current the other way. Thus is avoided | ders it extremely probable that a blow is on any overflow, any waste, any destructive in- the point of being struck which will for undation. But at six, when the waters be-years incapacitate the Czar both for playing gin to sink, and set out, it is time to refrain the aggressor himself and for aiding the agfrom drawing on the diminishing current, gressions of others, Francis Joseph proceeds and then Mrs. Partington shuts up shop, as to offer two distinct hostile insults to Sarit were, and hangs up her buckets to dry. dinia, so gratuitous and undisguised that If a customer comes to her door at this sea- Sardinia cannot avoid noticing them with son she raises her prices for washing, so as resentment, and so arrogant and indefensible to check all transactions in that line; and so that England and France cannot avoid supprevents the use of water, which would in- porting Sardinia in her resistance. crease the ebbing of the stream, and perhaps dry it up altogether. By perseverance in this system for six hours or more, the current is acted on; the reflux gives place to a flow, the tide turns, the channels are gradually refilled, and water is abundant. It is not wonderful that Austria should hate Piedmont: it would be wonderful were it otherwise. She hates her from the double motives of jealousy and fear. Piedmont is a standing reproach to every other Government in Italy, and to that of Lombardy most of Such is Mrs. Partington's prudent man- all. It is the only State in that Peninsula agement of the tides. The miller who lives where the people and the rulers are in harin the neighborhood, and who has got a mony. It has proved to Europe the capacity name of caring for nobody and for nothing, of Italians to conduct their own affairs, and presumes to scoff, indeed, at Mrs. Parting- the rapid prosperity which is the result of ton's precautions; and pretends that the their self-government. It is a perpetual, river would ebb and flow all the same whether though silent and inactive, stimulant to the she filled or emptied her tubs, and that she oppressed classes of all the other provinces had better mind her business, and do her to strive for a condition of similar well-being. washing always at fair prices, without troubling herself about the Dee, and its currents up and down. But this idle talk is confuted by the undeniable fact that the rising or falling of the stream is sure to follow Mrs. Partington's measures for restricting or stimulating the supply of water. That she has thus acted on the currents, and regulated the changes, is undeniable; and not less certain it is that the action has been most advantageous in preventing a drain on the one hand, or an overflow on the other. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, is an accepted conclusion.Examiner, 10 November. It is a proclamation to the wretched citizens of Milan, Venice, Naples, Tuscany, and Rome, of what they might become were the incubus of Austrian tyranny once shaken off. It is a strong, hourly, unmistakable warning that German misgovernment in Italy cannot last much longer-that Austria must either alter her system or withdraw herself. Hence it is impossible that Piedmont should not be an object of intensest dread and wrath_to Austria; but it is surprising that that Power, which is not usually deficient in prudence or in craft, should have selected for the manifestation of these passions precisely the moment when the Western Powers are strongest, when Russia is weakest, and when Sardinia has deserved so well of the allies that they must stand by her, and are, it is conceived, thinking how they can reward her. From The Economist, 27 Oct. “THE DEVIL IS AN ASS." SUCH is the title of one of the plays of the second of our old English dramatists; and the adage seems to be verified by the conduct Moreover, it would appear as if the grounds which Austria is pursuing in Italy. The of dispute with Sardinia have not arisen, but facts of the case are not yet very completely have been carefully and artificially created. or officially before the public, and therefore The bare facts, as far as they have yet transwe must argue upon them with some slight pired, are briefly these: we do not vouch reserve; but it would appear that Austria for the perfect accuracy of the statement, but has, with strange infatuation, seized the mo- give it as far as it is known through the ment when the allies-wearied out with her usual public channels of information. The disloyal conduct and her mischievous vacilla- Sardinian convents recently suppressed or tions have resolved to leave her out of their reduced by the Government of that country, councils for the future, to force a quarrel on some of them held property in Lombardy. her Italian rival whose proceedings have con- This property the Austrian Government has trasted so favorably with her own. While confiscated; and in answer to a protest the fall of Sebastopol has proved the supe- against the shameless robbery, is understood riority of the Western Powers in their deadly to have replied (such, at least, is the cool struggle with the Great Bear, and while the defence set up by the Oesterreichische Zeiperilous position of the Russian army ren-tung)—" that the convents having been sup necessary and damaging ostentation. But her behavior to us has not the less cooled and alienated our friendly feelings, while her conduct and that of her satraps to their own subjects has disgusted the nation to a degree to which it is not easy to give adequate expression. She may rest assured that if she forces a quarrel on our gallant ally we shall stand by him with unhesitating resolution; and though we seek no fresh work, pressed, their property had no longer any owner, and therefore reverted to the State in whose territories it was situated"! This is aggression the first. Again, Austria has instigated the Grand Duke of Tuscany to demand the recall of an attache to the Sardinian embassy at Florence which attaché had been previously accepted and received; and this not as a courteous request, but in a rude and insulting manner. Diplomatic intercourse, therefore, naturally and necessa-yet if she forces a quarrel on us, we shall be rily ceased between the two Courts; and the matter might have rested there and no great mischief or disturbance have ensued. But there is more behind. Not content with having caused a quarrel between two friendly