pear in print, the delivery of articles at South Kensington will commence.

It has often been said that man is more interested in mankind than in anything else; and it is admitted that the most attractive parts of museums are those containing specimens of the arts, industry, manners, and customs of ancient or existing nations. It happens, too, in the progress of civilization, that some 'savage' nations are improved off the face of the earth, and leave no memorial. For these and other reasons, the Commissioners have resolved that the ethnology and geography of the British dominions, in all parts of the world, shall form part of this year's Exhibition, and be repeated year by year, until the whole empire shall be illustrated; and these collections are to remain as a permanent exhibition. In the words of the official notice, they are to include 'life-size and other figures representing the aboriginal inhabitants in their ordinary and gala costumes, models of their dwellings, samples of their domestic utensils, idols, weapons of war, boats and canoes, agricultural, musical, and manufacturing instruments and implements, samples of their industries, and in general all objects tending to show their present ethnological position and state of civilization.' If such a collection as is here sketched could be properly classified, its value to science, as well as to the arts, would be so great as to justify any amount of labor in its preparation. The undertaking is to be led off with Western Africa, as that country happens to be for the moment unusually interesting.-Chambers's Journal.

Professor

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SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. Panceri made an interesting communication to the Institut Egyptien at its meeting on December 13, on the cryptogamic vegetation which he had found within the egg of an ostrich. This egg had been given him at Cairo, and was still fresh, the air space having not even been formed. soon, however, noticed the appearance of dark blotches within the shell, and having broken it open to ascertain the cause, he found they were produced by the growth of minute fungi. Instances of a similar kind had already been studied by him, and he had communicated the results to the Botanical Congress held at Lugano, in 1859. The believers in the reality of the spontaneous generation of living organisms have not been slow to seize on these cases as an argument in their favor, since à priori it would seem that the shell of an egg would be quite impermeable to germs derived from without. Panceri has succeeded in satisfying himself, however, that the unbroken shell of an egg is permeable to liquids, and that these may introduce germs into its interior. has, in fact, actually succeeded in inoculating other eggs with a fungus which he had obtained from the interior of one in which it had made its appearance in a way apparently so mysterious. He cultivated the fungus in egg albumen, and thus conveyed it to the uncontaminated eggs.

He

STATISTICS OF VACCINATION.-It is probably useless to address either arguments or facts to any anti-vaccination fanatic, otherwise we might be inclined to ask some of them to explain the remarkable experience of one of the Metropolitan Asylum District Hospitals for small-pox. During the recent epidemic the medical officer of the institution in question prepared the following table from the facts under his own observation. There is no doubt of the validity of the record, for the table will be found in the last annual report of the Local Government Board :

A Table of the Deaths and the Recoveries per 1000 cases of Small-pox.

Degree of Vaccination.

age. Cases under 15 years of

Cases above 15 years of age.

Among the

unvaccinated

children-namely, those

patients under fifteen-no fewer than 37.0 per cent died; of those who had one or more bad vaccination marks only 6.5 per cent died. Among the better vaccinated cases-and they amounted to 158-there were no deaths. With the adults, i.e. those over fifteen, the fatality was greater. The mortality of the unvaccinated was nearly onehalf of the number of cases, being 47.7 per cent; with one or more bad marks 14.4 per cent died; with one or more indifferent marks 12.0 per cent died; with one good vaccination mark 7.9 died; and with two good marks 4.8 per cent died. Among the adult patients having three or more good marks there were no deaths from small-pox.

-Pall Mall Gazette.

