OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 858, 10 August 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

ARTIFICIAL RUBIES.

M.M. Fremy and Verneuil have recently submitted to the French Academy of Sciences some remarkable specimens of artificial ruby, which they have succeeded in producing by improvements on their earlier methods of synthesis. By the action. of fluoride of barium on alumina containing traces of bichromate of potassium, they have obtained fine crystals, lining cavities in a friable white matrix from which they are easily separated. The crystals appear to be identical, both chemically and physically, with the natural ruby. They consist solely of alumina coloured with a little chromium. They present a peculiar colour, and are hard enough to scratch topaz. M. Des Cloizeanx has found that in crystaline form and optical properties they agree with the native mineral. LUCKY AND UNLUCKY MENOne of the unluckiest men wc have ever known was even conscious of his ill-luck, and declared that, somehow or another, the off-chance always hit him. It was partly true ; but the intimate friends who knew and loved him understood well that there was in him this awkwardness, this redundancy of angles presented to fate, in a very high degree, that, once a good man, a thoughtful man, and a highly cultivated one, he always in critical moments contrived to do precisely the wrong thing. This capability of being incapable is by no means unusual, and the first Rothschild was probably right from his point of view when he said that he never would employ an unlncky man. On the other hand, the lucky man is usually the man who fits his fortunes, who, whether apparently able or stupid, can do just what his especial circumstances require him to do. Very stupid men are often ready men, armed with a readiness as of dogs when they twist from under a cartwheel unhurt. The ‘fool who makes a fortune ’ is usually a man with just the foresight, or the judgment, or the intuitive perception of the way things are going—a faculty like long sight and keen hearing and independent of intellectual power- requisite to make large profits quickly. In fact the fortunate man is usually the man who, in consequence of some hidden quality in his nature, deserves fortune. Nevertheless there is a residuum of true personal good or illluck of men to whom things happen so unusual, and so little explicable by their acts or anything that either is or can be in them, selves, that the world, despairing of inter, pretation, considers them either the favourites or the victims of fortune. —Spectator.

THE INCOMES OF REIGNING SOVEREIGNS.

In an interesting article on The Emperor’s Income,’ published in the Augsburger Abendzeitung, Herr Karl Herman gives some details respeqting the revenues of other Sovereigns and Presidents. It will surprise a great many to learn that as German Emperor, William I. has no income at all. True, the Reichstag voted for the Emperor a sum of 2,600,000 marks (£130,000) in the Budget of 1837-SS. But this is not a source of income for the Emperor at all, but merely serves as a fund at his disposition tor

granting pensions and gratuities. Consequently the Imperial dignity in Germany is an unpaid honorary office. What income the German Emperor does derive he reoeives as King of Prussia. As such his revenue amounted for 1887-88 altogether to marks (£610,965), of which 7,719,296 marks were taken from the income received from public lands and forests, and the remainder (4,500,000) voted by the Prussian Chambers. Out of this 12,250,000 marks (which comes to 33,477 marks, or £1678 a day) the King of Prussia has to allow their income to the Princes of the Royal house. The expenditure for the Imperial house of Russia amounted, according to the published balance-sheet for 1884, to no less than 10,560,000 roubles (the rouble at 2s makes £1,056,000) in that year, or nearly 300,000 roubles a day. In Austria-Hungary, the countries represented in the Keichstrath grant a civil list of 4,650,0003., and Hungary contributes the same amount, making together 9,300,000fi. (£930,000) a year, or about 26,000fi. (£2600) a day. The Cml List of the Queen of England is £409,000 a year, or about £ll2O a day. But then separate incomes are annually voted by Parliament to the Princes and Princesses of the Royal house. Italy is also somewhat more liberal than Germany in providing for the reigning family# A sum of 10, 350,000 liw (£616,000) is annually voted for the ‘civil list and appanages.’ This amounts to about 42 000 lire (£I6SO) a day. The civil list of the of Spain is 9,350,000 pesetas (£374 000). Japan has also a considerable civil list. It is 2,340,000 yeks (£452,000) France pays her President in * salary and expenses of representation ’ the sum of 1 209 000 f. a year. The President of the United States receives a modest income of 50,000d01. (£10,000).

