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A 80,000 POUND LEAD BOULDER. The Greenfield (Mo.) Gazette says: "On Saturday last Joseph and William Burnett, Jr., who were engaged in taking up zinc for the Dado Company, struck, at a dis tance of only four feet from the surface, a chunk of lead which has not yet been taken up, but has been uncovered sufficiently to show that it i 3 six feet in width, about two feet in thickness, and, so far, about nine feet in length. Parties who have examin ed it estimate its weight at from 25,000 to 80,000 pounds. The discovery of this mam moth mass of mineral was the occasion for intense excitement among the miners in that vicinity. Some sixty or seventy have applied for lots on which to prospect for lead, and quite a number have already com menced prospecting without the formality of a lease or of any writing whatsoever. I* is reported that the zinc mines at Engle man's Mills are almost deserted, every min er being anxious to make an early trial of his luck in digging for lead. There are a number of experienced Joplin miners pres ent, all of whom unite in the opinion that the prospect for lead in immense quantities is excellent. The company has determined to survey fifty-five acres more of this tract into lots. These lots are 99x198 feet, and it is proposed for the present to let each alternate lot to miners. A large number of prospectors will therefore soon be at work, and there is good reason for believing that the mines of Dade county will soon be exporting lead in nearly as large quantities as zinc. TOBACCO IN ALGERIA. The culture of tobacco may now be look. Ed upon as one of the principal pursuits of Algeria. The tobacco crops of 1874 havo been exceedingly abundant, and the returns are double that of the previous year — namely, 3,530,G07f. Since the year 1847 it has been calculated that the cultivation of tobacco has realized 54,000,000f. The Government is doing its best to encourage this source of industry, and the planters axe zealously striving to improve their fields, and methods of cultivation, so as to compete on a larger scale with other coun tries. Public attention is also being drawn to the mineral wealth of the country. Throughout last year several French, Eng lish, and American companies have been exploring various regions of the three prov inces with a view to future enterpi-ise; but capital, roads, and means of transportation are wanted. In Constantine, mining opera ations are actively carried on. In 1873 the total amount of mineral exports of Algeria reached 420,662 tons, two-thirds of which were supplied by Constantine. Last year this quantity was exceeded; it is expected that the returns will be 490,000 tons. The colony demands of the Government an ex tended survey of the mining districts, with a view to promote a branch of industry so important alike to Algeria and France. At present the number of miners is only 3,500, the greater part of these being employed in Constantine alone. "WHAT ILLINOIS WIVES CAN DO. The married women of Illinois acquired by the law of 1874 the right to do almost everything. They can sue and be sued in their own names. They can —blessed privi lege —sue their own particular tyrants. When a husband deserts his wife, the latter Jias the custody of her children. If the husband stays out of the State a year and does nothing to support the wife during that time, or if he is imprisoned in the penitentiary, the wife can, upon obtaining am order from a court of record, manage his property absolutely. The wife is not at all liable for the husband's debts in curred before marriage, and only in excep tional circumstances for those incurred afterward. She can manage any business independently, except in case of a part nership, which she cannot enter without her husband's consent. A wife's earnings cannot be touched by her husband or his creditors. A married woman can ac quire, possess, and sell real and personal property as freely as a married man can. This list of abilities is expected to be large ly increased the present year —so as to include suffrage and other incidentals. WEDDINGS IX BORNEO. On the wedding day the bride and bride groom are brought from opposite ends of the village to the spot where the ceremony is to be performed. They are made to sit on two bars of iron, that blessings as last ing, and health as vigorous, may attend the pair. A cigar and a betul leaf, pre pared with the areca nut, are next put in to the hands of the bride and bridegroom. One of the priests then waves two fowls over the heads of the couple, and in a long ad dress to the Supreme Being calls down blessings upon the pair, and implores that peace and happiness may attend the union. After the heads of the affianced have been knocked against each other three or four times, the bridegroom puts the prepared leaf and cigar into the mouth of the bride, while she does the same to him, whom she thus acknowledges as her husband. Life-Saving: Invention. Paris, the mother of novelties^ has just sent out a new life-saving invention which, at is said, will render drowning inexcusable. It consists of a double shirt-like garment, that reaches from the knees to the throat. end is fastened in front by a double row of fcuttons. Inside of this a rubber tube