Kitabı oku: «Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VI, November 1850, Vol. I», sayfa 26

INDUSTRY OF THE INSANE

The change that has taken place of late years in the treatment of insane patients, presents one of the finest features in the civilization of the age; but the boon of wholesome labor is, perhaps, the greatest benefit that has yet been conferred upon this class of sufferers. The fact is strikingly illustrated in the annual report for the last year of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum. The number of patients treated was 738, and at the close of the year there remained as inmates 476. Of this latter number, upward of 380 were employed daily, and sometimes as many as 100 working in the open air in the extensive grounds of the asylum. "Among these," says Dr. Skae, "may be daily seen many of the most violent and destructive of the inmates busily engaged in wheeling earth, manure, or stones, who for years have done little else than destroy their clothing, or spend their days and nights in restless agitation, or incoherent raving. The strong necessity which appears to exist, in many cases, for continual movement, or incessant noise, seems to find vent as naturally in active manual labor, if it can with any propriety be substituted and regulated." And a curious illustration of this is given in the case of "one of the most violent, restless, and unmanageable inmates of the asylum during the past year," whose calling was that of a miner. He was "tall and muscular, and occupied himself, if permitted to mix with others, in pursuing his fellow-patients, and fighting with them; if left alone in the airing courts, in running round and knocking his elbows violently on the stone walls; and if secluded, in continual vociferations and incessant knocking on the wall. I directed him to be sent to the grounds, and employed with the wheelbarrow – a special attendant being intrusted with him on his début. Hard work seemed to be all he required. He spent his superfluous energies in wheeling stones; he soon proved himself to be one of the most useful and able-bodied of the awkward squad, and ere long was restored to his natural condition – that of a weak-minded but industrious coal-miner."

Oakum-picking proves a useful occupation not only for imbeciles capable of no higher industry, but for malingerers and idlers, who are soon anxious to escape from it into the shoemaker's, tailor's, blacksmith's, or carpenter's shops. "In the same manner the females have been gradually broken into habits of industry to a degree hitherto unprecedented. Those who have done nothing for many years but mutter to themselves, or crouch in corners, now sew or knit from morning till night. Knitting, sewing, straw-bonnet making, and other occupations, are carried on throughout the house to such an extent that, I fear, in a very short time, unless some outlet is obtained for exportations, we shall be at a loss to know what to do." In addition to the usual handicraft employments, which are all practiced in the establishment, it is interesting to observe that some patients occupy themselves in engraving, drawing, and land-surveying. A considerable portion of one of the houses has been elegantly painted, and in part refurnished, by the patients. —Chambers.

MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS

Congress adjourned on the 30th of September, in accordance with the resolution noticed in the last number of the Magazine. Very little business of general interest was transacted in addition to that of which a record has already been made. The appropriation bills were passed, and in one of them was inserted a prohibition of flogging in the navy and aboard merchant vessels of the United States, which received the sanction of both houses and became a law. A provision was also inserted, granting land bounties to soldiers in the war of 1812, and in any of the previous wars of the United States. The passage of the bill involving, directly or indirectly, the slavery issue, of which we have already given a full account, restored a greater degree of harmony and of calmness to both branches of Congress than had hitherto prevailed, and the same influence has had an important effect, though to a less extent, upon the country at large.