A REVOLUTION IN SUGARREFINING.

New York, Jan. 17.—An interesting commercial experiment is about to be tried by the Electric Sugar Refining Company in Brooklyn. It is claimed that the company has secret machinery and processes protected by patent by which sugar can be refined in two hours instead of the old time of thirty hours, and the cost of refining will be' reduced from lOdol. to 80c. a ton. No soft sugar will be made and the waste of saccharine matter will be only one-half of 1 per cent. The company is capitalised largely by British money. It is said that sugar will be placed on the market by the new process in about two months. The promoters of the enterprise predict a revolution of the sugar trade. The new refining process to be introduced by this company is the invention of a German electrician who perfected its operations over three years ago. Since that time preparations for the approaching inaugura. tion of the plan have been progressing steadily, although slowly, as great precaution has been taken in the construction of the machinery. To guard against the possibility of imitation all the component sections of the plant have been manufactured at different places, widely separated in point of location, and are now being' put together at the new refinery, where the business will be formally commenced on or about the Ist of March. MEN WHO WERE GREAT WHILE YOUNG. Cromwell left the university at eighteen. Charles Fox was in Parliament at ninete Bright never was at school after fifteen. , Henry Clay was in the Senate of the United States at twenty-nine. Gladstone was in Parliament at twentytwo, and at twenty-four was Lord of the Treasury. „ , ~ Lord Bacon graduated at Cambridge when sixteen, and was called to the bar at twentyone. . Peel was in Parliament at twenty-one, ana Palmerston was Lord of the Admiralty at twenty-three. , . ... Martin Luther had become distinguished at twenty-four, and at fifty-six had reached his fame. , , Gustavus Adolphus ascended the throne at sixteen. Before he was thirty-four he was one of the great rulers of Europe. Judge Story was at Harvard at fifteen, in Congress at twenty-nine and Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States at thirty-two. * , , Napoleon at twenty-five commanded the army of Italy. At thirty he was one of the great law-givers of the world. At forty-six he saw Waterloo. , William H. Seward commenced the practice of law at twenty-one and at thirty-one was President of a State Convention, and at thirty-seven Governor ot New York. Webster was in College at fifteen, gave earnest of his great future before he was twenty-five, and at thirty was the peer of the ablest man in Congress. Washington was a distinguished Colonel in the army at twenty-two, early in public affairs, commander of the forces at forty--three and President at fifty-seven. ON THE APEX OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. The views from the Great Pyramid, though at all times sublime, vary with the time of day and night, and with the courses of the sun and moon. The first look is for Cairo. It is plainly vioible, with, its tall minarets and broad domes of glittering metal and colour, and beyond it the dark Mok--kntam bills are seen. A forest of immense palms, far away upon the .border of the Nile, marks the site of ancient Memphis ; still farther south are the pyramids of Sakkarah, the great ‘ Step’ pyramid, ‘the father of pyramids,’ among them. Farther on is the desert; on the right is the desert; m front is the desert; all around is a vast plain, now golden now red, now in part black, now grey, changing as the sun changes as the great shadows of ' the pyramids are projected upon it, or as the moon comes with its pale light and tones down the grand clironmatic display. Ihe only variation in the wondrous expanse comes from the mounds of sand here and there. These last change agreeably to the whims of the wind. Like draught-animals, at one moment they seem to be resting and waiting for their call to labour. Then the airy messenger

