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Epping Forest.
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L"- '
On May G, <h° 5.600 seres of lend to
the Diortlieast of London known as
tapping Forest was declared free to
the public. Tue value of this immense
tact of land, from a scientific point of
view, lies, says Nature, in its wild
ness. By fir the greater portion is
piirnitive woodl ind, which has been
but little interfered with by man in
com pad son with the heaths and com
mons to the north, west and south of
London. Such an expanse requins
little in the way of “improvement.”
The nquirementi of the ordinary
holiday-maker and of the field natu
ralist are in this case identical. To
be aide to roam through many miles
of wild forest is a* truly a pleasure and
novelts to the former as it is a neces
sity to the the latter.
But iu addition to ’he forest rroper
there are open spaces amounting to
(more than 2,000 acres and the best
Imode of improving these is now under
'discussion. One of t ie most unique
suggestions thus fur made was that of
Mr Alfred R. Wallace in a recent
number of Ihe FortnighVy Review.
After provi ling for playgrounds, etc.,
k Mr. Wallace would plant these spaces
I such a way as to give a fair repre-
Fntation of t\ pical landscapes in va
rious pads of the world. Thus, for
istauce, by planting a section with
Lickories, sassafras, ! quid amber, ma
ples, oaks, rhododendrons, catalpas,
magnolias, locusts, tulip trees, butter
nut, bald cypress, Virginia creeper,
hemlock spruce, kalmias and other
American trees and >-hrubs he would
produce a North American landscape.
Bo again, by the use of the California
big trees, red woo is, pines, spruce,
cypresses, silver firs, gigantic arbor-
vittes, and other growths found east
of the R >cky Mountains, he would
.imitate a landscape on the Pacific
[31ope. In like manner another section
hould be devoted to the trees of Europe
find Western Asia, including such ex
miples as the nettle tree, the red bud,
Ithe flowering ash, the wild olive, the
liop hornbeam, Nordmanu’s Russian
lilver fir, and the picea pinsapo ol
Spain ; another to the singular vegeta
tion found on the eastern shores of
Asia, as the ailantus, the sophnra,
cryptomeiia, paulownia, the retino-
apotas, the gingko tree, the Chinese
arbor vitces, the wistaria, and the
glyptostrobus; while one landscape
might be devoted to trees and ehruns
peculiar to the Southern hemisphere,
including such specimens as Chilian
pine, the gum tree of Australia the
huon pine of Tasmania, the pittospo-
rurns of New-Zealand, and many
cbaiming shrubs and climbers from
Brazil.
Pietical Prose and Verse.
The Blue Sky.
We do not care what men think of
us to-day, but do hope that wo shall
stand well under the light of time.
“He Shall Bo LlVe A Tree.”
V barren tree against ft sunset sky;
A brnwn.bleuk. tree, whose leaves of emerald
sheen,
Which singing birds were wont to peep be
tween,
Long since hare fallen. Through lti summit
high
The winter winds have swept with hitter cry,
Vnd left it desolute, a crownless queen,
^ut beautiful, where golden clouds serene
The ahai p, black outlines All and glorify,
Ah, Lord, dei r Lord, my life Is dry and bare;
How stripped ol suimn r grace Is known to
tbee,
-Shall niguts ol wearln> s* and days of care
Be pleasing In tliy sight? Yea, pass ng fair,
11 thus thy love stream thro gh me, so . be
Within thy gracious light a naked tree.
The eye grows weary, the ear dull,
and the tongue tired, but the brain
never rests from the cradle to the
grave.
Longfellow’s Finest Sonnet.
“As a lond mother, when the day is o’er,
L°ads by ihe baud her little child to bed,
Halt willing, half reluct ml to be led,
And leaves his broken playthings on the
floor,
Still gazing at them through the open door,
Not wholly renssure t and comforted
By promises or others in their stead,
Which, tboujh more splendid, may not
piease him more;
So nature deals with us, and takes away
Our play things one by oue and bv tue hand
LeadN us to rest so gently that we go
Scarce knowing If we wish to go or stay,
11 -lug too full of sleep to understand
flow tar the uuknown transcends the what
we know.”