The political incidents of the month have not been without interest. A State Convention, representing the Whigs of New York, assembled at Syracuse, on the 27th of September, for the nomination of State officers. Hon. Francis Granger was chosen President, and a committee was appointed to report resolutions expressing the sentiments of the Convention, – Hon. William Duer, member of Congress from the Oswego district, being Chairman. The resolutions were at once reported. They expressed confidence in the national administration, approved the measures recently adopted by Congress connected with slavery, and declared the respect of the Convention for the motives which had animated the Whig Senator from New York, and the majority of the New York Congressional delegation in the course they had taken upon them. By a vote of the majority, the Convention proceeded to the nomination of State officers – the minority refusing to participate in the current business until the resolutions should have been acted on. Hon. Washington Hunt was nominated for Governor, George J. Cornell, of New York City, for Lieutenant Governor, Ebenezer Blakely, for Canal Commissioner, Abner Baker, for State Prison Inspector, and Wessel S. Smith, for Clerk of the Court of Appeals. After the nominations had been made, the resolutions were taken up. A substitute for part of them was offered by Hon. George W. Cornwell of Cayuga County, expressing confidence in the ability, patriotism, and statesmanship of President Fillmore, and approving of the course pursued by Mr. Seward in the Senate of the United States. The latter resolution passed by a vote of 76 to 40; and the minority immediately withdrew from the Convention, the President, Mr. Granger, leaving the chair, and organized anew elsewhere. One of the Vice Presidents took the chair thus vacated, and the Convention, after completing its business, and appointing a State Whig Central Committee, adjourned. The seceders appointed a committee to issue an address, and adjourned. The Address soon after appeared, and after reciting the history of the Syracuse Convention, aiming to show that its approval of the course of Senator Seward deprived its doings of all binding force, concluded by calling a convention of delegates, representing those Whigs who disapproved of the action at Syracuse, to be held at Utica, on the 17th of October. Delegates were accordingly elected in nearly all the counties of the state, and the Convention met on the day appointed. Hon. Francis Granger was elected President. Resolutions, setting forth the position and principles of those represented, were passed, and the candidates nominated at Syracuse were adopted. The Convention appointed another State Central Committee, and then adjourned. It will be observed that the only point in which the two conventions came into collision, so far as future political movements are concerned, is in the appointment of those two committees. Each will, undoubtedly, endeavor to exercise the ordinary functions of such committees, in calling state conventions, &c., and thus will arise a direct conflict of claims which may lead to a permanent division of the party. – Hon. Washington Hunt has written a letter in reply to inquiries from Mr. Granger, in which he declines to express any opinion as to the differences which arose at Syracuse. So far as that difference relates to the merits of individuals, he considers it unworthy the attention of a great party, each individual of which must be left entirely at liberty to entertain his own opinion and preferences. He considers the Whigs of the North pledged to oppose the extension of slavery into free territory, and refers to their previous declarations upon the subject, to show that the South must not ask or expect them to abandon that position. He says that the terms on which the Texas boundary dispute was settled, were not altogether satisfactory to him, but he nevertheless cheerfully acquiesces in them since they have become the law of the land. He expresses dissatisfaction with the provisions of the Fugitive Slave bill, thinking it far more likely to increase agitation than allay it, and says that it will require essential modifications. He very earnestly urges union and harmony in the councils of the Whig party. – The Anti-Renters held a convention at Albany, and made up a ticket for state offices, selected from the nominations of the two political parties. Hon. Washington Hunt was adopted as their candidate for Governor, and Ebenezer Blakely for Canal Commissioner – both being the Whig nominees for the same offices: the others were taken from the Democratic ticket. – Considerable excitement prevails in some of the Southern States in consequence of the admission of California at the late session of Congress. Governor Quitman of Mississippi has called an extra session of the Legislature, to commence on the 23d of November, to consider what measures of resistance and redress are proper. In South Carolina a similar sentiment prevails, though the Governor has decided, for prudential reasons, not to convene the Legislature in extra session. In Georgia a state convention, provided for in certain contingencies at the late session of the Legislature, is soon to meet, and a very active popular canvass is going on for the election of delegates – the character of the measures to be adopted forming the dividing line. Some are for open resistance and practical secession from the Union, while others oppose such a course as unwarranted by any thing experienced thus far, and as certain to entail ruin upon the Southern States. Hon. C.J. Jenkins, who declined a seat in the Cabinet, tendered to him by President Fillmore, has taken very high ground against the disunionists, saying that no action hostile to the South has been had by Congress, but that all her demands have been conceded. In every Southern State a party exists warmly in favor of preserving the Union, and in most of them it will probably be successful. – The Legislature of Vermont commenced its annual session on the 13th ult. Hon. Solomon Foote has been elected U.S. Senator to succeed