States, the Austrian Government proceeds to thrust itself into the dispute as a principal; and Count Buol, it is said, has intimated to the Sardinian Minister at Vienna, that as Tuscany has acted by Imperial direction, his Imperial Majesty regards the matter as one personal to himself, and if the dispute be not adjusted within a specified time, "will take measures accordingly." If this communication really took place, we can only say that anything so unwarrantable in sub-ces of interference and arrogance will comstance and so insolent in form has rarely disgraced the diplomatic intercourse of civilized States. The language of Prince Menzichoff at Constantinople, so sternly avenged, offers the nearest parallel in recent times. We cannot for a moment doubt that the French and British Governments will act with becoming promptitude and vigor in this affair, and will intimate to the Court of Vienna without loss of time that the King of Sardinia is our close, loyal, and cordial ally, and that the alliance shall not be for him a source of danger, but a shield of protection and a sword of strength. Whatever may have been the feelings of the English people or the language of the English press, the conduct of the English Government towards Austria throughout the last difficult years has been faithful and enduring in the extreme. They have borne much and forborne long. Far from secking cause of quarrel, they have avoided such with a long-suffering care which has cost them much popularity. Not only have they religiously abstained from using the advantage which encouragement to the discontented nations under Austrian sway might have yielded them, but they have discouraged any popular movement in those countries with perhaps un slower to lay it down than to take it up. Our tendencies and wishes are pacific; our policy is that of non-interference: our detestation of oppression and cruelty does not go the length of volunteering a crusade against it; but if she deludes herself for one instant with the hope that we shall permit her to bully or assail Piedmont any more than we permitted Russia to bully and assail the Sultan, most certainly she never hugged a more groundless or fatal fancy. If she is bent upon hastening that war of principles and nationalities which it has been our most sedulous effort to avoid and to postpone, she may do so to-morrow, -a few more instan plete the work; - but with her will rest all the responsibility, as on her will fall all the ruin and nearly all the loss. We warn her to pause and draw back while it is yet possible to do so. A few months more, and Russia may probably be at the mercy of the Aliies, and what will Austria, isolated, bankrupt, and abhorred, do then? We deprecate with all earnestness the extension of the war at the moment when a satisfactory peace seems neither improbable nor distant; but of this much we are certain that the English Government will meet with the utmost determination any attempt of Austria to wreak her spite upon Sardinia, and that if it were possible the Government should be slack in doing so, the people would speak their sentiments in a mode which would leave Ministers no option in the matter; and moreover, that if the war of freedom and nationality against despotism and oppression should be forced upon us, the British nation will rush into it with a zeal, an enthusiasm, and an unanimous resolve which will amaze both their rulers and their foes, and which all the probable prudence and the possible lukewarmness of the governing classes will be utterly powerless to restrain. Scientific men, and all who are occupied in the practical development of the useful arts, are at this moment deeply interested in the discovery of the new metal, extracted from clay and termed aluminium. This metal was known as far back as 1827; though most of the attempts to produce it date from 1845; but the process of extraction was so imperfectly known, that the few specimens in the laboratories were regarded simply as curiosities, of no practical value. At length the problem has been solved by M. Henri Sainte Claire Deville, a young French chemist, assisted by two young chemists, Messrs. Tissier. The process of extraction has been perfected by him to such a degree that the new metal has already passed from the domain of Science to that of Industry. We need only visit the galleries of the "Exposition Universalle" to see a beautiful chronometer and various other articles of aluminium manufactured in the establishment of M. Christofle. The metal of which they are composed was produced by the Messrs. Tissier. Aluminium is more fusible than silver, and almost as white. It is unaffected by the air at whatever temperature; and unattackable by all acids, except the chlorhydric. When melted and increased in density by hammering or passing it under the roller, it acquires a bluish tint like that of platinum. Ductile and malleable as silver, it is capable, like that of metal, of being drawn out into wire, or beaten into leaves of extreme tenuity. Its surprising lightness, however, is the property which constitutes its great value in the useful arts. Zinç, until now, has been the lightest of the metals in ordinary use; its specific gravity, taking water as a standard as 1, being 7.21; while that of aluminium, compared in the same manner, is only 2.56. Thus aluminium, whose extreme lightness, judging from all previous analogies, would seem to indicate it as highly oxydable, ranks, on the other hand, in this respect, with silver and platinum; for, in common with these metals, it loses nothing of its substance when exposed to the most intense heat, and surpasses, moreover, silver in respect to its property of not being blackened or tarnished by the fumes of sulphur. It differs from copper and tin in being tasteless and inodorous; and all its alloys are perfectly innocuous. As if in contradiction of all previous experience, aluminium, in spite of its extreme lightness, has been found to be highly sonorous. Its tone is pure, and its vibrations are of extraordinary duration. It is as hard and tenacious as iron-especially after undergoing the process of hammering. As we have already remarked, aluminium is unaffected by water or acids, with the exception of the chlorhydric. Its solvents, the last-named of soda and potash, which decompose it by setacids excepted, are the concentrated solutions ting free the hydrogen. It surpasses all metals