HYDROPHOBIA.-No one, remarks the Lancet, conversant with newspaper literature but must have been struck with the great number of deaths from hydrophobia recorded during the last three

years in this country. From Sheffield we have an account of a man dying last week of the disease, in horrible agonies, while at about the same period a presumably rabid dog ran amuck among the inhabitants of Huddersfield, biting no less than six persons. Five of these were immediately taken to the infirmary, where their wounds were cauterized with nitric acid and nitrate of silver. The animal-a large sheep dog-was killed, and an examination of its body brought to light a circumstance which leads us to think it possible that the dog's violence was due solely to irritation, and not to rabies. In the stomach (which was empty) a common pin was found near the pyloric end, with its head buried in the coats of the stomach, the point having penetrated through into the cavity, where about half an inch of it was free. As regards the prophylactic measures to be resorted to in cases similar to that which we have just recorded, we are sorry to have to confess that the armament of medical science offers no weapon capable of counteracting the dire effects of true rabies. Complete excision of the injured part immediately after laceration has been advocated by Mr. Youatt and others whose experience gives weight to their opinions, while the pathological condition of the brain and medulla after death would suggest depletion after suspicious bites.

A PHYSIOLOGICAL DISCOVERY.-In one of the papers read during the present session before the Royal Society, a fact highly interesting to physiologists was made known by Professor Sanderson, of University College, London. It is, that vegetable fibre, when electrically excited, behaves in the same way as animal fibre. The learned professor's experiments were made on the leaf of Dionea muscipula, popularly known as Venus's Fly-trap, and the effect of the currents was identical with that observed in experiments

on muscular fibre. Here we have confirmation of an oft-suggested proposition, that plant life and animal life have much in common.

VARIETIES.

A FORTUNE MADE BY A WAISTCOAT.-Some people have a fancy for fine waistcoats. This taste was more common in my young days than it is now. Stirring public events were apt to be celebrated by patterns on waistcoats to meet the popular fancy. I remember that the capture of Mauritius, at the close of 1810, was followed by the fashion of wearing waistcoats speckled over with small figures shaped like that island, and called Isle of France waistcoats. It was a galling thing for the French prisoners of war on parole to be confronted with these demonstrations. At court, highly ornamented waistcoats have been the fashion for generations. George, Prince of Wales, while Regent, was noted for his affection for this rich variety of waistcoats, and thereby

hangs a tale. His Royal Highness had an immense desire for a waistcoat of a particular kind, for which he could discover only a piece of stuff insufficient in dimensions. It was a French material, and could not be matched in England. The war was raging, and to procure the requisite quantity of stuff from Paris was declared to be impracticable. At this juncture one of the Prince's attendants interposed. He said he knew a Frenchman, M. Bazalgette, carrying on business in one of the obscure streets of London, who, he was certain, would undertake to proceed to Paris and bring away what was wanted. This obliging tailor was forthwith commissioned to do his best to procure the requisite material. Finding that a chance had occurred for distinguishing himself and laying the foundation of his fortune, the Frenchman resolved to make the attempt. It was a hazardous affair, for there was no regular, communication with the coast of France, unless for letters under a cartel. Yet, Bazalgette was not daunted. If he could only land safely in a boat, all would be right. This, with some difficulty and manoeuvring, he effected. As a pretended refugee back to his own country, he was allowed to land and proceed to Paris. Joyfully he was able to procure the quantity of material required for the Prince Regent's waistcoat; and not less joyfully did he manage to return to London with the precious piece of stuff wrapped round his person. The waistcoat was made, and so was the the tailor's fortune and that of his family.-Dr. Chambers.

MISSIONARIES IN NEW ZEALAND.-In these early times, missionary life in New Zealand possessed many attractions to a devoted, intrepid, and intelligent missionary: a fine climate, picturesque scenery, and a noble race of savages, who knowledge and the blessings of religion; while, could comprehend and appreciate the benefits of from the high estimation in which his knowledge, piety, and wisdom were held, the missionary was exalted into a position of power, influence, and authority which a despot would have envied. The mission-house was usually a well-selected place of residence, convenient for wood and water, and in the vicinity of a native pah or village. A taste for landscape gardening was occasionally displayed in the manner in which the grounds were laid out. Around the house appeared a verdant lawn, skirted with copse wood, exhibiting an English partiality for turf and trees. A wellcultivated garden, producing fruit and vegetables, and displaying a few specimens of native plants, with a sprinkling of English flowers, indicated a taste for picturesque scenery, and that refinement which appreciated it, on the part of the missionary; but under any circumstances, the mission station was a place of rendezvous and an object of attraction for all classes, as it possessed all the necessaries and comforts, as well as some of the luxuries, of civilized life. In those days the na