it coiled a sufficient number of times to contain for enough, when inflated, to support tht fbody when in the water. The tube terrain etes at the neck with a mouth-piece, whicb Ss closed by a metallic button. It is expect ed that when a person goes near the watei ihe will wear this garment; and then, if bj 311-luck he should happen to tumble in, al! she will have to do will be to blow up his jacket and calmly float around until helj •comes. A President of a college, in a horse car, noticed one of the Freshmen curled up in front of him, and exhibiting ob vious signs of vinous exhilaration. For a few moments the President surveyed the undergraduate, and finally he ex claimed, "Been on a drunk?" The half conscious student rallied, and, with a gleam of good-fellowship in his eye, ejaculated, "So —hie—have I." I LOVE THE NIGHT. I love the night, the starry night, That comes when day has wing'd its flight; I love the weird and dreamy spell That in those tranquil shadows dwell. And if there's times when I love best, The vale or sea, 'tis when 'tis dressed In sunset's gorgeous, beauteous light That ushers in the starry night. I love the night, the gentle night, Whose arms enfold our slumbers light, Whose soothing powers assuage the soul When venom'd sorrows o'er it roll; Whose charms appease the aching breast, Ami jid the weary mourner rest; Then where's the heart so base as blight One balmy breath of gentle night? I love the night, the silent night, When streaming stars and moonbeams bright Float o'er each wood and summer sea, And leave the world to dreams and me 'Tis then with unbound soul I soar, And seek on high that happy shore, Where all is bliss, where all is bright— Bless God for dreamy, silent night. I love the night, the solemn night, Embalmed in soft and mystic light; It warns me of a time to come, When all must seek that silent home- That home so steeped in loved one's tears. Where rest, at last, life's hopes and fears; That pathway dark, when life is done, That every soul must tread alone. IN THE HANDS OF A MADMAN. The doors were banged, the engine whistled, the train began to move. It would not stop again until we got to Peterborough; so that I was safe to be undisturbed so far. There were ever so many seats, and I could occupy as many of them as a limited num ber of members permitted —for apparently I was alone. I almost wished myself an Octopus, to take full advantage of the situa tion. Calming down, I hung up my hat, put on a gaudy piece of needlework won in a bazaar ruffle, lit my pipe, cut my papers, and began to enjoy myself. I sat in the left-hand corner, with my back to the engine, absorbed in a big law suit. It is great fun to read a cross-exam ination, and to watch how a clever lawyer will make a clever man perjure himself. "It reads almost like a crime!" I remarked aloud; "but then it is a lawful and benefi cial crime. Soldiers kill people's bodies; lawyers kill people's reputations—all for the good of society in the long run !" While I was uttering the word "run," my ankles were grasped suddenly and firmly; then, before I could recover from the shock, they were jerked backward under the seat with such force that I was thrown forward, sprawling! I tried to rise, bat my right wrist was seized, and the arm twisted till I was help less ; and presently I found myself on the floor of the carriage, face downward, a sharp knee being scientifically pressed into the small of my back, and both arms fixed behind me. My elbows were tied together, and then the knee was removed and my ankles were secured. During this latter operation I kicked and struggled. "Hum-!"' said a d3liberate voice; "that will be awkwaTd! Let's see! Ah! these will do!" "These 1' were my stick and umbrella, which some one proceeded to apply as splints to the back of my legs, using the straps which had kept them in a bundle to fix them at the ankle and above the knee. When he had done, I was as helpless as a dressed turkey. Then I turned over carefully and tenderly, and for the first time saw my assailant. He was a gentlemanly-looking man, dressed^ in a black coat and waistcoat, gray tamp, and neck-cloth. His hair and whiskers were just turning gray, his chin and upper lip were clean shaven. His forehead was high, his eyes prominent and fixed in their expression, his nose aquiline, his moirth a slit. He was of middle height, spare, but wiry: indeed, his muscles must have been exceptionally elastic and feline—for you would have never thought, to look at him, that he could stow himself away under the seat of a railroad carriage so compactly. He contemplated me. With his chin in his right hand, and his right elbow on his left hand, he said, thoughtfully : "Just so! And for the good of society in the long run —an admirable sentiment? My dear sir, let it be a consolation to you if I should cause you any little annoyance." He took a shagreen spectacle case from his pocket, wiped the glasses carefully "with a silk handkerchief, and adjusted them on his nose. Then he produced an oblong box, which he unlocked and placed on one of the seats: after which he sat down quietly in the place I had occupied five minutes before —a position which brought him close over my head and chest as I lay supiue and help less at his feet. "Do you know