Hon. S.S. Phelps whose term expires in March next. – George N. Briggs has been nominated by the Whigs for re-election as Governor of Massachusetts. – The Arctic, the third of the American line of mail steamers, between New York and Liverpool, is completed, and will very soon take her place; the Baltic will soon be ready. – The assessed value of real and personal property in the City of New York, according to a late report of the Board of Supervisors, is set at 286 millions; the tax on which is $339,697. This property is all taxed to about 6,000 persons. The increase for the year is thirty millions, nearly 10 per cent. The value of the real and personal estate of the State of New York, according to the last report of the Comptroller, was $536,161,901. The State tax of 1849 amounted to $278,843.10; of which $130,000, or nearly one half, was paid by the city. – Some years since a colony of Swedes settled in the northwestern part of Illinois, in Henry county, near the Mississippi. They are represented as an industrious and thriving people, supporting themselves chiefly by the manufacture of table-cloths, napkins, sheets, and other linens. Last year they suffered much from the cholera; but their numbers will soon be increased by a new colony of about 300 members who are now on their way from Sweden, and are expected soon to arrive with a considerable amount of capital, the fruits of the sale of their own property, and the property of their brethren already here. – A good deal of excitement prevails in some of the Northern States in regard to the execution of the new law for the recovery of fugitive slaves. The first instance in which it was carried into effect occurred in New York city, where a fugitive named James Hamlet, who had lived in Williamsburgh for some two years with his family, was apprehended, taken to Baltimore, and restored to his owner. The process was so summary that no resistance was offered or excitement created: but after the whole was over a great deal of feeling was elicited, and money enough was speedily raised by subscription to purchase the slave, who was returned to his family amidst great public demonstrations of rejoicing among the colored population. In Detroit an attempt to arrest a fugitive excited a popular resistance to suppress which it was found necessary to call out troops of the United States; the negro was seized, but purchased by voluntary subscriptions. Large public meetings have been held in various cities and towns, to protest against the law, and to devise measures for defeating its operation. One of the largest was held at Boston on the 4th ult., at which Hon. Josiah Quincy presided. The tone of the address and resolutions was less inflammatory than in many other places, as obedience to the law while it stands upon the statute book was enjoined; but its spirit was warmly reprobated, and the necessity of agitating for its immediate repeal was strongly urged. Fugitives from service at the South are very numerous in portions of the Northern States. Many of them, since the passage of the law, have taken refuge in Canada, while others depend on the sympathy of the community in which they live for immunity from the operation of the law. The law undoubtedly requires modification in some of its details, but the main object it is designed to secure is so clearly within the provisions of the Federal Constitution that its enforcement is universally felt to be a public duty. – Jenny Lind, whose arrival and public reception in New York were mentioned in our last number, has been giving concerts in that city, Boston, Providence, and Philadelphia. In each place there has been a strong competition in the purchase of the first ticket for the first concert. In New York it was sold for $250; in Boston for $625; in Providence $650; and in Philadelphia $625. The evident object of the purchaser in each case was notoriety. Her concerts have been densely crowded, and the public excitement in regard to her continues unabated. – Intelligence has been received from Rome, that the Pope, at the request of the late council assembled in Baltimore, has erected the See of New York into an Arch-episcopal See, with the Sees of Boston, Hartford, Albany, and Buffalo, as Suffragan Sees. The Right Rev. Bishop Hughes is, of course, elevated to the dignity of Archbishop. The brief of the Pope is signed by Cardinal Lambruschini, and is dated on the 19th of July last. – Public sentiment in Texas seems to be decidedly in favor of accepting the terms offered in the Boundary Bill. No official action has yet been had upon the subject, but it is believed that the Legislature will either accept the proposition at once or submit it to a popular vote. Mr. Kaufman, one of the Members of Congress from that State, has addressed a circular to his constituents, refuting many of the objections that have been urged against the bill. The area of Texas, with the boundary now established, is 237,321 miles, which is more than five times that of New-York. – An interesting official correspondence between our Government and that of Central America, has recently been published, mainly relating to the subject of canals and railroads across the Isthmus. Mr. Clayton's plan appears to have been to encourage, by every constitutional means, every railroad company, as well as every canal company, that sought to shorten the transit between the American States on both oceans. For this purpose he endeavored to extend the protection of this Government to the railroads at Panama and Tehuantepec. It was not his purpose to exclude other nations from the right of passage, but to admit them all on the same terms; that is, provided they would all agree equally to protect the routes – a principle adopted originally by President Jackson, in pursuance of a resolution of the Senate, of which Mr. Clayton was the author, while a member of that body, on the 3d of March, 1835. The principles of this resolution were fully sustained by General Jackson, who sent Mr. Biddle to Central America and New Grenada for the purpose, and were afterward fully adopted by President Polk, as appears by his