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sures of the Cathedral of
Mexico.
The largest, most elegant, moBt
costly, and in every way the finest
church building on the American
continent is the Cathedral of M>xico.
It is three hundred years since this
immense building was begun, and
more than two hundred years since it
was finished ; yet it does not bear the
appearance of old age, although near
ly all the material in it, except the
imported metals and precious stones,
were centuries old when Columbus
first sailed across the Atlantic, for it
was largely built of the stones of the
Aztec temple that stood upon pre
cisely the same site, and which was
destroyed by Cortez.
• Sixty-two life size statues serve as
chandeliers, and everything else is in
the same grand style. The choir is
surrounded by a balustrade of gold,
which was manufactured in China,
and weighs more than twenty tons
(not all gold). In the middle of the
high altar is placed the tabernacle,
supported by eight ranges of stucco
colonnades, in the first two ranges of
which stand the Apostles, Evangelists
in prefiervingj these little social curi
osities ; and it is only some fifty years
hence that they will be looked upon
as such, and sought afttr in some tech
nical exhibition of the match trade.
It was not, however, till 1824 that
matters began to improve, when an
elaborate apparatus called the “Eupy-
rion” came into use. This consisted of
an open bottle containing sulphuric
acid, soaked in fibrous asbestos, and
the matches, which were about two
inches long and sold at one shilling a
box, were tipped with a chemical com
bination, of which chlorate of potash
was the princlpal.ingredient. On put
ting the match into the bottle and
rapidly withdrawing it a flame was
produced, but as the acid was incon-
venieotand the matches liable to be-
spoiled by damp, the Eupysion, being
shown not to be the fittest, did not
urvive. Many inventions more in
genious than useful were successively
tried,— the “pyrophus,” the pneu
matic tinder box, and the hydrogen
lamp of Dobereimer, but it was not
till 1832 that the first sign of a friction
match was evolve i, and was called a
"lucifer” by the joking generation.
Lucifers were substantially the present
match of to-day pulled through a piece
and principal Saints, and in the third
rank a group of angels, among whom i of sand-paper.
The remembrauoe
appears the Holy Virgin.
There are six chandeliers, and a
oross, whose body and pedestal are in
laid with precious stones ; a cross of
gold filigree ; six bouquets of precious
stones ; four more chandeliers, twenty
chalices; six gold cruets and stands :
a pyx weighing 104 ounces of gold,
covered with 1679 large diamonds,
132 rubles, 143 emeralds, the whole
mounted on eighty-four ounces of
geld ; two golden censers, the princi
pal one a yard high, ornamented with
5882 diamonds, and the other with
2,653,1C 6 amethysts, 45 rubies and 8
sapphires, and containing 704 ounces
of gold ; 11 lustres of 24 branches estch;
2 pairs of large chandeliers; 5 per
fumery pans, six feet high ; 3 statues
and a large number of gold and silver
bouquets.
The statue of the Assumption, dat
ing from 1510, and the most valuable
piece in the Cathedral is now miss
ing (without doubt it went to part of
the expenses of some ef the count
less Mexican wars).
It was made of gold, and the ounce
alue of the gold, containing nothing
the wood workmanship, was
6 504 ; it was covered from head
foot with precious stones. The
censer, and a large portion of
jewels were given to it.
he Cathedral was damaged by an
quake in 1526, and a great gold
23 feet high was sold to pay for
repairs. The lamp was 9 feet in
eter, had 54 branches, and cost
2.
of the builders of the Cathedral
the architect: "Build us a
hich will make posterity be-
were mad,” and he did; but
er the higher and truer Catho-
rit in which they worked who
p our Old World sanctuaries of
It is written : “They dreamed
of a perishable home who thus
build.”—The Lamp.
Matches.
Sapid Progres* Made Since the Days
of Flint and Steel.
ew people who use half a box of
atches a day are disposed to think
uch on the subject of their origin,
rest content with the fact that
exist. Fifty years have not yet
ed since the most elementary
in its present form was in vent-
1, and in Vienna, the other day, they
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of
their invention by three Austrians to
whom, of oourse, that honor is as-
gned. In England, in 1832, matches
d not reached their present shape,
bat had only reached the stage of
"lucifers.” The modern generation
as lost sight of all these gradual evo-
tlonB, and they are only known to
who have the misfortune to be
Ivors ot those benighted and un-
ghtened days. In the time of Fox
Burke, and up to the beginning
he present century, the flint and
and tinder stage had not been
ed, though it is probable that Dr.
neon and other scientists were
skillful than we moderns are at
intricate operation. About the
nning ot the century, however,
rs began to improve, and long
tone matches came into use to
„ the place of ‘the tinder. These
pieces of wood about six inches
pped with sulphur, and caught
from the spark of the flint,
difficult task t<
hem nowadays,
of such a con
trivance is calculated to make us think
less than we do of that dull time. But
the country was waking up, and the
congreve, which is the match of to
day, soon followed the Reform bill.