anything of anatomy?" he asked. I was as completely in his powei as a witness in the cross-examining coun sel's, and prudence dictated that I should be equally ready to answer the most frivolous and impertinent questions with politeness. I said that I did not. "Ah!" he said. "Well, perhaps yon may have heard of the spleen ? Exactly! Now, Science has never as yet been able to find out the use of that organ; and the man who bequeaths that knowledge to posterity will rank with the discoverer of the circula tion of the blood, and will confer an ines timable benefit on humanity for the re mainder of the world's lease! I propose to dissect you !" "You will not get much glory for that," said I, forcing myself to seem to take this outrageous practical joke in good part. "An ungrateful generation may or may not profit by your discovery; but it will infalli bly hang yott/" "Not so," he blandly replied. ''I am a surgeon, who once had a very considerable practice ; but I had to stand my trial for an experiment which proved fatal to one of my patients. The jury, unable to understand the sacrifices which an earnest inquirer is ready to offer at the shrine of Science, de clared me mad, and I was placed in confine ment. So, you see that I can act with im punity." And he opened the box. I broke out in a cold sweat. Was it all real! Could the man be in earnest. "But," said I, "surely you can get dead bodies to dissect, without having recourse to crime? And again, if generations of anatomists have failed in twenty thousand investigations to discover the use of the spleen—if you yourself have always failed hitherto—why should you suppose that this one attempt should be more successful than the others ?" "Eccause, my dear sir," said the man, with a smile of one who had caught a bright idea, "all former investigations, including my own, have been made on dead subjects; while 1 propose to examine your vital organs with a very powerful mngnifying glass while they are exercising their normal functions," •'What!" I ga?pcd. "You will never have the barbarity—" And here my voico choked. "Oh. yes! 1 have conquered that preju dice against inflicting suffering which is natural to the mind enfeebled by civilization. For many years I secretely practiced vivi section upon animals. 1 once had 8 cat —an animal very tenacious of life—under my scalpel for a week. But we have no time to waste in conversation. You will not be put to aiy needless suffering. These instru ments are not my own—blunted for want of use. I took the precaution of borrowing ■ the case of the gentleman under whose care I have been placed, before making my es cape." While speaking thus, he took out the hideous little glittering instruments and ex amined them one by one. They were of various appalling shapes, and I gazed upon them with the horrible fascination of a bird under the power of a snake. Of only one could I tell the use —a thin, trenchant blade, which cut you almost to look at it. He knelt across me, arranging his imple ments on the seat to the right; laid a note book, pencil, and his watch on that to his left; and took off his neckcloth and collar, murmuring, "The clothes are very much in my way. I wish that you were properly prepared for the operation." It flashed across me, in my despair, that I had heard of madmen being foiled by an ap parent acquiescence in their murderous in tentions. "After all." I forced myself to say, "what is one life to the human race? Since mine is demanded by Science, let me aid you. Remove these bonds and allow me to take off my coat and waistcoat." He smiled and shook his head. "Life is sweet; I will not crush you," he said, unfastening my waistcoat, and turning back the lappels as far as he could. Then, taking a pair of scissors, he proceeded to cut my shirt-front away, so that presently my chest was bare to his experiments. Whether I closed my eyes or was seized with vertigo, Ido not know, but for a moment I lost sight of everything, and had visions—a sort of a grotesque nightmare. It-was the figure which I recall but very indistinctly, but I remember that the most prominent was a pig, or a pork, hanging up outside a butcher's shop, the appearance of which bore a mysterious resemblance to myself. These delirious fancies were dispelled by a sharp pang. The anatomist had made a first slight incision. I saw his calm face leaning over me! the cruel blade with which he was about to make another and deeper cut! his fingers already crimson with blood! and I struggled frantically. My operator immediately withdrew his armed hand, and stood erect. Then, watch ing his opportunity, he placed his right foot on the lower part of my breast-bone, 60 that by the terrible pressure he could suffocate me. "Listen, my friend!" he said; "'I will endeavor not to injure any vital organ ; but, if you wriggle about, I shall not be able to avoid doing so. Another thing—" He was interrupted by three sharp whistles from the engine, so shrill and piercing as to drown his voice. "Impede me by these sharp, impulsive movements, I shall endeavor to sever those muscles, which—" He never completed his sentence. There was a mighty shoek —a crash as if all the world had rushed together. I was shot under the seat, where I lay uninjured and in safety, amid the most