in the English navy, and witnessed some strange scenes. One of his eminent patients in later years was Lord Palmerston, whose life he saved at the time of the cholera by the use of a heated smoothing iron applied to his spine. Sir Henry Holland's charming reminiscences will probably be eclipsed by the proofs of frankness which abound in the forthcoming volumes. A LARGE volume has lately appeared, containing documents relating to an event in HungarioCroatian history which has hitherto remained shrouded in obscurity, the celebrated conspiracy of Counts Zrinyi, Frangepani, and Tattenbach, against the Emperor Leopold the First. The papers referring to this matter, which are in the secret Court and State archives at Vienna, have hitherto been withheld from historical inquirers on account of their compromising contents. The volume contains also documents derived from the State Records at Vienna and Rome, and the archives of Prince Lobkowitz kept at Raudnitz, in Bohemia. It is published at Agram, and is edited by M. Fr. Racki, President of the South Slavonian Academy of Science. A REPORT by Dr. Bleek, on his researches into the Bushman language and customs, has been presented to the House of Assembly at the Cape of Good Hope. The doctor got two bushmen, under sentence of penal servitude, transferred to him, kept them in his house, and took down their vocabulary, talk, legends, &c. Some of the legends look interesting, as those on the origin of the Moon; the Moon stabbed by the Sun; the Children who threw the sleeping Sun into the sky; !goë! kweitentu (a being whose eyes are in his feet instead of his head); the Girl who made the Milky Way; the Resurrection of the Ostrich; Stones which killed the Thrower, &c. The Bushman literature differs from that of the Bântu natives (Kafirs, Betsuâna, &c.), but approaches the Hottentot, and so does its language. WHEN the literal believers in the Mosaic traditions were scared by the geological discoveries of Cuvier, M. de Frayssinous, Bishop of Hermopolis and Minister of Charles the Tenth, hastened to admit that the seven days of the creation were not mere days as we understand the word, but as many cyclical periods of centuries. In a book just published, "La Genèse des Espèces,' par H. de Valroger, Prêtre de l'Oratoire," the author asserts that spontaneous generation, even if proved, has nothing contrary or antagonistic to revealed truth. According to him, the "transformist" theory, as originated by Messrs. Darwin and Wallace, has absolutely nothing contrary to the version of the Bible. M. de Valroger, nevertheless, tries hard, at the end of his book, to shatter both theories of "transformism" and spontaneous generation. We out to be a monstrously dull volume, in which he relates his adventures at the Californian diggings and among the Shasta Indians in early life. do not hesitate to call this a 'got up' book on one subject, to which a sensation title, suggesting another and different subject, has been given to make it sell. Mr. Miller may romance at his will about his early life, but we object to his leading the public to believe that his book throws any light upon the history of the particular tribe of Indians who have lately set the American Government at defiance. Though Mr. Miller sometimes, by poetical license, calls the Shasta Indians Modocs,' there is nothing in his book which in reality concerns the Modocs, except a very doubtful account of a massacre of Modocs by whites many years ago, which rests upon the authority of a single man, and he a scoundrel by his own admission." AMONG the papers found in the Bastille, now edited by M. Ravaisson, Conservateur-Adjoint of the Arsenal Library, will shortly appear in the sixth volume a startling document, showing that Racine was summoned before King Louis the Fourteenth as accused of having robbed and poisoned La Duparc, a celebrated actress, for whom he composed the part of Andromaque, and who was his mistress till the time of her death, in 1688. The accusation, coming as it did from the infamous woman Voisin, tried, condemned, and executed as empoisonneuse, could not be entertained for a moment; but it heavily weighed on the exquisitely sensitive mind of Racine, till he died, broken-hearted, in 1699. Racine has often been reproached with being so craven a courtier that he could not bear the slightest displeasure of his royal master; but such an accusation as that launched forth by La Voisin, and taken notice of by the king, in presence of Louvois, one of the bitterest enemies of the poet, certainly was of a nature to deeply wound even a strong-minded man. ONE of the mysteries of Shakespeare's life, says the Athenæum, is at length solved. Some time ago we mentioned that Mr. J. O. Halliwell had had the good fortune to discover a remarkable and unique series of documents respecting the two theatres with which the poet was connected. They included even lists of the original proprietors and sharers. Shakespeare's name does not occur in those lists. Mr. Halliwell has now furnished us with the texts of those passages in which the great dramatist is expressly mentioned, notices far more interesting than any thing of the kind yet brought to light. The sons of James Burbage are speaking in an affidavit. They tell us that, after relinquishing their theatrical speculations in Shoreditch, they built the Globe with summes of money taken up at inte 66 THE Athenæum is very sharp upon Joaquin rest, which lay heavy on us many yeers, and to Miller's " Autobiography." It says: "Mr. Mil ler's so called book about the