as a conductor of electricity, and on this account as well as by reason of its durability it will become invaluable for telegraphic purposes. It melts at a heat between that required to fuse zinc and copper, and is easily cast and run in moulds. At first it was supposed that it would be impossible to alloy aluminium with any other metal; but the recent experiments of Messrs. Tissier prove that it forms alloys with silver, zinc, and tin. These alloys are fusible in a greater or less degree; but all melt at a lower temperature than the aluminium. The alloy with copper, which M. Deville succeeded in making while engaged in some experiments immediately after his first discovery, is extremely hard and brittle; it scratches glass, and can be fractured by a blow of a hammer, like steel. The high price of aluminium at present entitles it to be ranked among the precious metals. Nevertheless, it has been employed in the useful arts for many purposes of a highly interesting character. Its unalterableness, its tenacity, and its lightness have made it indispensable in the manufacture of instruments of precision and exactness, in which the skill of the artisan and the value of the time and labor employed are of more importance than the material used. We instance, for example, delicate balances for minute weights, watch movements, and surveying and astronomical instruments. Being unoxydable, and therefore incapable of affecting injuriously the animal economy, it will undoubtedly be used extensively in the manufacture of surgical instruments. Although it may not equal silver in brilliancy, it possesses the advantage over silver of never tarnishing by exposure to the atmosphere; and this property alone will make it a formidable rival in the various departments of watch-making and jewelry. But the above are by no means the only uses to which aluminium can be applied. As soon as the improved processes of its manufacture, by increasing its production, proportionately lower its cost, it will enter into competition with copper, and be universally preferred to it. On the one hand, there will be a metal, oxydable, nau seous to the taste and smell, all whose compounds are deleterious and poisonous; on the other hand, a metal, unchangeable, three times as light, tasteless, inodorous, and utterly harmless to the animal economy. The advantages of the new metal are positive and incontestible. Even at present, supposing that aluminium costs four times as much as silver, it is not in fact dearer; for a pound of aluminium contains four times the bulk of a pound of silver, and four times as many articles can be made out of it. If the anticipated facilities of production be realized, sooner or later, even no farther than to bring down the cost of aluminium to three times that of copper, pound for pound, it would really be no dearer than copper, because a pound of aluminium will be thrice the bulk of the same weight of copper, and three times the number of culinary utensils can be made from it. We are gratified to learn that numerous experiments, having for their object the abridging and improving the processes in use for the extraction of aluminium, are now being pursued in various parts of France, and especially at Rou en, under the superintendence of Messrs. Tissier, with the co-operation of Messrs. Malétra, Christofle, Chanu, Davy, &c. Let us all pray that their labors may be crowned with success; and that science will justify the confidence which industry has reposed in her, that the new metal will be furnished in sufficient abundance to supply the demands and necessities of common life. THE HIDDEN PATH. By Marion Harland. (Low Francis was the author, but that Garrick must & Co.) This is an improvement upon the author's last story of Alone," reviewed by us on its appearance. There is more pith and consistency in the plot, and very much less fine writing - fewer provincialisms, both of thought and expression. The incidents of ordinary life are still treated too grandly. A lady never bursts into tears without its being announced as the "overflowing of the sympathetic fount." The story, however, is not devoid of interest, and it is, we repeat, a great improvement upon the last. - Athenæum. JUNIUS. In Rush's Residence at the Court of London, Vol. 1. p. 310, is preserved an anecdote relating to the authorship of Junius, which may be appropriately recorded in "N. & Q.," not only from its apparent importance, but as more likely in such an index rerum to meet the eye of any future investigator of this vexed question, than in the work from which I transfer it. It is as follows: “Mr. Canning related an anecdote pertinent to the topic, derived from the present king, when Prince of Wales. It was to the following effect: The late king was in the habit of going to the theatre once a week at the time Junius' Letters were appearing, and had a page in his service of the name of Ramus. This page always brought the play-bill in to the king at teatime, on the evenings when he went. On the evening before Sir Philip Francis sailed for India, Ramus handed to the king, at the same time when delivering the play-bill, a note from Garrick to Ramus, in which the former stated that there would be no more letters from Junius. This was found to be the very night on which Junius addressed his laconic note to Garrick, threatening him with vengeance. Sir Philip did embark for India next morning, and in point of fact the letters ceased to appear from that very day. The anecdote added that there lived with Sir Philip at the time a relation of Ramus, who sailed in the morning with him. The whole narrative excited much attention, and was new to most of the company. The first impression it made was, not only that it went far towards showing, by proof almost direct, that Sir Philip have been in the secret." "What's that we see from far! the spring of day To add a nobler planet to the seven? Emergent Venus from the Sea? "T is she! 'tis she! or else some more divine Enlighten'd substance. Mark how from the shrine Of holy saints she paces on, The chafed air with fumes of paradise?". "But who is this? what thing of sea or land? Female of sex it seems, That so bedeck'd, ornate, and gay, Of Tarsus, bound for the isles With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Both passages are redolent of the same voluptuous beauty, and seem to issue from one and the same gorgeous imagination. A DESULTORY READER. |