God’s Flans of Yoir Life.
Never complain of your birth, your
training, your empl >yment, your
uaid-'hips; never fancy that you could
Be something if you only had a differ-
ent loc and sphere assigned you. God
understands His own plans, and He
knows what you want a great deal
better than you do. The very things
that you most depreciate as fatal limi
tations or obstructions, are probably
God’s opportunities; and it is nothing
new that the patient should dislike his
mediciiles or any certain proof that
they are poisons. No! a truce to all
impatience! Choke that ’oolish envy
which gnaws at your heart because you
are not in the same lot with others,
bring down your soul, or rather, bring
it up to receive God’s will, and do His
work in your lot in your sphere, under
your cloud of obscurity, against yout
temptations ; and then you shall find
that your condition is never opposed
to your good, but really consistent
with it.
The Early Days of Printing
Professor Brucke has constructed an
artificial blue sky by droppinga spirit
uous solution of rosin into water until
the liquid #*comes turbid and milky.
When a black board is placed behind
the glass containing this turbid solu
tion, aud the light is allowed to fall
upon the liquid obliquely from above,
It assumes the aspect of a clear blue
sky. Professor Helmholtz very un-
poetically, aud almost irreverently,
speakb of a blue eye as simply au eye
with turbid humors. Professor Tyndall
has followed up this interestiug branch
of investigation by showing that an
artificial blue sky can also be produced
by throwing a strong beam of electric
light upon certain kinds of*gas con
tained in long glass tubes. The effect
heconctives to be iu some measure
dependent upon the decomposition of
the gas through the agency of the
light. One portion of the gas is sud
denly precipitated in the condition of
a delicate cloud, capable of catching
and turning bat k the blue vibrations.
In some modifications of the experi
ments the attenuated vapor makes its
first appearance in an exquisitely deli
cate form. The light rt fleeted from
these artificially constructed blue
clouds is always polarized where it is
thrown off at an angle of 90° from the
course by which it has fallen upon the
reflecting particles. The most perfect
polarization always occurs in the di
rection that is perpendicular to the
path of the illuminating beam. The
ellect gradually grows weaker aud
ultimately fades away, as this perpen
dicularity is departed from. The po
larization of the sky is most distinctly
developed in one particular track of
of the blue vault, and fades gradually
away as the neighboring regions are
brought euccefcbfully under examina
tion.
There is an old story about Faust,
the associate of Guteuberg, the inven
tor of printing, which, whether true or
false, well illustrates this. As soon as
the Bible, which these two pioneers of
the art had printed, was complete,
Faust took a number of copies to Paris
to sell. The first copy he sold to the
kiug for 750 crowns, and another to
the anhbishop for GHO crowns, aud to
less ilia trious or less woithy persons
he sold other copie* for much smaller
sums, each oue thinking that he pos
sessed a marvel of penmanship. So
delighted was the archbishop
with his purchase that he took it to
the king, who, in emulation, produced
his volume. In spite of differences in
the great inital letters, which were
painted by hand, the text in both was
found to be indentical, down to the
smallest details, which would be im
possible in books written by hand.
O-her copies, too, it came to be known
bad been sold. There was no way of
accounting for the mystery except by
magic, and poor Faust was committed
to stand his trial for sorcery aud was
imprisoned; Only upon a full dis
closure of his process of priuting,
which bad hitherto been jealously se
cret, did lie obtain his liberty, ami tills
he did not long enjoy, dying shortly
after of the plague, before he could re
turn to his owu country.
Fishing by Electricity.
a weight below and a float above, so
that it can be raised or lowered t > the
desired depth. As soon as the
catboas are ignited and the glass in
proper position, alt these* in its vicin
ity is illuminated brilliantly, and the
fi-h, over wham light is well known
to exercise an irresistible influence at
night, come eagerly, and sometimes
in large schools, within the rays. They
may be seen from above disporting
themselves in the unaccustomed
brightness, and little dreaming of tlie
sinister purpose with which the little
fete is organized for thtm. It is then
that the oilier fishing-boats, armed
with nets, come up and set to work at
the unconscious victims, which they
surround as well as they can without
interring with the apparatus con
nected with the lighted globe. It may
be supjiosed that this device is calcula
ted to operate with much deadly effect
whenever it is used and ttiere seeuis
to be much doubt whether it will ever
tie allowed as a recognized kind ot
fishing within territorial waters. In
deed, the license granted by the Gov
ernment is said to be merely provi
sional, and for the purpose of testing
the new machine.