horrible din—break ing, tearing, shrieking, cries for help, and the roar of escaping steam. I had strained the bonds which secured my elbow in my struggle, and the jerk of the collision snapped them. So that when I began to get my wits together, I found my hands free. To liberate my legs was then a very easy matter, but not to extricate myself—the next thing I set about. The whole top of the carriage from where the stuffed cushion part ends was carried sheer away; and amid the debris which incum bered my movements lay the mangled and decapjfated body of the madman, wrho, intending to assail my life, had by keeping me down close to the bottom of tne carriage, paved it. The Atlantic Waves. Nothing can be more superb than the green of the Atlantic waves when the cir cumstances are favorable to the exhibition of the color. As long as a wave remains unbroken no color appears; but when the foam just doubles over the'erest, like an Al pine snow cornice, we see a display of ex quisite green. It is metallic in its brilliancy. But the foam is necessary to its production. The foam is first illuminated, and it scatters the light in all directions; the light which passes through the higher portion of the wave alone reaches the eye, and gives to that portion its matchless color. The fold ing of the wave, producing as it does, a ser ies of longitudinal protuberances and fur rows, which act like cylindrical lenses, in troduces variations in the intensity of the light, and materially enhances its beauty. AN ANOMALOUS ANIMAL. Dr. Carl Bath writes that among the rocks at St. Amaro, on the coast of St. Paulo, there is an anomalous animal, be tween the ray and the shark, which lives upon the echinidans. With its hard bony peak, it attacks these sea urchins, which, in defense, move about rapidly and present their spines, but these the urchin-eater de stroys until its prey remains disarmed. Then, fastening itself in a crevice of the rocks by means of two strong fins, which are further strengthened by two bones from the upper part of the body, it is en abled to resist the shock of v.-ayes, and leisurely eat out the urchins. In place of gills it has two holes at the beginning of the tail, communicating with the flattened mouth. head narrows toward the beak, and the nostrils lie nearly over the mouth. There are two weak fins on the belly fastened only to the skin, and two others run along the tail, one above and the other beneath. The back is studded with warts with small spines. The eyes are covered with a kind of cornea and lie on the sides of the beak. The length of the specimen seen by Dr. Bath was 8 inches, its width 5, and its greatest thick ness 1.6 inches. It fins were 0.8 inch in width. The mouth had two lips, and two 'holes next the nose, beside that extending iato the beak, and from the bottom of the nose proceeded a kind of thin snout, mus cular and flexible. It had no teeth. The back was of a dark color, shading away along the throat into whitish. The dor sal spines resembled the shields of the crocodile. At first sight it looks like a bat, and the boatmen call it the sea-bat. They are afraid to touch it. It is found among rocks constantly washed by the sea. INTREPID JEWS. Since the time of Daniel braving the den 1 of lions to which despotism had doomed him for his religion, and his three friends fearlessly encountering the seven-fold heat ed furnace, conscientious Jews have ever been noted for their invincible intrepidity and perseverence, though not for similar manifestations of divine favor and protec tion. On a late occasion the Emperor of Bussia was reviewing his fleet, when two Bailors particularly attracted his attention, both by the precision with which they per formed several difficult manoeuvres, and by the agility and daring which they display ed. The Emperor was so much pleased that he immediately promoted one to be a captain, the other he appointed lieutenant on the spot. The men, however, were Jews, and there is a ukase forbidding Jews to wear an epaulet. The admiral of the fleet, who stood by, knowing that they were Jews, stated the difficulty to his imperial Majesty. "Pshaw," cried the Emperor, "that does not signify in the least—they shall immediately embrace the Greek re ligion, of course." When this determina tion was communicated to the two young men, knowing that remonstrance would be in vain, they requested the Emperor's per mission to exhibit still more of their man oeuvres, as he had not seen all they could do. This being granted, they ascended the topmast, embraced, and, locked in each other's arms, threw themselves into the sea, and disappeared for ever. GAMBLING. No passicn can lead to such extremities, nor involve a man in such a complicated train of crimes and vices, and ruin whole families so completely, as the baneful rage for gambling. It produces and nourishes all imaginable disgraceful sensations; it is the most fertile nursery of covetousness, envy, rage, malice, dissimulation, falsehood, and foolish reliance on blind fortune; it frequently leads to fraud, quarrels, murder, forgery, meanness, and despair; and robs us in the most unpardonable manner of the greatest and most irrecoverable treasure — time. Those that are rich act foolishly in venturing their money in uncertain specu