyzoa and other low forms of life has been +discovered by Dr A. Fottinger. Crystals of chloral hydrate are dropped +into the vessel of water in which polypes have been placed, and in a +short time the creatures become insensible, when they can be placed in +alcohol. The advantage claimed for this method is that the polypes will +remain expanded, and can therefore be preserved when exhibiting all +their beauty of structure. The chloral acts, it would seem, in much the +same manner as it affects higher organisms—that is, as a narcotic. + +The extended use of the electric light in America seems to be by no +means an unmixed blessing. It is said that in every town over a certain +size the Companies are stringing their wires over the streets to the +danger of the inhabitants. But this danger does not arise from the +risk of broken wires, so much as from wires which are so imperfectly +insulated that the electric energy can escape to neighbouring telephone +and telegraph lines. This is especially the case in storms, when +the wires are swayed to and fro in the wind, and are often knocked +together. The result of this is often a fire at the telephone or +telegraph offices, sometimes leading to loss of life. It is said by +telephone operators that it is not an uncommon thing to find, upon +opening the office in the morning, that a telephone has been burned up +during the night, its charred remains having fallen on the floor. It is +evident that such accidents are preventable; but special legislation +may be necessary to compel the Companies to adopt proper precautions +against their occurrence. + +Last month, we noticed certain improvements which have been made in the +Electric Safety-lamp invented by Mr Swan of Newcastle. Another lamp +of the same type has been contrived by Mr Miles Settle of Bolton. Mr +Settle’s lamp is an incandescent electric globe which floats in another +glass globe of water. Should the glass, from any cause, break, the +electric connection is broken too, and the lamp goes out. It is made +in two sizes—one for main roads, and one for ordinary use. It gives a +brilliant light, and is adapted for use in powder-magazines as well as +in mines. Mr Settle is also the inventor of a water-cartridge which can +be exploded in a fiery mine, or in one charged with coal-dust, without +any fear of the surrounding medium catching fire. Both inventions +have lately been subjected to experiments, which clearly prove their +efficiency. + +In view of the wonderful advances which have been recently made in the +field of astronomical photography, it has been proposed by the Paris +Academy of Sciences that an International Conference shall be held +in the spring for the purpose of making arrangements for obtaining a +complete chart of the heavens. This photographic map would be combined +from many hundreds of photographs taken at ten or more observations in +different parts of the globe. We shall have occasion again to refer to +this important and deeply interesting subject. + +It has long been admitted that if Britain is to retain her commercial +position among the nations of the world, her workmen must have the +advantages of technical education. Much has been done in this direction +in recent years, but much more remains to be done. It would be as +well if the various Institutes throughout the country were to follow +the lead of the Finsbury Technical College, London. Here, a course +of lectures on Electric Bells has been so well attended that it will +shortly be repeated. Another course on Electro Deposition of Metals, +with special reference to Nickel Plating, has been commenced. Following +this will come the subject of Solders and Soldering. The intelligent +working-man comes to these lectures, for he knows that he must learn +something more than his father was master of, and that ‘rule of thumb’ +must in these days give place to something more definite. + +It is to be hoped that the conduct of an official at Bedford in +deliberately handing to the public analyst a sample of beer which had +been purposely doctored with a poisonous drug, with a view to showing +that customary analysis would not discover the addition, will not +lead the unthinking to assume that chemical analysis is valueless. In +examining a sample of beer, the analyst looks only for such ingredients +as are liable to be used for its sophistification, such as sugar, added +water, &c. In examining bread in like manner, he would look for alum +or potato; in coffee, for chicory; and so on. But it would be quite +outside his province to look for a mineral poison, unless he were told +beforehand that the presence of such a poison was suspected. If it were +the duty of the public analyst to search every sample of food submitted +to him for all the poisons known to the world, each analysis would +be an affair of many weeks, and his work would practically come to a +stand-still. + +At the beginning of the year, a certain number of the new +Enfield-Martini rifles were issued to our troops, and several adverse +reports concerning their efficiency were the result. The weapons were +returned to headquarters, and have now been reissued to Portsmouth, +Aldershot, and the School of Musketry at Hythe. Those into whose hands +they are placed are required to answer several questions as to the +efficiency of various parts of the weapon, and general observations +upon its merits or demerits are invited. It is thought in many quarters +that it is now time that a magazine or repeating rifle should become +the arm of the infantry. But it has long become the fashion for Britain +not to lead, but to follow the lead of other countries in these +matters. The plan has the advantage of benefiting by the experience of +others, but it can be carried too far. + +It was recently pointed out in an article which appeared in the _Times_ +how little we are indebted to native talent for the more