Scientific Economies,
A Possible Rival to Chichona.
\ The Trinctss Christian uppeared as
yplauUte at a comert iu Windsor
ring the first week in May.
uag
A French yachting paper gives some
description of the new apparatus
which Is being used, with the per
mission of the Government of that
country, for fishing by electricity at
night. It consists of a globe of glass,
within which the electiio light is
shown. Two conductors encased in
gutta percha are arranged so as to meet
one another on tire inside, \er>' much
on the same principle which is now
familiar to all vi-itors to the Ctystal
Palace. They communicate with a
fishii g-boat anchored at a convenient
distance, and can, of course, tie set
into activity by the occupants of the
boat. As to the globe, it is attached to
During the last two or three years n
baik containing quinine and quini-
dine has been obtained from Columbia
in enormous quantities. The botani
cal source of this bark, which is
known in commerce under the name
of Cuprea Cinchona, on account of its
peculiar coppery tint, lias hitherto
been a mystery. M. Tiiana, the well-
known quinologist, has recently suc
ceeded iu tracing it out, and has stated
in the British Pharmaceutical Jour
nal for April 22 that it is derived in
great measure from two species of the
nearly allied genius Remijia, none of
the members of which were previously
known to contain quinine. 8cveral
species of It nnij ; a have leaves resem
bling those of the true Cinchonas, and
of these M. Triana has determined
tnat R Purdieana, Wedd., and It.
pedunculata, Karsten, certainly yield
Cuprea bark, the firmer being the
species which contains the alkaloid
Cinchonamine recently discovered by
M Arnaud. It appears probable that
other species also yield the Cuprea
Cinchona of commerce, but definite
information on thl a point is still want
ing. The value of this bark has led,
according toM. Triana, to gteat devas
tation of the forests in which ihe trees
grow, and has produced a financial
stagnation, business being neglected
in order to follow the more profitable
occupation of collecting the bark.
The tree is likely to prove valuable
for cultivation in countries where
malariift fever abounds, since it grow;*
at an elevation of 2UQ-1,000 metres
above the sea, at which oven red Cin
chona bark will not flourish.
But a still more formidable rival to
cinchona is occupying public atten
tion. M. E. S. Maumene, a distin
guished French chemist has definitely
announced verbally that he has suc
ceeded in making quinine aitificially,
that is to say, without having recourse
to the natural bark. He does not wish
kfannouuee the details of his process
just yet, as he does not consider them
perfect; but he Las deuoslted a sealed
packet containing au account of the n
with the Secretary of the French
Academy of Sciences. M. M nmiene’s
announcem nt is clear and distinct,
au t his reputation as a philosopher
is too high for him to imperil it by a
premature or ill-considered statement.
If M. Maumene has succeeded in
making artificial quinine at a cheaper
rate than by extracting it from bark,
he has both fume aud fortune before
Lilui; and the Peruvian bark planta
tions of South America, India, Cey-
and Java, whether natural or artifi
cial, may bo out down for firewood.
If, on the contrary, he can only pro
duce it at a dearer rate, he will have
achieved a result that will baud down
bis name to posterity as the first
chemist who 1ms succeeded In tire ar
tificial formation ot a vegetable alka
loid.
Scotch Hum®r.
Food for Thought.
Old Scotch gen'lenrian sitting in a
Toronto car—a young lady enters, and
makes a rush for the topmost seat.
The car smarts rattier suddenly, the
lady lands on the old gentleman’s
knee, blushing and eic’alming :‘ Oj!
beg your pardon.” "Oil G.—Duma
mention it, lat-sle, I’d rayther liae ye
in’ on my kute, than staun’m on
The gastric juice is more acid while
digestion is going on than in the in
tervals of the process.