message transmitting to the Senate the treaty for the Panama railroad. General Taylor followed in the same train with his predecessors, as appears by his message of December last, thus fully sustaining the views of the Senate resolution of the 3d of March, 1835, the principles of which may now be considered as illustrating the policy of the American Government on this subject. – In accordance with the provisions of the treaty recently concluded with the United States, the British Government has withdrawn all its demands for port and other dues from the harbor of San Juan de Nicaragua, and the navigation of that noble river and the lakes connected with it are fully open to American enterprise. – A shock of an earthquake was felt at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 1st of October. The shock lasted about two seconds, and was so violent as to produce a jarring and rattling of windows and furniture, and was accompanied by a rumbling sound, like distant thunder, which lasted three or four seconds. On the same night a very brilliant meteor was observed in the Eastern States, and a very remarkable aurora at sea. – The General Convention of the Episcopal Church has been in session at Cincinnati. The House of Bishops, to which the subject had been referred by the Diocese of New York, has decided against the restoration of Bishop Onderdonk, by a vote of two to one, and the General Convention has provided for the election of an Assistant Bishop in such cases. – Conventions in Virginia and Indiana are in session for the revision of the Constitutions of those States. – The U.S. Consul at Valparaiso has written a letter concerning the establishment of a line of monthly steamers between that port and Panama. Since the discovery of the gold mines in California, he says, the travel and trade upon that coast has increased fivefold. For the last ten years there has been in successful operation a line of English steamers plying between Panama, in New Grenada, and Valparaiso, in Chili, with a grant from the British Government of one hundred thousand dollars per annum, for the purpose of carrying the English mail; which, together with the immense amount of travel, in the last four years, renders it a most lucrative monopoly. The charter, originally granted to the company for ten years, has lately expired, and the liberal Republics of Chili, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia have peremptorily refused to renew the monopoly, and have generously opened their ports to the competition of American steamers. Between Valparaiso and Panama there are twenty-one different ports at which these steamers stop, in performing their monthly trips to and fro, for freight and passengers, leaving Panama on the 27th and Valparaiso on the 30th of each month. The voyage is punctually performed in twenty-four days. The feasibility of establishing an American line of steamers upon that coast is strongly urged. The wealth of the silver mines of Copiapo is so great that every English steamer at Panama transmits hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth to England in solid bars.

From California we have intelligence to the 15th of September. The disturbances at Sacramento City, growing out of resistance to the land claims, have entirely subsided, the squatters having been dispersed. Three or four persons were killed upon each side in the riots of which we have already given an account. A gentleman had arrived in California deputed by Mr. Letcher, U.S. Minister in Mexico, to attend to the settlement of land titles. He had expressed the belief that most of the grants made by the Governors before the acquisition of California by the United States will be confirmed by our Government, on the evidence Mr. Letcher is prepared to furnish from the official records in the city of Mexico, as to the invariable practice of the Mexican Government in this particular. His assurances upon the subject had given general satisfaction. – Early in September there was a complete panic in the money market at San Francisco, and several of the most prominent houses had failed. Confidence, however, had been fully restored at the date of our latest advices. The losses by the three great fires which had visited the city were supposed to have occasioned the monetary difficulties. – Fears were entertained that the overland emigrants would suffer greatly during the present season. It was believed that ten thousand were on the way who had not crossed the Great Desert, one half of whom would be destitute of subsistence and teams on reaching Carson River. They had been deceived into taking a longer and more difficult route, and had lost most of their animals, and not unfrequently men, women, and children had sunk under the hardships of the road, and perished of hunger or thirst. – Indian difficulties still continued in different parts of California, the troops and citizens were making some progress in breaking up the bands which caused them the most difficulty. – The accounts from the mines continue to be highly encouraging. It is unnecessary to give in detail the reports from the various localities; they were all yielding abundant returns. It was believed that much larger quantities of gold will be taken from the mines this season than ever before. – From the 1st of August to Sept. 13th, there arrived at San Francisco by sea 5940 persons, and 4672 had left. – The tax upon foreign miners does not succeed as a revenue measure. – The expedition which sailed in July last to the Klamath and Umpqua rivers, has returned to San Francisco. It has been ascertained that the Klamath and Trinity unite, and form the river which discharges its waters into the sea, in latitude 41° 34´ north, and that there is no river answering to the description of the Klamath, in 42° 26´, as laid down in the charts of Frémont and Wilkes. From this river, the expedition visited the Umpqua, which they found to have an opening into the sea, of nearly one mile in width, with some three or four fathoms of water on the bar, and navigable about thirty miles up, when it opens into a rich agricultural district.