Whether the congreve was called after
the rocket of that name is a doubtful
point. There is a story of its inventor
which shows, if true, the value of at
tention on the part of schoolboys, and
might be put up in all board schools.
The real inventor, it is said—a village
schoolmaster—explained it to his boys
at school, and one more intelligent
talked of it to his still more intelligent
parent, who was a chemist, and who
turned it to material advantage. Be
that as it may, this was the same as
the match of to-day ; and it has since
undergone few Improvements, except
one changing it from a silent to a
noisy match. The silent match,which
is so effected by burglars, and is neces
sary accompaniment to list slippers,
consists in the omission of chlorate of
potash in the composition which tips
it, and which is the cause of the crack
ling noise which is liable to awake the
intended victim. The last great in
vention was a safety match,which was
patented by Bryant & May, in 1586.
The Law of Extradition,
A vexed question in international
law of many years standing has just
received learned discussion from
Judge Hoffman, of California. It is:
Whether a fugitive from justice
brought back upon a charge of one
crime can resist being tried on any
other. One view has been that, al
though criminals ought not to be ex
tradited except upon specific charges,
and ought not to be put on i rial on
any other charge than the one men
tioned in the proceedings, yet the cul
prit had no right to object. The ques
tion was only a diplomatic one be
tween the two nations. Whin Win
slow was demanded from Or eat
Britain by the United States, Lord
Derby, under an act of Parliament
later than the treaty, claimed from
Secretary Fish a stipulation that he
should be tried only on the charge
named; but our administration re
fused to give it, and there was long
disagreement between the two nations
over the question. In tae noted case i^f
Lagrave the New York Courts held
that until some law or treaty limited
the prosecution of returned offenders
to the very crime specified, the Courts
could not refuse to entertain any regu
larly made charges. Other jurists of
high standing have thought it proper
for a Court to entertain a prisoner’s
objection that he had been brought
back unfairly ; and of this opinion is
Judge Hoffman. He argues that
specifying In a treaty certain crimes
as grounds of extradition implies that
no others shall be allowed ; and, fur
ther, that the treaty is a part of the
law of the land, of which the prisoner
is personally entitled to the benefit.
For day weddings or receptions the
frock or cutaway coat and light trous
ers are the correct thing for gentle
men. Gloves are again in yogue, and
no gentleman will appear "bare
fisted.’'
Sorghum seed of the amber-cane
variety is sold readily at 65 cents per
bushel, and at this prloe it will pay all
expenses of the crop. It weighs near
ly or quite sixty pounds per bushel.
A Standing Army.
One Side of a Queition.
The beie noire of the conservative
mind in national politics is a standing
army. They are in constant dread of
the military encroachments upon the
other arms of the government. The
interference of the military in civil
affairs is constantly harped upon, and
they argue that this formidable ele
ment under the control of ambition,
could be used as an effective engine in
the prostration,if needs be, of the civil
power in the State.
This from a liberal view is but the
veriest of twaddle. There is no high
er grade of discipline than that fur
nished by a military school, and as
discipline underlies the entire political
strata, it is quite plain that military
discipline would advance the general
discipline of the country if it should
become, what it Is in all well regulat
ed nationalities, a complete social and
educational circle in itself. Standing
aloof from the noise of politics, inde
pendent oi favor or hope of promotion,
except for gallantry or other forms of
meritorious service, there could not
be found a wider or more elevated
school for our advanced youth than
the army.
When we say army, we mean an
organization of from one hundred to
two hundred thousand officers and
men; regulars, whose efficiency in
promptness and knowledge would
command the respect of the world,
and be recognized as a magical pro
moter of inter-state tranquility ; not a
few thousand troops scattered over
thousands of miles of territory,having
no experience in brigade or division
movements.
But the most practical view of the
question is the means it would furnish
to absorb a large amount of our sur
plus physical force. Men out of work
on the one hand, or dissipated on the
other, could be transformed from con
sumers solely, to the more useful char
acters of assistant producers, inasmuch
as they would be well fed and clothed,
thus furnishing employment for the
manufacturer and helping the pro
ducer to dispose of his surplus at
remunerative prices, increasing as the
strength of the great moral engine
augmented. Thousands of berated
creatures who roam our thoroughfares)
chronic tramps, whose visages alarm
our domestic circles from one end of
the country to the other, could be
changed to useful custodians of the
law, rather than disturbers and
breakers of the same.