Northern corn contains most oil aott
starch and Southern corn moat min
eral aud albuminous matter.
Sea anemones have no real nervous
system ; the sense of touch is distribu
ted throughout the whole animal.
Sugar, according to a prominent
physician, promotes digestion, and
may lie prescribed iu certain cases of
dyspepsia.
Poisons closely resembling the
ptomaines have been obtained by M.
Armand Gautier from the poison of
the cobra and the human salvia.
The London Mining Journal says
that a contract has been concluded for
070,000 tons of iron ore in Africa for
consumption in the United States.
The locomotives on some Russian
railroads are heated with crude naph
tha, which is introduced into the ten
der as it comes from the wells.
Efforts are being made iu Belgium
to stimulate the study of astronomy.
A recent speech by M. Folte has done
much to further tire movement.
Gits; s from the furnaces in iron dis
tricts are very injurious to trees in the
ueigbborbo )d. The sulphuric acid
contained in the gases >u absorbed by
ihe leaves.
Pure butter at fifteen degrees has
the same specific gravity as alcohol ol
53 7 per cent. ( 956) and oleomargarine
as at ohol of 69.2 per cent., or .915
-ipecific gravity.
The Germans adulterate thei papers
with clay to sucu au extent that the
American market now’ refuses to im
port German paper. Clay ruins tjpe
and is gt nerally undesirable.
The Mmiteur des Products Chem-
iques advises melon growers to put
cufiee grounds on their melon beds ;
they form a very stimulating manure
and greatly Improve the flavor of the
fruit.
Lizirds and crocodiles have two
lungs, usually somewhat divided, and
extending through the whole trunk.
By their inflation the cuameleon can
give itself a plump appearance.
Wood plied in a tank aud covered
w-th quicklime which is gradually
slaked with water is said to acquire
great Uarduess and consistency after
the lime has acted upon it for a week
or more.
O l February 8th the first eel taken
in California was caught on the east
ern shore of San Francisco Bay. It
measured three feet in len th, and
was the first result of the “plant” of
the California Fish Commissioners.
Professor O wen, iu an article lately
published, questions whether man
ever receives a third set of teeth. He
ascribes alleged cases to the reappear
ance of old and worn stumps, iw con
sequence of the shrinkage aud absorp
tion of the jaws.
A baker in Paris, having used for
fuel the boards from old houses, many
people w 10 ate the bread were seized
with symptoms of lea 1 poisoning.
The heat converted the paint into
oxide of lead, which adhered to the
surface of the loaves.
Dr. Miguel Faragas ascribes the
aroma of roasted coffee to a peculiar
substance called cafeone, which is de
vt loped during the process of roasting.
Its action on the heart is oppo ed to
that of caffeine, as it increases the
force and frequency of its pulsations,
An Italian engineer proposes to
fret ze silk-worm eggs with an ice ma
chine, tliii3 retarding their develop
ment without destroying their vitality.
The object is to keep the eggs, iu years
when the development of the mul
berry trees is backward, until a more
auspicious period, and thus avoid the
losses incident to such seasons.
Near Cambridge, England, ihe por
tion of the wait letter-box*s surround
ing the apertures has been treated
with luminous paint to enable the
people to see where to post their letters
after dark. The result has been sat
isfactory.
■—■ —-*■ ♦ •- • —
A gentleman thus addressed his
butler : “James, how is it my butolrer's
Earnestness commands the respect
of mankind. A waveriug, vacillating,
dead-and-alive Chiistian does not get
the respe t of the church or the world.
—John Hall.
bit)
ceremony.
It is said that there are upward of
3(!0i) steam-ploughing machines now
tmployed in Eugland and Seotluud.
Little Things.
One small stone upon anot'ier,
And llie highest wall is laid;
One wee stitch, and tnen another,
And trie largest garment’s made.
Many tiny drops of water
Make the mighty livers flow ;
One short second, then anoiher
Aud ihe ages come aud go.
Place one bit «i knowledge
On another tiny mile,
Keep on adding, time will make them
Stilus witn wisdom’s burnii g light.