lation ; and those that have not much to risk, must play with timidity, and cannot long continue play unless the fortune of the game turn, as being obliged to quit the field at the first heavy blow; or if they stake everything to force the blind goddess to smile upon them at last, madly hazard their being reduced to instant beggary. The gambler but rarely dies a rich man; thostf that have had the good fortune to re alize some property in this miserable way, and continue playing, are guilty of a two fold folly. Trust no person of that de scription, of whatever rank or character he •may be. SLEEPING TOGETHER. More quarrels occur between brothers, between sisters, between servant girls, be tween clerks, between apprentices in me chanics' shops, between hired men, between husbands and wives, owing to the electrical changes through which their nervous sys tems go by lodging together at night under the same bed-clothes, than by any other disturbing cause. There is nothing that will so disarrange the nervous system of a person who is eliminative in nervous force, as to lie all night in bed with another person who is absorptive in nervous force. The absorber will go to sleep and rest all night,while the eliminator will be tumbling and tossing, restless and nervous, and wake up in the morning fretful, peevish, fault finding, and discouraged. No two persons, no matter who they are, should habitually sleep together. One will thrive and the other will lose. This is the law, and in married life it is defined almost universally. A HUSBAND'S MISTAKE. The severe lesson a Pittsburg man lately received from his wife, is thus set forth by the Commercial of that city: "The husband had been in the habit of staying out late at night, and on the even ing in question, at about half past eleven o'clock, he was standing in front of an Al derman's, in company with some friends, including the magistrate. A woman close ly veiled came along, apparently under the influence of liquor. The husband referred to proposed that she be arrested and tried at once. The party took up the suggestion, with the idea that there was fun ahead, and the Alderman's office was at once open ed, lit up, and the woman brought in. The case was called, and the friends stood around to hear the trial. He who had suggested the arrest and the trial was forward in the progress of the case, and desiring a view of the face of the female, rudely lifted her veil. His astonishment and mortification may be imagined when he discovered that it was his wife! There was a sudden dis persement of the friends. The wife had been seeking her wandering husband, and had taught him and his friends a lesson, that they will not soon forget." PETROLEUM. Petroleum is so abundant in '[the Penn sylvania oil region that the more wells a man has the poorer he is likely to be. Wells that once would have brought $250, -000, are slow at $15,000, and one man at Titusville, who lately had an income of $100,000, is hardly worth his hat. The ex ceeding superabundance of the oil renders it almost valueless, and it has declined from $6 to sixty cents per barrel. THE CONFEDERATE TREASURES. A writer in the Atlanta Consti^dion tells a curious story concerning the faie of the money in the hands of Davis and the high officials of the Confederacy after they left Bichmond. The fugitives halted in Georgia, near the Savannah Biver, and it was resolved to make an equal division of the amount in the treasury, something over $100,000 in gold and silver, which gave to each officer and man $28.25. But there had also been carried off from Bichmond $400,000 of funds belonging to the Vir ginia Bank, and this was an immense temptation to the defeated and desperate soldiers. It was in charge of some bank officials, and was stored for a few days at Washington, Wilkes County, in Georgia. After the country had become somewhat quiet, the officials started to return North with the money. Some of the ex-Confed erates who were idling around the neigh borhood heard of the wealth and laid their plans to capture it. About a dozen of them, dressed in Federal uniforms, rode up to the small guard accompanying the treasure, and demanded its surrender in the name of the United States Government, claiming to be acting under orders from General Stoneman. It was handed over to them and they made off with it. But one of the party was tempted to display some of the money in a town near by, and as the fact of the robbery had bocome known, the possessor of such a rare thing as gold or silver at that time was immediately sus pected of being in the transaction. When arrested, he confesssed and disclosed the names of the whole party. The greater part of the money was recovered, but two or three of the men could never be found, and were supposed te have gotten off suc cessfully with their share of the plunder. A CURE FOR LOCK-JAW. In the course of the Cantor lectures, re cently delivered before the British Society of Arts by Dr. Benjamin Bichardson, the following deeply important remarks were made upon nitrite of Amyl: One of these specimens, I mean the nitrite of Amyl, has within these last few years obtained a re markable importance, owing to its extra ordinary action upon the body. A distin guished chemist, Professor Guthrie, while