MISCELLANEOUS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 82, 21 November 1874, Page 9

MISCELLANEOUS

Belgium University Statistics. — The 'Bion Public' of Ghent publishes some curious figures regarding the number of candidate! presenting themselves for examination for degrees before the various examining juries of the country. Of the 105 to be examined at G-hent, at least 20 are studentß of Louvain, while of the 387 at Liege,- . some dozen are from Brussels. Therefore, the number of candidates from the four Universities are, from Ghent, 173 ; from Brussels, 351 ; from Liege, 375; from Louvain, 593. The latter sends up more candidates that the two State Universities united. In addition, the Jesuit College at Kamur and the Institute St. Louis at Brussels send up 66 students for examination before the central examining jury sitting in Brussels. Hence it seems that free Catholic education sends up 657 candidates ; free Liberal education 351 ; and State education only 548 ; or, in short, 1009 free students are examined against 548 State ones. These figures demonstrate cleanly the glorious position the Catholic University holds in Belgium. Even its opponents do homage to its worth. One who was ever attacking it bitterly from the Parliamentary tribune sent his son to the Catholic Alma Mater. Why, asked a Catholic friend, do you send your son to a University you are always attaching ? Because, was the reply, your Jesuit education at least has given the world a Voltaire ; our Liberal and State i education has yielded no such ripe fruit ! To Tbasseeb Pictttbes to (3-la.ss. — Engravings and lithographs may be transferred to glass as follows :— Give the glass a coat of copal varnish, and put aside till nearly dry, and only slightly tacky ; apply the engraving face downwards on the varnish, and damn the paper with a wet sponge in order to get it to lie close to the varnisli in every part ; it must be again laid aside till the paper is perfectly dry ; again damped with the sjonge, and the whole of the paper rubbed off with the points of the fingers j washed in plenty of water to remove tha particles of paper ; allowed to dry hard, and finished by the application of a coat of copal varnish. Texas promises to be an inexhaustible source of supply for salt. Her " bayous " are described as veritable mines of wealth, if properly worked. One of these, the Laguna- Madre, is 120 miles long, and • from three to six miles broad, and not more than eighteen inches deep. The water is rapidly evaporated, and the salt settles in great quantities in the bottom. The amount of salt from this source is estimated at 10,000,000 bushels in the season, and can be placed on board ship at ten cents per bushel. . It may "not be generally known that raw cotton is one ot the best and most simple means of preserving fruit for a long time. The method for grapes is as follows :— The bunches are gently laid between a layer of cotton in a glass or earthenware jar. The jar is then corked down and tied over with bladder. The exploits of the maid of Saragossa are being re-enacted at Puvcerda, which town, besieged by a large Carlist force, is gallantly defended by its women. The Carlists made a fierce attack, endeavoring to carry the pla.ce by assault, but the women carried to the ramparts materials for repairing the breaches, and showed themselves as indifferent of danger as the stoutest veteran. The trade of supplying New York with beef killed in Texas, and conveyed in refrigerator cars, the journey taking five or six diye, hae, we understand, met with considerable success. Between the beginnin- of December and the middle of February .the New York agent received 75 carloads of 20,0001bs each, and with little exception the meat arrived in good condition and found a ready sale at from 6 to 7 cents (halfpence) per lb to retail vendors. The Boston < Pilot' says :-'« Forty years ago all the lmh Catholics came together in one little clmrch to hear Mass. To-day the Iran American element bait fills the Directory ! • Within the past thirty years there has been a decrease of population in every county and city in the province of Munater, mth the er« ception of the city of Waterford. The population of the province m those thirty years has decreased one million. The Catholics of Rochester are deserving of great praise for their labors in the cause of Catholic education. While^the common schools of that city number 5,697 pupils, the parochial schools of the Cathohe Church are educating 5,532— the difference being only 173 m favor of the schools that receive the support of the State. ...... . The temperance women of Philadelphia have established a home for reformed drunkards, and already have nine men and two women there.