comes and gives the word. At once the sand begins to rise in slender spirals. Body and strength are gathered as it continues whirling and ascending, until it towers aloft like a great black column. Now it is joined by a wild company impelled by the wind, and all hasten across the plain—all rising higher and higher, all wavering, spinning with awful velocity, until, their destination reached, they flare at the top like waterspouts, break and burst high in the air. and are diffused—a terrible storm—upon the plain below. Woe be to man or camel on whom descends the awful weight ! As far as the eye can see southward lies Egypt, the silvery Nile creeping along between the bands of emerald. iVithin view are over forty pyramids. The pyramid of Chephren, or the ‘Second Pyramid,’ being about 300 feet away, affords one an excellent opportunity, while seated on the edge of the Great Pyramid, of studying pyramidal architecture from above. There seems to be a great abyss between. The distance is remarkably deceiving. It is almost impossible to caßt a stone so that it will fall clear of the base. It will only drop on the side and bound and rebound, perhaps to the ground. At sunset, when all the neighbouring pyramids may be seen tinged by the red glare, and the approach of night is heralded by the intense, sharp-pointed shadows which fall upon the plain towards the east, the vultures come swooping along through the gulf which separates Cheops’s pile from Chephren’s.Then the scene is most dramatic. The sun gone down, the rising moon blanches all and shifts the shadows to the other side.—Scribmer’s Magazine.

THE MILLION-DOLLAR TELESCOPE

The great refracting telescope of the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, Cal., is now in working order. It is the most powerful telescope in the world. The size of the object glass is 36 inches. A magnifying power of 2000 diameters, it is expected, can be employed on suitable objects. Applied to the moon, it is believed the new telescope will show almost anything that has a bulk of say 300 feet square. If there are any such buildings on the moon as the capitol of the United States, or such works as the Brooklyn Bridge, rivers or oceans with large vessels upon them, the great telescope will reveal the fact. But unless all previous observations are greatly at fault, no water, no atmosphere, no people, exist on the moon like those of our globe. Much new and interesting knowledge may, however, be hoped for in respect to the moon and the heavenly bodies when the new instrument ia fully worked. A STRANGE NEGATIVE. The Chicago Tribune ia responsible for the following story, which, if of dubious veracity, shows some originality if it has been invented Se non 6 vero, &c. We are indebted for it to the British Journal of Photography : —* A curious electric phenomenon is reported from Fayette Township, Hillside County. Thursday evening a lively thunder shower passed over that region, daring which the play of lightning was peculiarly frequent and vivid. Just before the storm broke, Amos J. Biggs, a farmer living midway between Hillsdale and Jonesville, who is quite bald, his head being smooth and shiny, went into his back yard to frighten away some cats that were fighting on the woodpile. So intent were they on exterminating one another as to allow Farmer Biggs to approach within a few feet of them. At the same instant there was a great crash, and an electric bolt struck the woodpile, scattering it and stiffening the cats in an intense rigor mortis. Aside from a prickly sensation and sudden contraction of the muscles, Mr Biggs experienced no unpleasant effects. The fluid passed down his body, tore the works of his watch to pieces, breaking the cover, ripped his left trouser leg from top to bottom, and burst his left boot, tearing the upper clean from the sole. When he entered tho house his wife fainted. Unconscious of the cause the farmer hastened to bring her to. The first words she uttered, ‘ Oh, Amos, the devil has set his mark on you !' excited his curiosity, and he looked in the glass and found the image of a black cat photographed in silhouette on his bald front. The picture was perfect. It was about five inches from tip to tip, and in perfect proportion. The oat’.3 ‘ whiskers,’ teeth, and even the hairs on its tail, were reproduced with exquisite minuteness. Curiosity being satisfied, they tried to remove the obnoxious marking, using such homely remedies as soapsuds and scouring brick, vinegar, &0., but to no pnr. pose. However, in the morning the pioture was much faded, and by noon, it had quite disappeared.’