distilling over nitrite of amyl from amylic alcohol, observed that the vapor, when inhaled, quickened his circulation, and made him feel as if he had been running. There was flushing of his face, rapid action of his heart, and breathlessness. In 1861 -62 I made a careful and prolonged study of the action of this singular body, and dis covered that it produced its effect by caus ing an extreme relaxation, first of the blood vessels, and afterward of the muscu lar fibres of the body. To such an extent did this agent thus relax, I found it would even overcome the tetanic spasm produced by strychnia, and having thus discovered its action, I ventured to propose its use for removing the spasm in some of the ex tremest spasmodic diseases. The results have more than realized my expectations. Under the influence of this agent, one of the most agonizing of known human mala dies, called angina pectoris, has been brought under such control that the par oxysms have been regularly prevented, and in one instance, at least, altogether re moved. Even tetanus, or lock-jaw, has been subdued by it, and in two instances, of an extreme kind, so effectively as to warrant the credit of what may be truly called a cure. BRIGHAM YOUNG'S OLD AGE. Age and persecution are gradually sour ing the mild and gentle temper of Brig ham Young, of Salt Lake City. Instead of mellowing it, they are ruining it. Ad versity is not softening his views of life, nor reducing the asperity of his language. Perhaps it is Ann Eliza who has done this; perhaps it is the ladies of the harem. Ac cording to the Salt Lake Tribune, a dis agreeable scene occurred not long since. One of the prophet's many sons, President of the order of Enoch, and a vagabond of spendthrift reputation, ran short of [money and called on the old gentleman to give him some. Brigham referred young hope ful to George A. Smith, trustee-in-trust of the church. Smith gave the younger Young a bit of his mind, called him a spendthrift, a squanderer, a vagabond, and wound up by telling him that the treasury of Jesus Christ would never furnish him a penny. According to the Tribune, Brigham threw his hat in Smith's face. "Take that d —n you," said the prophet: "things have come to a pretty pass when my sons can not get the money I earned." The hat was restored to him, and the old gentle man's ire was soothed with a check given to the young one. The same paper charges Brigham with confining his aged wife, his only lawful one, in an old school-house be hind the seraglio, and slowly starving her to death. Take it altogether, Mr. Young must be getting to be a very disagreeable sort of a prophet. ANIMALS IMMORTAL. That they have thoughts, language, in telligence, affection and gratitude is cer tain. What is there to disprove their im mortality ? Few stop to consider how much like animals we are, how very slight the distinction between their physical and mental organisms and our own. Are they not generated and nourished in the same way ? Do they not die in the same way ? Have they not the emotion of fear, and the moral sentiments of maternal love ? What inlets to knowledge have we, except our senses ? And do they not possess them all ? Is not the decay of their bodies re paired by the circulation of the blood ? And is it not carried on by the mechanism of the heart, arteries and veins ? Does not the mysterious organ —the brain —seem to be the point of contact, the connecting link, between mind and matter, as with us ? In fact, it is not at all unreasonable to believe that in that other life to which this is but the gate-way, through which all animated nature must pass, we shall there meet and welcome the animals we have loved here ; our old familiar friends, the companions of our childhood and later years. DIAMOND CUTTING. After travelling through Germany, some time ago, I made a stop at Amsterdam, the interesting capital of old Holland, and had the curiosity to visit the large diamond cutting establishments of that city, which give employment to no less than 10,000 men. The diamonds cut there amount in aggregate value to jE4,000,000 annually. Diamond-cutting is a very simple process, and, like many other mechanical operations, may, of course, be well or bunglingly exe cuted. Holland, however takes the lead in cutting, as Russia excels in setting the dia mond. Accompanied by a guide, I entered a special office, where I registered my name, and was then conducted to the cutting room. Here each workman had a little tin box before him, containing a collection of what looked like small crystal pebbles. On one of the crystals being taken up, it was carefully examined, and the side which would make th» best front then decided on. It was next secured to a handle by a piece of wax about the size of a large bullet; the wax held it sufficiently secure, and left ex posed only that face wi.i;h was first to be cut. Then was seen the actual "Diamond cut Diamond/ The cutting diamond, which the work man held in his rigiit hand, had a sharp edge (not always of the same shape), one eighth of an inch long, and was set in a handle like that of a glazier's diamond, on ly a little larger and stronger. This dia mond is generally of the hardest quality. It is really wonderful, considering the ob durate nature of the