Modocs' turns ourselves wee joyned those deserveing men, Shakspere, Hemings, Condall, Phillips and : others, partners in the profittes of that they call the House." As to the Blackfriars they say, "our father purchased it at extreame rates, and made it into a playhouse with great charge and troble, which after was leased out to one Evans that first sett up the boyes commonly called the Queenes Majesties Children of the Chappell ;In processe of time, the boyes growing up to bee men, it was considered that house would be as fitt for ourselves, and so purchased the lease remaining from Evans with our money, and placed men players, which were Hemings, Condall, Shakspeare, and Richard Burbage." These important evidences contradict all recent theories and opinions respecting Shakespeare's business connection with the theatres. SCIENCE AND ART. FISH AND TEA AS FOOD.-The London Times sharply controverts the assertion made by Dr. Edward Smith to the British Association, that fish is rather a relish than food, and contains little more nutriment than water. As opposed to this statement the investigations of M. Payen are cited who proves that the flesh of fish on the average does not contain more water than fresh beef, and has as much solid substance as the latter. For in stance, the flesh of salmon contains 75.70 per cent water and 24.296 per cent solid substances, while beef (muscle) contains 75.88 per cent water and 24.12 per cent solid substances. The flesh of herring contains still less water than that of salmon, and even flat-fish are as rich in nitrogenous substances as the best wheaten flour, weight for weight. Another statement made by Dr. Smith, that the amount of nutriment contained in an ounce of tea is infinitesimal, is met with the assertion that, while tea is no "nutriment" in the ordinary sense, the individual who takes tea after his meals feels, without being able to define it, that tea has a favorable effect upon certain highly important functions in his body, that digestion is accelerated and facilitated, and his brain-work benefited thereby. Though not nutriment, tea is thus alleged to possess a really higher value, in medical properties of a peculiar kind. RESEARCHES ON THE DIGESTION OF STARCH. —We (Athenæum) recently drew attention to the great change in our notions as to the digestion of starch, which Brücke's researches seem to necessitate. Only a small quantity is converted by the saliva into sugar, the rest being converted into soluble starch in the stomach and so absorbed. An equally fundamental change in notions as to the digestion of albumens is imminent. Professor Fick and others are inclined to believe, from experiments made upon dogs, that the solution of these matters known as "peptone" when absorbed into the blood only acts as a force-giver, and that the albumen which is to form tissue, and feed the protoplasm all over the body is taken up as such from the unchanged albumen of the food, the absorption occurring by penetration, as in the case of fat-globules. This hypothesis is likely to modify existing ideas as to nutrition very profoundly. dark rooms. LIGHT AS A CURATIVE AGENT.-The statement has been made that Sir James Wylie, late physician to the Emperor of Russia, having attentively studied the effects of light as a curative agent, in the Hospital of St. Petersburg, discovered that the number of patients who were cured in rooms properly lighted was four times those confined in This led to a complete reform in lighting the hospitals of Russia, and with the most beneficial results. In all the cities visited by the cholera, it was universally found that the greatest number of deaths took place in narrow streets, and on the sides of those having a northern exposure, where the salutary beams of the sun are excluded. The inhabitants of southern slopes of mountains are better developed and more healthy than those who live on the northern sides, while those who dwell in secluded valleys are generally subject to peculiar diseases and deformities of person, these different results being attributed to the agency of light. ANTIQUE VASES.-A curious communication, we learn from Galignani, was made to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, at a recent sitting, by M. D. Whitte, one of the best archæologists of Europe, on two amphoræ quite recently dug up at Corneto, in Tuscany. They pertain to the sort which used to be given as prizes to the victors at the Panathenaic games. Many of these relics are preserved both in public and private museums, and highly prized on account of the paintings with which they are adorned, and of the chronological indications they offer, since they are generally marked with the name of the archon under whose administration they were awarded. One of these panathenaic amphora bears a painting representing Pallas standing and turned towards the left in a fighting attitude, with the lance in her right hand and the shield on her left arm. The face is in profile, but the lines setting off the folds of the garment are extremely well drawn, pointing to an advanced state of art. To the goddess's left, on the top of a column, is Triptolemus on a winged chariot; to the right there is another pillar, surmounted by a figure of Victory holding a branch of laurel. Along this column there is the usual inscription, "Ton Athenethen Athlon " (the prize given at Athens); and on the other, "Pythodelos archon." We know from other sources that this magistrate governed in the 111th Olympiad, and more exactly in the year 336 before our era, that is, the very one