It is rarely we hear of grave offenses
being perpetrated by an old soldier;
his years of devotion to the commands
of discipline have educated him to the
yalue of subordination to military law,
and the sequence is a natural, seem
ingly, conformation to the demands
of the civil law. He is easily resoled
into good citizenship, and through the
rigid and inflexible schooling of the
camp and field, he is an example of
subordination to the powers that be,
and exercises a salutary influence upon
the disturbed elements of society, in
teaching by precept as well as practice
the value of discipline, which is the
only remedy for the disorders of so
ciety. As a social element, the army
has a peculiar value in presenting a
wide field for the amenities of life,
hedged in by a code of honor, manly
bearing and courteous demeanor; as
we find that good soldiers, as a rule,
are gentlemen, gentle as well as brave.
As a whole, we believe a standing
army of fair proportions, would be a
national beneficence.—Phila. Thor
oughbred. Stock Journal.
New Method of Bleaching.
The Textile Manufacturer describes
a new method of bleaching manufac
tured cottons,especially cotton on bob
bins. The plan consists in placing
the cotton In a closed reservoir lined
with lead, this reservoir being some 10
feet long, 7 feet broad and 5 feet deep,
and capable of holding 300 pounds of
cotton. A rubber tube connects the
reservoir with an apparatus in which
about three cubic yards of chloroform
vapor are set free by using sulphuric
acid in a mixture consisting of one
part quicklime, one part chloride of
lime, one part spirits of wine or acetic
acid and four parts water. The vapor
is conducted into the reservoir, where
for about two hours a pressure of two
atmospheres is put on the cotton, after
which the bleaching is accomplished.
Afterward a mixture of hydrogen,oar-
bonic arid sulphuric ether, prouuced
in a Wolff bottle, is passed over the
ootton,and in the space of about fifteen
minutes all smell is found to have left
the bobbins. This process is found to
i possess some valuable advantages over
the ordinary method.
Popular Science.
In June, 1783, Stephen and Joseph
Monlgolfier sent up the first balloon.
An experiment is soon to be made
in New Orleans to adapt mosquito
wood, a native of Texas, very durable
and nearly as hard as Iron, for street-
paviDg purposes.
Good yeast may be kept in excellent
condition if it is twice well washed
with ice-cold hard spring water and
then dried and well-pressed. This
mass is afterward to be well mixed
with malt dust and stored in closed
jars in ice cellars.
Four German expeditions are now
prosecuting their researches in Africa,
two from the east and two from the
west side of that continent. Very in
teresting and accurate reports of the
several journeys are looked for after
the explorers have revised their jour
nals.
A French chemht has analyzed the
juice of the so-called milk tree of Cen
tral America—to the nutritive quali
ties of which attention was first drawn
by Humboldt—and has found that the
vegetable product really possesses
many of the characteristics of cow’s
milk.
Professor Bruns, of Tubingen, has
made some experiments on dogs which
he regards as proving that bone mar
row, completely separated, from the I
bone, may be transplanted under the
skin of the same animal at a remote
part of the body, with the result of
giving rise to the formation of bone
and cartilage.
Among recent boiler curiosities was
the discovery of a piece of a plate
covering a space of about six inches
square, full of fine cracks. These
cracks had evidently come from defect
in the iron in the first instance, but
the boiler had been run for two years
at from eighty to ninety pounds pres
sure, and the boiler inspectors had just
pronounced it perfectly safe for one
hundred pounds.—Iron.
These are the conclusions of Profes
sor E. Wollny on the physical proper
ties of the soli in a dense and a loose
state. When it is desired to Increase
the proportion of water in a soil dens
ity is to be aimed at, but a loose condi
tion should be maintained when the
contrary state is found needful. The
more densely the particles of the soil
are packed together the more such soil
will vary in temperature.
Dull gold may be cleaned in this
way : Take 80 grams calcium hypoch
lorite, 80 sodium bicarbonate and 20
sodium chloride, and treat the mix
ture with 3 litres of distilled water.
It must be kept for use in well corked
bottles. Goods to be cleansed are put
in a basin and covered with the mix
ture, After some time they ars taked
out, washed, rinsed In alcohol anp
dried in sawdust. The articles then
have the same appearance as if new.
me American Naturalist:
Mammalia, which have been so long
looked for in vain in Laramie beds,
heve at length been found. Mr. J. L.
Wort man, who was sent to explore
this formation of the past season, was
instructed to look especially for mam
malian remains. He now states that
•he has found them in place and min
gled with the remains of sinosaurians
in Buch a manner as to leave no doubt
that they were of the same period.
The American Miller gives the fol
lowing rule for computing the con
tents of a hopper, the rule apparently
relating to the lower square or rec
tangular conical portion dlily : Multi
ply the length by the breadth in
inches, and this product by one-third
of the depth, measuring to the point.