material, how quickly the rough diamond was cut into shape. When it had a large or heavy portion which was to be removed, a small notch was cut at the place where the fragment was in tended to be split off. Picking up a piece of steel about twelve inches long, one eighth of an inch thick, and one and three quarters inches wide, one edge of which was sharp and hard and had a short bevel, the workman placed the edge in the notch, made with the cutting diamond, and strik ing a light blow on the back, the splinter came off. These splinters are saved and worked up into small brilliants or glazier's points There is an art in using the cutting dia mond so as not to wear it out too fast. The cutting was done lengthwise with the edge of the cutting diamond, commencing at one extremity of the face to be made on the rough diamond, cutting off, little by little, as in planing cast iron. The small parti cles crumbled away from the diamond were saved and sifted for the polishing. When one face was cut the cement was softened, and the diamond turned around far enough to present a fresh face to be treated as the previous one, and in this way the diamond was all prepared for polishing. We were conducted to the polishing room. The polishing wheels were of cast iron, about twenty-four inches in diameter, and ran horizontally; the polishing being per formed upon the upper side of the wheel. The diamond was now embedded in lead and attached to a piece of wood, hinged at the outer end, in order that the workman may raise it to see how the work progresses, and apply the polishing paste mixed with diamond dust. The polishing wheel had room for several diamonds undergoing pol ishing at the same time, and one man could superintend all on a wheel. I was afterwerds led to the sample room, where the beautifully polished brilliants were exhibited, and also models of all the largest diamonds in the world. I saw, too, some specimens of pebbles cemented to gether, containing diamonds as they are found in the mines. Most of the diamonds come from Brazil. The mines of Gol con da, formerly proverb ial for their wealth, are no longer worked, as they finally did not produce sufficient to pay expenses. Other mines have been abandoned for the same reason. Late ac counts of diamond mines in the Orange Eiver Settlements, in South Africa, point out fresh fields for the diamond adventurer. The papers announce that there is one from this territory on the way to Europe, valued at .£32,000. The discovery of these mines was, as in most other cases, accidental, while search ing for gold. It is said that diamonds were first found in Brazil by the natives, when examining the sands washed down from the mountains for grains of gold. The glitter ing crystals were laid aside as curiosities. A disinterested miner, whose name does not appear on record, arrived from Europe, saw their value, and, instead of quietly buying them up, instructed the people as to ttw nature of the discovery. KISSING THE DEAD. The danger from contagion and disease, of the practice of kissing the dead is showo by an occurrence at Mt. Vernon, New York v where the inhabitants are congratulating themselves on having escaped the horrors of an epidemic. It appears that a young lady named Carrol, returned to her father's house in that village, a short time since, and died in a day or two afterward. Dur ing the wake which followed, a large num ber of persons kissed the corpse. It has now transpired that the girl died of small pox in its worst and most malignant form. None of Mr. Carroll's other childred hav ing been vaccinated, the cantagion soon spread among them, carrying off all but two out of seven. Nothing could be done to restrain the inmates of the pestilential abode from going at large and interming ling with the community while the dan gerous infection existed. Since its establishment, the Government has given away 74,052,800 acres of land to soldiers, making half a million of one-hun dred-and-sixty-acre farms. A paety of German professors under the lead of Prof. Christ, of the University of Munich, will undertake a scientific expedi tion into Greece and Asia Minor this spring. At a funeral at Madison, Me., lately, the man who was buried was placed beside two of his dead wives, while two living ones attended the funeral. Take your motHcr-iiwaw~"bn steamboat excursions —this is the time when boilers most do burst. WONDERS OF THE THAMES. Eleven bridges cross the famous river Thames, and over them go more people in a year than across any bridges in the world. They are fine specimens of architecture, made either of stone or iron, and some of them cost huge sums of money. Beneath all these bridges is a constant stream of boats plying upon the water. They go and come, up and down .stream, and across in every direction, and in such«nuinbers and confusion that the stranger cannot see .how they escape running into and over one anoth er. And such a noise as the stream whistles and the oarsmen and those connected with the boats keep up ! It is positively deafen ing. In addition to all these bridges and boats there is another mode of crossing the Thames. It is the tunnel, two miles below London bridge. This stupendous work ex tends beneath the bed of the river, and con nects Wapping on the left