tives attached little or no importance to their time and labor, and their services were freely placed at the disposal of the missionary, either in building houses or cultivating their fields. On his expeditions into the interior and to distant parts of the country, the missionary usually travelled en prince, being accompanied by a retinue of natives employed in carrying his tent, blankets, and opossum rug, as well as provisions; and although not assuming the character of a sportsman himself, he frequently entrusted to one of his native party the favorite fowling-piece belonging to the mission, and wild duck and wood-pigeons were an agreeable variety in his bill of fare on his journey. Travelling in this manner, a geographical knowledge of the country was obtained, and important information respecting the character and condition of its inhabitants, as well as much of the early and valuable evidence as to its natural history. When thus wandering with them through the forests, exploring rivers in their canoes, and talking with them around their evening camp fires, the savage character and turbulent habits of the natives, from the constant fighting and feuds going on among different tribes, exposed the missionary frequently to imminent dangers; at the same time, to an intrepid and intelligent character, a man of a truly missionary spirit, such occurrences only afforded an opportunity for the display of resolution and firmness, qualities highly appreciated by all Maories, and which, when exhibited, never failed not only to restore peace among the natives, but to command their esteem and admiration.-From "New Zealand," by Alexander Kennedy.

STRAUSS'S THEOLOGY.-The undue prominence which he gave to the critical impulse, developed in him that "destructive rage" which John Sterling found absent from his 'Life of Jesus.' But while he thus confounded the permanent elements with the temporary accidents of Christianity, and thought he had got rid of the former when he had slain the scholastic theology of the churches, the offspring of a union between Christian thought and the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages, he was too true to himself, and too much in earnest about the truth, to throw in his lot with the modern pessimists of his own country. His critical assaults on Schopenhauer and Hartmann are, at least, as effective as his attacks on the popular theology. Even in his last and most negative phase, he felt the necessity for religion, and dimly recognized the fact, that there must be an objective reality corresponding with and making possible the fulfilment of the religious instincts of the human race. He sought to gratify them by his mechanical theory of a Universum, rolling majestically on in mighty cycles in obedience to wise and rational laws, for which he claimed our reverence and resignation.

Had he emancipated himself thoroughly from the effects of his theological training and traditions, from the counter-impulses which early deliverance from their positive influence had; called forth, he would probably have seen the defects and incompetence of a merely mechanical theory of the universe—a theory, in reality, not of development, but of transmutation; for development necessitates acceptance of the ideal element, which it is the tendency of many modern scientific men to exclude.-Athenæum.

A NOBLEMAN OF WEAK INTELLECT.-The Earl of R, a Scottish nobleman, at the middle of last century, was of weak intellect, though he sometimes said a clever thing. He was at one time detained in the Canongate jail, as men are now kept in lunatic asylums, that he might do no harm to himself or others. Some English officers visiting the prison, asked him, with some surprise, how he got there. Much as you got into the army,' said he; 'less by my own deserts than the interests of my friends.'

His lordship being brother-in-law to Lord Lovat, was suspected of Jacobite inclinations, and for this reason, after the suppression of the insurrection of 1745, he had to undergo an examination by the state officers. On its being imputed to him that he had wished well to the rebels, while they remained in Edinburgh- Me,' he cried; me wish them weel! A pack of low-lived scoundrels, as I told them they were, that would never do ony gude in this world, but gang to the next in a wuddy!'—meaning the gallows. How, my lord, did you really tell them so?' 'That I did-only I let them be twa mile away first!'