From Oregon our advices are to Sept. 2. There is no news of general interest. The country seems to be steadily prosperous. New towns are springing up at every accessible point, and a commercial interest being awakened that is highly commendable. The frequency of communication by steam between California and Oregon strongly identifies their interests.

From England there is no intelligence of much interest. The reception of Baron Haynau by the brewers of London has engaged the attention, and excited the discussion of all the organs of opinion in Europe. Most of the English journals condemn in the most earnest language the conduct of the mob, as disgraceful to the country, while only a few of them express any special sympathy with the victim of it. The London Times is more zealous in his defense than any other paper. It not only denounces the treatment he received at the hands of the English populace, but endeavors to vindicate him from the crimes laid to his charge, and assails the Hungarian officers and soldiers in turn with great bitterness. In its anxiety to apologize for Haynau, it asserts that English officers, and among them the Duke of Wellington and General Sir Lacy Evans, committed acts during their campaigns quite as severe as those with which he is charged. This line of defense, however, avails but little with the English people. The public sentiment is unanimous in branding Haynau as one of the most ruthless monsters of modern times, and the verdict is abundantly sustained by the incidents and deeds of his late campaigns. After his expulsion from England he returned to Austria, being received with execrations and indignities at several cities on his route. – Further advices have been received from the Arctic Expedition sent in search of Sir John Franklin, but they contain no satisfactory intelligence. A report, derived from an Esquimaux Indian whom Sir John Ross met near the northern extremity of Baffin's Bay, states that in the winter of 1846 two ships were broken by the ice a good way off from that place, and destroyed by the natives, and that the officers and crews, being without ammunition, were killed by the Indians. The story is very loosely stated, and is generally discredited in England. The vessel, Prince Albert, attached to the Expedition, has arrived at Aberdeen, and announced the discovery, at Cape Reilley and Beechy Island, at the entrance of the Wellington Channel, of traces of five places where tents had been fixed, of great quantities of beef, pork, and birds' bones, and of a piece of rope with the Woolwich mark upon it. These were considered, with slight grounds, however, undoubted traces of Sir John Franklin's expedition. The exploring vessels were pushing boldly up Wellington Channel. – The preparations for the great Industrial Exhibition of 1851, are going on rapidly and satisfactorily. In nearly every country of Europe, extensive arrangements are in progress for taking part in it, while in London the erection of the necessary buildings is steadily going forward. – A curious and interesting correspondence with respect to the cultivation of cotton in Liberia has taken place between President Roberts, of Liberia, Lord Palmerston, the Board of Trade, and the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester, tending to show that cotton may be made a most important article of cultivation in the African republic. – Lord Clarendon has been making the tour of Ireland, and has been received in a very friendly manner by the people of every part of the island. He took every opportunity of encouraging the people to rely upon their own industry and character for prosperity, and pledged the cordial co-operation of the country in all measures that seemed likely to afford them substantial aid or relief. – The statutes constituting the Queen's University in Ireland have received the sanction of the Queen, and gone into effect. – A Captain Mogg has been tried and fined for endangering lives by setting the wheels of his steamboat in operation while a number of skiffs and other light boats were in his immediate vicinity. – The ship Indian, a fine East Indiaman, was wrecked on the 4th of April, near the Mauritius. She struck upon a reef and almost immediately went to pieces. The utmost consternation prevailed among the officers and crew. The captain seized and lowered the boat, and with eight seamen left the ship: they were never heard of again. Those who remained succeeded in constructing a rude raft, on which they lived fourteen days, suffering greatly from hunger and thirst, and were finally rescued by a passing ship. – Two steamers, the Superb and Polka, were lost, the former on the 16th, and the latter on the 24th, between the island of Jersey and St. Malo. No lives were lost by the Superb, but ten persons perished in the wreck of the Polka. – The Queen has been visiting Scotland. – Some of the Irish papers have been telling astounding stories of apparitions of the Great Sea Serpent. A Mr. T. Buckley, writing from Kinsale on the 11th instant, informs the Cork Reporter that he was induced by some friends to go to sea, in the hope of falling in with the interesting stranger, and that he was not long kept in suspense, for "a little to the west of the Old Head the monster appeared." Its size, he truly avers, is beyond all description, and the head, he adds, very like a (bottle-nose) whale. One of the party fired the usual number of shots, but, of course, without effect.