Each small act of perseverance
Nerves you to some greater deed;
From oDe little grain of forethought
Often grand i emits proceed.
If.you want to be a hero
On the battie-Iield of life,
Do not scorn the numb lest vlct.’ry,
For ’iwlll aid you in the strife,
Little acts of care and pattenee
Grow to g ants in the fight;
They will nerve your soul lo oonquer,
And will win you laurels bright.
Many boys are muddy-headed till
they be cladded with age, and <>uch
afterwards prove the btat.—ThomaM
Fuller.
Faith’s Recompense.
I stood and watched my ships go nut,
Each one by one,unmooring, tree.
Wuat time ttu- quiet harbor fl led
With flooU-tldo from the sea.
The first that sailed, her name was Joy;
She spread a Kim otb, white ample sail,
And eastward drove, with be-rdiug spars,
Beiore the singing gale.
The ne xt that sailed, her name was Hope;
No cargo in her old sue bore,
Thinking to find in wistern lands
Of merchandize a store.
Another sal ed, her name was Love :
She showed b red flag at tlie nia-t,
A flag as red as blood she s owed,
And she sped south right fast.
The la>l that sailed, her name was Faith;
Slowly she took her passage forth,
Tacked, and lay too; at last she steered
A straight course lor the noith.
My gallant ships they sailed away,
Over the shimmering, summer sea;
I sat and watched lor many a day.
But only one came back to me.
For Joy was caught by pirate Pain,
Hope ran upon a hidden reef,
And Love caught fire and foundered fast
Iu • whelming seas of grief.
Faith came at last, storm-beat and torn
She recompensed me all my loss;
For as a cargo home she brought
A crown linked to a cr-es.
Professor Moriey’s Predictions,
bills are so large aud I always have
such bad dinners? ’ “Really, sir, I
don’t know,” said James; “for I’m
sure that we never have anything nice
in tbe kitchen that we don’t send
seine of it tip to the dining-room.”
Boiling Cabbage.—Talking of
cabbage, Mrs. R> e^e tell* us that we
cun get rtil of the abominable smell of
cabbage boiling by putting in the wa
ter a piece of breadcrumb tied up iu a
flue white rag.
Prophesying the Appearance of an Intel*
)e :tual Genius.
I have just heard of a remarkable
prediction made by a remarkable
man. The man is Professir Henry
Morlev, perhaps the most thorough
explorer of literary history, and his
prophesy is that a great iutel ectual
figure will arise In the mar Juture.
If our astronomers were to predio
that a new planet would probably be
discovered iu a certain region of space
the telescopes of the world would be
turned in that direction ; (here is no
reason why we should not heed as
well the prediction of a man who has
so long studied literary epochs. Pro
fessor Morley bases his calculation, I
believe, upon the fact that a certain
average of po; ulor culture and a cer
tain proportion of literary reputations
hhve never failed to be represented by
some mind of extraordinrry power,
aud that average and proportion have
now been reached or exceeded. The
Professor is a solid aud rather un
imaginative man ; but there is a touch
of transcendentalism about this idea
of his. Such a hope were a true star
amid the darkness closing round the
graves of the men who made our
epoch—Carlyle, Darwin aud Emer
son. Just as so many are asking who
is left to look up to, liete is something
to raise all bowed beads, and direct re-
rctrospecting eyes; for the representa
tive of a larger ago must be a larger
genius than any predecessor. It is
said tbat prophecies tend to fulfil
themselves. It may be that the
dreams of generations of Madonnas
flowered in the man of Nazareth.
H-ine believed that lire beauty and
dignity cf the Italians were largely
owing to the geueral worship of pic
tured saints. Wlnvt a beautiful com
petition it would be for the Madonnas
of America aud Eugland, turning
from the graves of great teachers who
have taught their generation the se
cret of heieditary genius, laws of vari
ation and the power of culture, to ful
fil this prophesy! And how grand
would be the rcst.lt if the result should
he that the English race iu both
worlds, led by ihe same ideal, should
bring forth again majestic minds, re
lated to each other as the Old World
to the ftew, like those they j dntlj
lost and foil >wed In ooutiuuou^
Ion to th^p graves.