bank with Red riff on the rii^ht. It consists of two arched pus-ages, one thousand two hundred feet long, fourteen feet wide, and sixteen feet high, all below the bed of the river. Who ever walks or rides through t!:.; tunnel goes under the river Thames, witii ships and fishes swimming over their heads. HEARTLESS JOKE. One of the most beartlew tiling ever done was a trick once j>!;iye<l on Pope, the epicurean actor. A wicked friend a.sked him to dine off a s:nall torbot, and a boiled aitchbone of beef, apologuting 'or the humb le fare with tiic usual feigned humility of friends. "Why, it's the very ttiiiiLC 1 like," said Por-, in his reply, referring t-> the aitchbone. "I will coiue, my son, with all the pleasure in life." 1 He came, he saw, he ate ; ate till he grew nearer the table, and could eat no more. He had just laid down his knife and fork, like a su.dier tired of war's alarm, when a bell was rung, and in came a smoking haunch of venison. Pope saw the trick at once; he cast a look of bitter reproach upon his friend, trifled with a large slice, then again dropped his now utterly useless weapons, and burst into hysterical and unre^trainable tear.s. "A friend of twenty years" standing/" he sob bed, "and to be deceived in this heartless manner!" An Unnatural Mother. "Some cows are so restive and difficult to milk, that the herdsman has to siive them a calf to lick meanwhile. But for this device, not a single drop of u/iik could be obtained from them. One day a Lnmn herdsman, who lived in the same house with oars-elves, came with a long, dismal face, to announce that his cow had calved during the night, and that, unfortunately, the calf ma dying. It died in the course of the day. The Lama forthwith skinned the poor beast, and stuffed it with hay. When the operation was com plete, the haj'-calf had neither feet nor head. The nest moroinir. when the herdsman issued forth to milk his cows, he had his pail under one arm and the hay-calf under the other. His first proceeding' was to put the hay-calf down before the cow. lie then turned to milk the cow herself. The mamma at first opened enormous eyes at her beloved infant; by degrees she stooped her head to ward it, then smelt at it, sneezed three or four times, and at last proceeded to lick it with the most delightful tenderness A few days afterward, an absurd incident occurred : By dint of caressing and licking her little calf, the tender parent one fine morning un ripped it; the hay issued from within, and the cow, manifesting not the slightest sur prise nor agitation, proceeded tranquilly to devour the unexpected provender."' The ast touch entirely paints the brute. She has recognized her offspring by the smell chiefly, and, never having heard of anatomy, is not surprised when the internal organs are found to consist simply of hay. And why not eat the hay ? The Place of Woman. One of the principle features of the Mid dle Ages is the recognition of the fact that Christianity assigned to woman a new place in the social order of the world, very differ ent from what it bad been before. The deep respect accorded by that epoch to wo man could not but exercise a most powerful and beneficial influence on humanity; for when man, confident in his physical force, reigns alone, we can never expect to see real human culture develop it«elf. There now arose a new kind of worship of the Beautiful, and of female beauty in particu lar, and that in a higher and more refined sense than had been the case with the non- Cbristian world. The Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabians, had bestowed praise on woman, as necessary to their happiness, but they treated her only as an inferior, and even as a slave. The Christian world set before itself a new ideal. What man now strive* for is, that the lady whose affections he endeavors to win should recognke his persoaal worth; that she should prefer him to other suitors; that she should love him because she honors and esteems him. Such i demand i> lased upon the supposition that man confers woman as hi* equal; nay, that he looks up to her as a superior being; the endeavor he makes to deserve the favor }f her he loves, and to become worthy of aer, reacts on his own conduct. Love raise* aim above all that is common and vnlgar; it becomes with him the mainspring of svery noble action ; he can henceforth nei ther do or say anything of which he would feel ashamed befure her. The Teutonic na tions especially seized the full signification :>f this lofty conception of '.voman and of her place in life; with them lore was noth ing but the spontaneous homage of strength to beauty ; they introduced new social ■tsages and a more elevated system of ethics g the inhabitants of Southern Europe, : i ;;t the same time communicated to them ;-.t reverential respect which raises woman iongh naturally weak above the common :yel of humanity. It is estimated that of the 20,000 clergy icn belonging to the Church of England 0,000 are High Churchmen, and 5,00 Low hurchmen, 2,000 Broad Churchmen, and J.OOO colorless or nondescript Churchmen. in the American Episcopal Church the High Churchmen considerably outnumber he Low Churchmen, and there is also a large body of nondescript clergy; but the Broad Church party has a very small followinc;.