Of Literary Intelligence there is but little in any quarter. A good deal of interest has been excited by a discreditable attack made by the Whig Review upon the distinguished author Mr. G.P.R. James. The Review discovered in an old number of the Dublin University Magazine some verses written by Mr. James for a friend who without his knowledge sent them for publication. They were upon the clamor that was then afloat about war between England and the United States: Mr. James, alluding to the threats from America against England, had said that "bankrupt states were blustering high;" and had also spoken of Slavery in the United States as a "living lie," which British hands in the event of a war, would wipe out and let their bondmen free. The Review denounces Mr. James, in very coarse and abusive terms for the poem, and seeks to excite against him the hostility of the American people. The matter was commented upon in several of the journals, and Mr. James wrote a manly letter to his legal adviser Mr. M.B. Field, which is published in the Courier and Enquirer, in which he avows himself the author of the verses in question, explains the circumstances under which they were written, and urges the injustice of making them the ground of censure or complaint. His letter has been received with favor by the press generally, which condemns the unjust and unwarrantable assault of the Review upon the character of this distinguished author. It is stated that Mr. James intends to become an American citizen, and that he has already taken the preliminary legal steps. – The principal publishers are engaged in preparing gift-books for the coming holidays. The Appletons have issued a very elegant and attractive work, entitled "Our Saviour with Prophets and Apostles," containing eighteen highly finished steel engravings, with descriptions by leading American divines. It is edited by Rev. Dr. Wainwright and forms one of the most splendid volumes ever issued in this country. They have also issued a very interesting volume of Tales by Miss Maria J. McIntosh, entitled "Evenings at Donaldson Manor," which will be popular beyond the circle for which it is immediately designed. – Other works have been issued of which notices will more appropriately be found in another department of this Magazine. – The English market for the month is entirely destitute of literary novelties. – A series of interesting experiments has been undertaken by order of Government, for the purpose of testing the value of iron as a material for the construction of war-steamers. When the vessels are comparatively slight, it is found that a shot going through the side exposed, makes a clean hole of its own size, which might be readily stopped; but on the opposite side of the vessel the effect is terrific, tearing off large sheets; and even when the shot goes through, the rough edges being on the outside, it is almost impossible to stop the hole. If the vessels are more substantially constructed the principal injury takes place on the side exposed; and this is so great that two or three shot, or even a single one, striking below water line, would endanger the ship. As the result of the whole series of experiments, the opinion is expressed that iron, whether used alone or in combination with wood, can not be beneficially used for the construction of vessels of war. – The wires of the submarine telegraph having been found too weak to withstand the force of the waves, it has been determined to incase the wires in a ten-inch cable, composed of what is called "whipped plait," with wire rope, all of it chemically prepared so as to protect it from rot, and bituminized. A wire thus prepared is calculated to last for twenty years. – In the allotment of space in the Industrial Exhibition, 85,000 square feet have been assigned to the United States; 60,000 to India; 47,050 to the remaining British colonies and possessions; 5000 to China. Hamburg asked for 28,800, and France for 100,000 feet. Commissions have been formed in Austria, Spain, and Turkey. – A correspondent of the Chronicle says that the great beauty of the leaves of some American trees and plants renders them an appropriate article of ornament, and suggests that specimens preserved be sent to the Exhibition; and that a large demand for them would ensue. – An edition of the Works of John Owen, to be comprised in sixteen volumes, under the editorial charge of Rev. William H. Goold, has been commenced. The doctrinal works will occupy five volumes, the practical treatises four, and the polemical seven. The first volume contains a life of Owen, by Rev. Andrew Thomson of Edinburgh. This edition is edited with remarkable fidelity and care, and will prove a valuable accession to theological literature. – Washington Irving has received from Mr. Murray £9767 for copyrights and £2500 from Mr. Bentley, who has paid nearly £16,000 to Cooper, Prescott, and Herman Melville. – The Principal Theological Faculties in Germany are those of Berlin and Halle. The subjoined list will show that almost all the Professors