when Philip II., King of Macedonia, died. On the opposite side of the amphora there are four beardless warriors, armed with helmets and shields, in the act of running for the prize. The second amphora presents much the same subjects, with some variations in the details; thus, for in stance, the group of runners is replaced by one of boxers. These two vases are particularly valua ble, as they show Grecian art just before its decline; for other specimens three years later, under the archontate of Nikokrates, are much inferior to them. PHOTOGRAPHING THE TRANSIT OF VENUS.M. Janssen's method for photographing the apparent contact of Venus with the edge of the sun is worthy of description. The photographic plate is in the form of a disc, fixed upon a plate which rotates upon an axis parallel to that of the telescope. Before it is placed another disc, forming a screen, in which is a small aperture, in order to limit the photographic action to the edge of the sun. The plate which carries the sensitive disc has 180 teeth, and is placed in communication with an escapement apparatus actuated by an electric current. At each second the pendulum of a clock interprets the current, and the plate turns one tooth, so that at each second a fresh portion of the photographic plate is exposed. Thus, in as many seconds, 180 images of the sun and the planet can be obtained. When the series relating to the first contact is obtained, the plate is with drawn and another substituted, which gives the second contact, and so on for the four. AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.Recent advices from Lieutenant Steever, commanding the Palestine Exploring Expedition, says the New-York World, give an outline of the work done this season in Moab. They have selected and satisfactorily measured a base line near Herban, five miles in length; they have established suitable trigonometrical stations, and actually triangulated 400 square miles, besides having almost completed the detail of the same, including the hill shading. The elevation above the Dead and Mediterranean Seas has been well obtained. The height of all important points and elevations within the triangulation has been determined, and meteorological observations regularly taken and noted. This alone is deemed an invaluable acquisition to geographical knowledge. Every day's work has revealed ruins unknown and unmentioned by any traveller. The Bedouins tell of ruins of cities a few days' journey to the south and east, which it is impossible at this season to visit. In the department of archæology and biblical research the expedition has not been less successful. Professor Paine has prepared a voluminous report identifying Nebo and Pisgah. The expedition would soon go into summer quarters. Lieutenant Steever advises resumption of the work in the autumn rather than wait the coming spring. All were in good health and spirits. VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.-Professor Joseph Bohm has communicated to the Academy of Sciences of Vienna some curious and interesting observations in vegetable physiology. He has found that young plants produced from seeds germinated in pure oxygen gas of ordinary density speedily die, although they continue to consume oxygen to as great an extent as when they are growing in atmospheric air. The young plants thrive, however, in pure oxygen when the density of the latter is reduced so as to represent only a pressure of about six inches of mercury, or when pure oxygen of ordinary density is mixed with four-fifths of its volume of hydrogen. Professor Bohm has also investigated the action of carbon upon the growth and greenness of plants, and found that an intermixture of only two per cent of carbonic acid in the air in which plants are growing suffices to retard the formation of green coloring matter (chlorophyl), and that the process is almost or entirely suppressed in an atmosphere containing 20 per cent of this gas. No germination of seeds took place in an atmosphere consisting of one-half carbonic acid. From his experiments the professor concludes that either the atmosphere of our planet was much richer in carbonic acid than at present in early geological periods, especially during the formation of coal deposits, or the plants of those periods, in their relation to carbonic acid, must have been very differently constituted from their existing descendants. DISINFECTANTS.-The Lancet contains a report of the Analytical Sanitary Commission on Disinfectants. The chief disinfectants now in use have been submitted to examination, and the advantages and disadvantages to which each is liable are pointed out. Green vitriol, or copperas, is commended as cheap and useful; while Sir W. Burnett's fluid is described as the most powerful of the mineral disinfectants, but as a deadly poison, and Chloralum is said therefore to be used with care. to be valuable and harmless, though less energetic than Burnett's fluid. But carbolic acid is shown to be the most active and generally useful of disinfectants, and its use is strongly recommended, in spite of its somewhat disagreeable smell. VARIETIES. MARRIAGE IN INDIAN LIFE.