Divide the last product by 2150—the
number of cubic inches in a bushel—
and the quotient thus obtained will
be the contents of the hopper in bush
els.
When the supply of coal gets short
elsewhere.the world can turn to China
fi r "black diamonds.” Baron Rich
thofen shows that in that country
the supply of anthracite coal Is not
less than 630,000,000,000 of tons,
and the bituminous coal area is just
as large. The Baron thinks that,
taking what is left in other parts o
the world with the Chinese coal area
we need not fear a fuel famine, He
thinks that the supply in the Chi
nese provinoe ot Shansi alone will
last the world about 4200 years.
Dr. H. P. Sharus, of the Hartford
(Ct.) Retreat for the Insane, accounts
for the increased amount of disease of
the nervous system observed of late
years by reference to the larger part
of the twenty-four hours whloh the
masses of the people spend within
] doors. A far greater part of the popu
lation than used to be employed in
counting-houses, business offices,
stores and factories, inhaling a heated
and contaminating atmosphere, the
effect of which upon the delicate
structure of the brain can»' J ^ but be
most unfavorable. ,. k
Mr. F. A. Rollo Russell, an English
sanitary engineer, has come to the
conclusion that the upper parts of
buildings are by far the most healthy,
and that even second stories possess
decided advantages over ground floors.
He finds that the climate undergoes
less variation on hills and on the tops
of lofty buildings, being cooler in the
summer and warmer In the winter
than on the surface of the earth. It
has been observed that frost strikes
the valleys first and that in cold
weather the thermometer on the hill
tops does not fall as low as in the val
leys.
It is contended by M. P. de Tchlh-
atehetf that the great deserts of Asia
and Africa are not sea-beds recently
made dry, but that they had been
raised at remote geological (epoohs,
and that their sand is not of marine
origin but is the product of rock dis
integrated by the winds, changes of
temperature and other similar sub
aerial causes. He says that the Sa
hara is much more modern than the
deserts of Asia. He makes the state
ment that on May 16th a temperature
of 22° Fahrenheit and snow two yards
in depth had been found in the Gobi
at a point having the same latitude as
Palermo.
It is estimated that nearly 2,000,000,-
000 pounds of paper are produced an
nually, one-half of which is for print
ing, a sixth for writing and the re
mainder coarse paper for packing and
other purposes. The United States
alone produce yearly 200,000 tons of
aper, averaging seventeen pounds
per head ; the educated German takes
eigfit pounds, the Frenchman seven
pounds, the Italian, Spaniard and
Russian takes, respectively, three
pounds, one and a half pounds and
one pound annually, the consumption
of paper being roughly in proportion
to the education and intellectual ac
tivity of the people.
Value of Asses’ Milk for Chil
dren.
In the Paris Academy of Medicine^
M. Parrott recently called attention to
some remarkable results obtained in
the Hospital des Enfants Assisteos, of
Paris, in feeding delicate infants with
asses’ milk. Many of the infants
brought to that hospital have diseases
which forbid their being suckled by
nurses, whom they would soon infect.
Hence the feeding-bottle was formerly
used for them. But, in spite of great
care, the effort to foster the small vital e
forces of these children was of little?*
avail. Direct application to the udder
of an animal was then tried. At first
the infants were thus fed with goats’
milk, but it was soon found that asses'
milk was greatly preferable, and all
are now fed with that—die, two,
sometimes even three infants being
held to the animal’s udders at onoe.
The nurses do this with ease. The
results of the treatment appear well
from the figures cited. Durirg six
months eighty-six infants having con
genital and contagious diseases have
been treated in the hospital nursery.
Of the first six fed with cows’ milk in
feeding-bottles only one was cured.
Of forty-two fed at the goat’s udder
eight were cured, while thirty-four
died. Of thirty-eight fed at the ass’
qdder twenty-eight have been cured,
while six have died.
The virtues of asses’ milk have been
appreciated some time in France. For
many years Palis and the large towns
have been visited every morning with
troops of she asses’ brought in to sup
ply their milk tor invalids. It is said
that the use of the milk was intro
duced by Francis I, who, reduced to a
very weak state and a despair to
physicians, was induced by a Jew
from Constantinople to take asses’
milk, and thereby got well again.
This milk has much less of plastic
matters and butter than goat’s or
cow’s milk, and is easily digested. M.
Parrot notices the practical advantage
in the case ef suckling from the ass in
that the animal is so easily fed ; it is
content with the poorest fodder. The
The goat suffers from a diet tha* lacks
variety, and in the city its milk Is not
what it is in the country. The asses
kept at the hospital referred to are in /
stables adjoining a field, in whiolV
they generally pass part of the day
It may be mentioned, in fine, th^
weekly statistics for Paris have lat
presented the unwonted fact Of)
excess of 200 and 240 births ov«f
deaths.