deadly and +exceptional implements of war. The Gatling, Gardner, Hotchkiss, and +Maxim machine guns are due to American ingenuity, and the practical +conception of the turret ship comes from the same source. Nordenfelt +with his machine gun and his submarine boat is a Norwegian. But what +will prove perhaps the most deadly thing of all is the dynamite +cruiser, which is about to be built for the American navy. This is +a boat two hundred and thirty feet in length, with engines which +will insure a speed of twenty knots. She is to be built of steel, +and furnished with twin screws. Her armament is to consist of three +guns, seventy feet in length, to fire dynamite shells, propelled by +compressed air. This form of gun was invented and tried with success +some months ago, and at the time we described its construction as being +similar to that of a pea-shooter. The cartridge of the gun is a copper +drum containing two hundred pounds of dynamite, and its flight of two +or three miles through the air is rendered steady by the attachment of +a wooden shaft, which acts towards it as a stick does to a rocket. It +is certain that no ship afloat could withstand the explosion of such a +terrible projectile. + +The Germans have found a new use for Professor Hughes’s microphone in +the detection of leaks in water-mains. The apparatus required consists +of a steel rod, in addition to the microphone, telephone, and battery. +The rod is placed upon the stopcock in the neighbourhood of which a +leak is suspected; and by listening to the telephone placed in circuit +with it and the microphone, the slightest leakage is detected. If the +stopcock is a good one and there is no leak, no sound is heard; but +the least leakage causes a vibration, which is rendered audible by the +microphone. The operation is so simple that it is readily acquired by +unskilled hands. + +As Mr Watts, the eminent Academician, has announced his intention of +bequeathing his valuable paintings to the nation, more than ordinary +interest must centre round the nine pictures which he has sent to the +Kensington Museum as what he calls ‘samples’ of his work. These include +several of his more recent productions. We may mention, too, that the +collection of fifty-five pictures by the same hand, which for some +months have been exhibited in Birmingham, is now removed to the Museum +galleries at Nottingham Castle. Mr Watts’ works will thus be rendered +familiar to many thousands of people. + +We hear of a very ingenious and valuable improvement upon the +construction of the steam-engine, for which various patents have +recently been issued. This invention, which hails from the Dunfermline +Foundry Company, N.B., consists of a steam-valve of entirely original +design, which can be moved with the greatest ease, as there is no +steam-pressure on any of its working parts, causing considerable +friction, as in the case of the slide-valve at present in use. Apart +from the simplification of the steam-engine, where quick stoppage and +reversing are important considerations, its great value lies in the +certainty of its preventing various kinds of accidents of a mortal +character. Thus, where miners are being hoisted to the pit-mouth, there +is always a danger that the engineman may lose control of the stopping +arrangements, and a case of ‘overwinding’ is the result. The new valve, +however, is so easily stopped, that the ‘indicator’ can be adjusted, so +that when the cage reaches the platform at the pit-mouth, the steam is +instantly cut off and overwinding rendered impossible. At sea, also, +this valve will be most valuable, as the most powerful engines can be +stopped and reversed with the greatest ease, and this cannot be said of +the engines of the present day. The same remarks apply to locomotives. +The valve has also been adapted to steam-winches, and here another +advantage presents itself, inasmuch as, should the winch be stopped +while the load is upon the chain, the load remains suspended without +the application of a brake; in other words, the winch does not run +away, because the ‘exhaust’ steam does not leave the cylinder, but is +inclosed as a steam-brake, keeping the piston immovable. + +In the neighbourhood of the mining village of Broxburn, about twelve +miles west of Edinburgh, are several large shale-oil works. In making +a new bore in connection with one of these works lately, a petroleum +spring was struck at one hundred and fifteen fathoms from the surface. +In driving a mine at a later date, petroleum was observed coming out +of the rocks. In a deep bore made in 1884 the same appearances of +petroleum oozing from the rock were observed. It was the discovery of +a petroleum spring at Alfreton, Derbyshire, by the late James Young, +which set him thinking and experimenting, and led up to his famous +discovery of the distillation of oil from shale. In Scotland, this +industry has flourished in recent years, the annual output of shale for +this having reached the enormous quantity of two million tons. + + + + +OCCASIONAL NOTES. + + +MILK-DIET FOR INFANTS. + +In an article on ‘Infant-feeding,’ contributed to the _Lancet_, Dr E. +Paget Thurstan, M.D., publishes an interesting discovery that he has +recently made. It has been very generally admitted that, inasmuch as +salivary and pancreatic secretions are practically absent in newborn +children, all farinaceous food should be avoided in their dietary. Dr +Thurstan’s discovery entails a departure from the letter, if not the +spirit, of this axiom of child-rearing. Mothers are well aware that +very young children cannot drink pure cow’s milk, because it curdles +in a lump in their stomachs. Certain chemical substances—notably +lime-water—must be blended with the liquid to make it digestible. +These auxiliaries, however, frequently produce sickness; and it is +obviously undesirable to doctor a child with medicine for months +together if it be not absolutely necessary. Some persons imagine +they solve the problem by using condensed milk as infant-food. But +Dr Thurstan points out that, though its curd is undoubtedly more +digestible than that of uncondensed milk, the cane-sugar with which +it is prepared, itself produces indigestion in a new form, while the +condensation robs the liquid of much of its saline constituents, and +removes material required for bone-formation. Hence he sought a new +method of making cow’s milk digestible to young children; and his +final solution of the question is as simple as he declares it to be +efficacious. He mixes with the milk a small quantity of farinaceous +food, to secure a mechanical as opposed to a nutritive action. The +particles of solid intermingle with the curds as they form, and thus +prevent their coalescing into one large mass. Dr Thurstan suggests as +appropriate agents the crust of bread—when free from alum and large +quantities of potato starch—or any one of the many well-known infants’ +foods. He points out that they should be added to the milk in such +small quantities and in such minute particles that it will easily pass +through the tube of a feeding-bottle. Dr Thurstan mentions in detail +the case of a weak and ailing child whose life was saved by this method +of feeding. + + +WOOD-PULP. + +A report comes from Norway of a discovery just made at the Sognedal +Pulp Factory, after years of experimenting—that wood-pulp can be used +for the manufacture of all kinds of building ornaments which are +usually made in plaster of Paris, the pulp readily taking painting or +gilding to great advantage. The material also seems to be remarkably +tough, and not easily broken, as shown by the fact that a bar a foot +long, an inch thick, and five inches wide, was thrown with great +violence against a wall and sustained no injury. Pieces have also +been dropped from great heights with the same result. The material +is lighter than plaster of Paris, is impervious to wet, and therefore +admirably adapted for ceilings, ceiling ornaments, friezes, and +such-like, both outdoor and indoor. It can easily be fixed either with +nails or screws. One more advantage is claimed by the inventor—that +ornaments made from this material cost half the price of similar ones +made of plaster. If this discovery is really all that it is said to +be, it will prove a useful adjunct to all kinds of ornamentation +and architectural decoration, and ought therefore to be specially +acceptable in the building trade. + + +M. DEPREZ’ ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS. + +A series of interesting experiments have been lately carried on by +M. Deprez at Creil, at the sole expense of Messrs Rothschild, with +the view to ascertain whether certain results can be obtained from +one generator and one receptor. M. Deprez now finds that with these +appliances he can transmit to a distance of thirty-five miles a force +of fifty-two horse-power, and that the machinery is now working +regularly and continuously. The maximum electro-motive force is 6290 +volts, which is all the more remarkable; for before the construction +of M. Deprez’ apparatus, the maximum force did not exceed 2000. The +transmitting wires may be left uncovered on poles, so long as they +are high enough to be out of the reach of the hand. The cost of +this arrangement to provide a circular line of seventy miles, for +a fifty-horse power of transmission, is estimated at five thousand +pounds; not a high price, when all the circumstances are considered; +and a cost that would be lessened if the machines were to be frequently +manufactured or brought into general use, which is much to be desired, +as a new and very practicable motor-power will thus be made available +for industrial purposes. + + + + +SWEET DAY OF DAYS. + + + On the moss-grown bridge I stand, + Where you gave me once your hand, + Where a story, new, yet old, + Once without a word was told. + Still the daylight slowly dies, + Ebbing from the tender skies; + Still the river creeps along, + Crooning yet its wistful song. + Day of days, sweet day of days, + Years their shadows round us raise; + Happy they who, looking on, + Still remember days agone! + + Ah! of all sweet days that day, + Gone from sight and reach away, + Even as this flower I throw + Down the old gray stream will go. + Nay—it lingers—prisoned lies, + Where the swaying willows rise, + Out of reach, love, like sweet days + Lingering yet in memory’s gaze! + Day of days, sweet day of days, + Years their shadows round us raise; + Happy they who, looking on, + Still remember days agone! + + G. CLIFTON BINGHAM. + + * * * * * + +_Volume III. of the Fifth Series of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL is now +completed, price Nine Shillings._ + + * * * * * + +_A Title-page and Index, price One Penny, have been prepared, and may +be ordered through any bookseller._ + + * * * * * + +_An elegant cloth case for binding the whole of the numbers for 1886 is +also ready._ + + * * * * * + +_Back numbers to complete sets may at all times be had._ + + * * * * * + +The First Monthly Part of the New Volume will contain the opening Chapters of an + original Novel, entitled: + + RICHARD CABLE + + THE LIGHTSHIPMAN + + BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘MEHALAH,’ ‘JOHN HERRING,’ ‘COURT ROYAL,’ ETC. + + * * * * * + + Also an interesting Novelette, entitled: + + TOLD BY TWO + + BY T. W. SPEIGHT + + * * * * * + +END OF THE THIRD VOLUME. + + +Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, +London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh. + + * * * * * + +_All Rights Reserved._ + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text. + +Page 818: guaze to gauze—“wire-gauze”. + +Page 831: shale oil-works to shale-oil works—“shale-oil works”.] + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77054 *** |