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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.