BREAD ANCIENT AND MODERN. The practice of baking wheat is as old as our knowledge of human life. In the oldestresorts of man there have been found bread preserved by accidental carbonising, aud stones which in a rough way correspond to onr oven sole-plates. That bread, however, is of the nature of the buckwheat aud maize cakes in use in America aud the oatcakes of Scotland, all of which are differentiated from our bread by the absence of fermentation. But that the production of fermented bread is very ancient may be gathered from Scripture, where, according to the Jewish tradition, it appears that so far-back as the days of Abraham, leavened as well as unleavened bread was in use. Co'miug farther down the soale of time, we find that the Romans had public bakeries under the supervision of a special magistrate, and tuat the guild of bakers enjoyed great privileges, and was burdened with corresponding responsibilities, In England, the conditions of breadmaking were first publicly regulated by an Act of the year 1259, an Act which continued in force for five and a-half centuries, and was ouly repealed as regards London in 1822, and as regards the provinces in 1836. The chief purpose of this Act was to establish what was called the Assize of Bread, whereby a jury of citizens agreed at certain periods as to what should be the price of good flour, and by that standard the selling value of bread was fixed. The baker was allowed to raise and obliged to lower his price with each variation of ss. in ‘quarter of flour up or down, and the scale was so fixed that for all expenses and profits he was to’ have a margin of 13a 4d. on a measure of

flour calculated to produce SO ‘quarterns,’ or between 85 and 90 loaves, -weighing 41b. net. It is a singular instance of the inherent reasonableness of that allowance, that at this moment the great bakers of London raise or lower their 4d. loaf one-halfpenny with each 3s. or 4s. variation in the price of the sack of flour, and that the margin they give themselves and the retailers to cover baking and selling is just about the same as was the practice six centuries ago. For instance, the price of good flour being just now about 28s. per sack of 2501 b., and the sack producing 90 41b. loaves, theße Bell at s|d. each, which is equivalent to 41s. 3d. for the sack when made into bread. The margin is therefore 13s. 3d. It will thus be seen for turning a given quantity of flour into bread the tradesman of to-day is paid just the same sum as hi 3 13th century predecessor. —Morning Post. DESTRUCTIVE WAVE. According to the Panama Star and Herald a huge wave lately struck the beach at Baragoa, Cuba. After sweeping in fully 400 feet, it flowed back to the ocean. Nearly 300 huts and houses are said to be destroyed but no lives were lost, for the people saw the wave coming and fled to the hills. The beach was Bwept clear of every habitation that stood upon it. The wave was not a tidal wave, but the result of a three days’ north wind. A pretty fair substitute for ivory can be manufactured from the bones and hides of cattle. The bones are macerated and bleached in chloride of lime for two weeks, then heated by steam, together with the hides, until a fluid mas 3 is formed, and to this a small quantity of alum is added. Filtered, dried and hardened in an alum bath, it yields white tough plates, which closely resemble ivory, and are more easily worked than the natural product. . The bayonet is said to have derived its name from the fact that it was first made at Bayonne, and its Origin illustrates the proverb, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ A Basque regiment was hard pressed by the enemy on a mountain ridge near Bayonne. One of the soldiers suggested that, as their ammunition was exhausted, they should fix their loDg knives into the barrels of their muskets. The suggestion was acted upon. The first bayonet charge was made, and the victory of the Basque led to the manufacture of the weapon at Bayonne and its adoption into the armies of Europe. Those who are to prepare the young for their future duties of life should possess not merely scholarship but also a knowledge of the world, of men, and of manners. They should be persons of culture as well as of knowledge. I would, therefore, strongly urge thst'the teacher should obtain his general education in the same manner and to the same liberal extent as the lawyer, the doctor, and the divine. For this purpose I would limit the operation of the pupil-teaoher system, though I should not be prepared to abolish it. The pupil-teacher’s course should be made to fit in pretty closely with that of the universities. —T. E. Heller. It is wise to provide against emergencies which areliable to arise in every family. Iu sudden attacks of cold, croup, asthma, etc., a bottle of Ayer’s Cherry Peotoral will prove a never-failing remedy.