-Passing through an Indian-say a Cowichan-village of a morning, you may chance to see a young fellow wrapped up in his blanket, sitting crouched up in the doorway of one of the lodges. That young man has come on a delicate errand. He is a lover, and this is his way of going about the rather delicate business of taking a wife. By and by the occupants of the lodge will get up and walk out, nobody taking the slightest notice of him. For a week this may go on, every day the young man coming and then returning without being invited in. At last, if he is agreeable in the eyes of the parents, he is asked in and food set before him; if he is an honored guest, the food, such as the roasted or dried salmon, being prepared by the master of the house, and business opens. His friends bring forward the presents he is prepared to give for the damsel, or an equivalent for the same, until he has no more. If the father is satisfied, all is well; if not, he must go elsewhere. This is the general rationale of Indian marriages-merely purchase. However, the Indians themselves stoutly deny that it is so, and possibly with truth. They say that the presents are not given as the price of the wife, but only to express her value and rank, a woman of low status in society being valued at much less. If the father is a man of any ton at all, he will send back with his daughter fully as much as he received. All I can say is that this is so rare, that I never heard of it more than once or twice. Betrothals in early youth, or even in childhood, are common, and, as an earnest of good faith, the parents on both sides deposit a certain amount of goods, commonly blankets. These betrothals are generally respected, a breach of engagement being a serious cause of offence to the injured lover. Though at betrothal the price of the future wife is tolerably well known, yet the father can raise it if, in the opinion of the majority of her tribe, she has materially improved since the date of that ceremonythough, curiously enough, this is said to happen rather rarely. The betrothal may be cancelled if during the interval the lover's third offer for her is refused, supposing that no price has been fixed at the time of betrothal; but this generally gives cause to bitterness, and not unfrequently to feuds. Young men, before being married, will often, to show their courage, scratch their faces until the blood comes. That an Indian is not altogether deficient in sentiment and love must not, however, be supposed from the matter-of-fact way he treats marriage. Many of their songs are about love, and often in the vicinity of Indian villages, the traveller may notice young fir shoots split down the middle to the very ground. This is done by youthful lovers, to see if they will be faithful to each other. They split the top of the shoot with the nails, then carefully divide it downward and downward; but if one side breaks off at a knot, then one of them will prove untrue. But they will not be content with this augury, but will try and try again until they find a young fir which will act according to their wishes.-From "The Races of Mankind." VERDICT OF "NOT PROVEN."-Much misconception seems to prevail in regard to this verdict, which is peculiar to the criminal law of Scotland. In a recent number of Notes and Queries the editor of that journal, in answer to a correspondent, states in substance that an alleged criminal in whose case a verdict of "not proven" has been returned may again be sent to trial on the production of new evidence of guilt, than which nothing could possibly be more absurd. No individual charged with the commission of crime can be tried a second time for the same offence on any pretence whatever, not if afterwards could be adduced the most unequivocal proofs of guilt. In criminal causes the verdict of a jury is in every instance final as regards the specific charge. The difference between "not proven" and "not guilty" is simply moral in its character, and the verdict is returned only in such cases where there is insufficient evidence to convict the alleged criminal, while there yet remain such shades of suspicion as do not warrant his dismissal without some formal statement. Practically " not proven" amounts to a verdict of acquittal; morally, it does not. The verdict of "not guilty," as pronounced by a Scotch jury, denotes the jury's conviction of the alleged criminal's absolute innocence'; "not proven," on the other hand, suspicions of guilt, only short of positive proof. The individual in respect of whom the latter deliverance is given goes without the penalty of the law, and that is all. THE REASON WHY. Ask why I love the roses fair, Or ask me why I love her so; I know not, this is all I know, FREDERICK LOCKER. METHOD OF ELECTING THE POPE.-The process of a papal election is thus described by Mr. Cartwright, a Protestant author whose work is generally allowed to be authentic : "The ordinary election by ballot is performed by two processes repeated daily, in general,-one in the forenoon, which is a simple ballot; the other in the afternoon, which consists in the process technically called of acceding, whereby an elector, revoking his morning's ballot, transfers his vote to some one whose name had that morn ing already come out of the ballot-box. Hence the designation of the supplementary ballot, for in it the faculties of electors are strictly limited to the power of adhering to some Cardinal whose name at the early ballot has been drawn. The votingpapers are square and folded down, so as at each end to have a sealed portion, within the upper one of which is written the voter's name, to be opened only under special circumstances; and in the other, sealed with the same seal, some motto from Scripture, which, once adopted, must be the same at all ballots, and serves ordinarily as the means for identification of the vote. In the middle space, which is left open, stands the name of the candidate. Advancing to the altar, after