have attained a wide reputation in the department of sacred letters. At Berlin the Professors are: Nitzsch, Theology, Dogmatic, and Practical; Hengstenberg and Vatke, Exegesis of the Old and New Testaments, and Introduction; Twesten, Exegesis of the New Testament, Dogmatic Theology; F. Strauss, Homiletics; Jacobi, Ecclesiastical History; Ubbmann, Oriental Languages. The Professors at Halle are: Julius Muller, Theology, Dogmatic, and Practical; Tholuck, Exegesis and Moral Philosophy; Hupfeld, Hebrew and Oriental Languages; Guericke, Ecclesiastical History, Introduction; Herzog, Mayer, and Thilo, Ecclesiastical History. – A new apparatus for the production of heat has been invented by Mr. D.O. Edwards. It is named the "atmopyre," or solid gas fire. A small cylinder of pipe clay, varying in length from two to four inches, perforated with holes the fiftieth of an inch in diameter, in imitation of Davy's safety lamp, is employed. The cylinder has a circular hole at one end, which fits upon a "fish-tail" burner; gas is introduced into the interior of the cylinder, with the air of which it becomes mixed, forming a kind of artificial fire-damp. This mixture is ignited on the outside of the vessel, and burns entirely on the exterior of the earthenware, which is enveloped in a coat of pale blue flame. The clay cylinder which Mr. Edwards calls a "hood," soon becomes red hot, and presents the appearance of a solid red flame. All the heat of combustion is thus accumulated on the clay, and is thence radiated. One of these cylinders is heated to dull redness in a minute or two; but an aggregate of these "hoods" placed in a circle or cluster, and inclosed in an argillaceous case, are heated to an orange color, and the case itself becomes bright red. By surrounding this "solid gas fire" with a series of cases, one within another, Mr. Edwards has obtained a great intensity of heat, and succeeded in melting gold, silver, copper, and even iron. Mr. Palmer, the engineer of the Western Gas-light Company, by burning two feet of gas in an atmopyre of twelve "hoods," raised the temperature of a room measuring 8551 cubic feet, five degrees of Fahrenheit in seventeen minutes. The heat generated by burning gas in this way is 100 per cent. greater than that engendered by the ordinary gas flame when tested by the evaporation of water. 25 feet of gas burnt in an atmopyre per hour, produces steam sufficient for one-horse power. Hence the applicability of the invention to baths, brewing, &c. – At the late meeting of the British Association, Major Rawlinson, after enumerating many interesting particulars of the progress of Assyrian discoveries, stated that Mr. Layard, in excavating part of the palace at Nineveh had found a large room filled with what appeared to be the archives of the empire, ranged in successive tables of terra cotta, the writings being as perfect as when the tablets were first stamped. They were piled in huge heaps, from the floor to the ceiling, and he had already filled five large cases for dispatch to England, but had only cleared out one corner of the apartment. From the progress already made in reading the inscriptions, he believed we should be able pretty well to understand the contents of these tables – at all events, we should ascertain their general purport, and thus gain much valuable information. A passage might be remembered in the Book of Ezra, where the Jews having been disturbed in building the Temple, prayed that search might be made in the house of records for the edict of Cyrus permitting them to return to Jerusalem. The chamber recently found might be presumed to be the House of Records of the Assyrian Kings, where copies of the Royal edicts were duly deposited. When these tablets had been examined and deciphered, he believed that we should have a better acquaintance with the history, the religion, the philosophy, and the jurisprudence of Assyria 1500 years before the Christian era, than we had of Greece or Rome during any period of their respective histories. – M. Guillen y Calomarde has just discovered a new telescopic star between the polar star and Cynosure, near to the rise of the tail of the Little Bear – a star at least that certainly did not exist in October last. According to the observations of M. Calomarde, the new star should have an increasing brilliancy, and it is likely that in less than a month this star, which now is visible only through a telescope, may be seen with the naked eye. – The Senate of the University of Padua is at present preparing for publication two curious works, of which the manuscripts are in the library of that establishment. One is a translation in Hebrew verse of the "Divina Commedia," of Dante, by Samuel Rieti, Grand Rabbi of Padua, in the 16th century. The second is a translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses," likewise in Hebrew, in stanzas of 18 verses of a very complicated metre, from the pen of the Rabbi. – Eliot Warburton is engaged in collecting materials for a History of the Poor, which is to appear in the spring.