a short prayer in silence, and an oath aloud, wherein the Saviour is called to witness that the vote about to be given is dictated by conscientious convictions alone, each Cardinal drops his paper in the chalice upon the altar. When all have voted, the examination of the papers is made by the scrutators, three Cardinals selected by lot, who successively hand to each other every paper, which the last files on a pin. Should a candidate come out with just a majority of two-thirds, it then becomes necessary to open the upper folded portions of the ballot-papers, with the view of ascertaining that this majority is not due to the candidate's own vote; it being not lawful for a Pope to be the actual instrument of his own creation. In the case of no adequate majority, these papers are preserved, so as to be able to check, through the mottoes, the votes given in the supplementary ballot, it being, of course, unlawful for a Cardinal to repeat a second vote in behalf of the candidate for whom he had already voted in the morning. The form of tendering this second vote is by writing Accedo domino Cardinali,' while those who persist in their morning's choice insert the word 'Nemini. Should both ballots fail in producing the legal majority, then the papers are burnt, while in all cases the portion containing the voter's name is to be opened by the scrutators only in the event of some suspicion of fraud or of a vote being invalid, through some violation by the elector of the prescribed forms." BONAPARTE'S MARRIAGE.-In February of the year 1796, Bonaparte had been named Generalin-Chief to the armies of Italy; but despite this appointment he was still but a struggling soldier of fortune, already celebrated for deeds of valor, but with a very uncertain future before him. The sections of Paris were disarmed after the 13th of Vendémiaire, 1795, and then it was that he first became acquainted with the woman who was destined to exercise the most extraordinary influence, not only over his own life, but over the dynasty of the future founded in his name. But here let him speak for himself:-" A youth one day presented himself to me and entreated that the sword of his father (who had been a General of the Republic) should be returned. I was so touched by this affectionate request that I ordered it to be given to him. This boy was Eugene de Beauharnais. On seeing the sword he burst into tears. I felt so much affected by his conduct that I noticed and praised him much. A few days afterwards the mother came and returned me a visit of thanks. I was much struck with her appearance, and still more with her esprit." . So speaks Bonaparte upon this much disputed subject of his first introduction to Josephine de Beauharnais. From the time of that introduction he became a frequent guest at the Rue de Chantereine, and no evenings were so agreeable to him as those he spent there. The seductive grace of Josephine had a special charm for him. In society he was still shy himself; in the camp he was brave, but he had never been trained to courtly manners as she had been-(here let it be said that the Vicomtesse de Beauharnais had been a welcome guest within the circle of Queen Marie Antoinette),— and whilst the natural abandon of her manners, the splendor of her raven tresses, reminded him Previous of his own southern countrywomen, the refinement of her conversation was something new to him, the traces of sorrow visible in her expressive, though not strictly handsome face evoked his chivalrous sympathy, and the exquisite flexibility of her Creole movements appealed to his heart as man. Bonaparte loved Josephine de Beauharnais. ly, he had entertained the idea of a marriage between himself and Mademoiselle Clary, sister-inlaw of his brother Joseph; but that idea had ceased to be, and henceforth his one desire was to unite himself to the widow of the Vicomte de Beauharnais. She was then at least thirty-three years of age, and he was considerably younger; but she did not look as old as he did, for his prematurely grave though handsome face was impassive, and hers was full of vivacity. He was a brave man, but it required some courage on his part to ask her to wed him. At first she hesitated, but he was not easily daunted; and upon the 9th day of March, 1796, Bonaparte and Josephine were married, her son and daughter being present upon the occasion, as also Barras, Tallien and other political celebrities of the time, who signed the civil contract, then the only legal code of matrimony in France. In dictating this contract Bonaparte had purposely taken at least four years from the age of Josephine, and added more than one to his own-believing perhaps in the French proverb that "One is always of the age one seems to be." Josephine was touched by this polite, if not “pious fraud,” and quietly walked home with her husband, who, as her solicitor had warned her, possessed nothing but "his cloak and his sword to offer her." Never did Josephine seem further removed from the realization of the double prediction made of her (first by the negress fortune-teller, and since by Cagliostro) that she would be "more than Queen," than on this, her second wedding-day. The future of Bonaparte was quite uncertain, but his love for her was so ardent, that when he had to part with her, twelve days after their marriage, to take the command in Italy, it was with a regret which not even his hopes of glory-his desire to place his laurels at her feet, could subdue. From "Illustrious Women of France," by Mrs. Challire. WAR. A CANCER 'neath the heart of history, |