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General Agent, Rev. James H. Dwight, 26 Exchange Place, Room, 14 New-York. Contributions may be sent to James Stokes, Jr., Esq., 104 John street, or to the Banking House of Vermilye & Co., Nassau street.

REMARKABLE USE FOR STRYCHNINE.-About

a year ago, Professor Nagel of Tübingen published reports of cases in which he had, by the use of strychnia, restored sight to patients suffering from decay of vision or from blindness. Strychnia, as is well known, is a deadly poison, but it has a wonderful effect in stimulating the nerves; and Professor Nagel found that in diseases of the optic nerve, whether functional or organic, its operation is alike speedy and efficacious. The quantity used was of course exceedingly small, one-fortieth of a grain, mixed with water, and this solution is not to be swallowed, but is injected under the skin of one of the arms, which seems to render the result the more remarkable. This remedy has been tried by oculists elsewhere with marked success; and among recent instances occurs a naval captain, aged fifty-two, whose sight was so much impaired that he required to be led about. Within a few minutes after the first injection, as above described, the fog which darkened his eyes became less dense, and an impression of light was perceptible. After three day's use of the remedy, (an injection night and morning,) he could make out the furniture of the ward with sufficient clearness to guide himself about without feeling; "and on the fourth day of treatment, without help, he succeeded at mid-day in walking alone through the thoroughfares of the city to the home of his family, a mile from the infirmary." May we not hope from this experience that henceforth the number of cases of blindness will be largely diminished.

Transit of VENUS.-We have from time to time mentioned the preparations which are in progress for observing the transit of Venus in 1874. It now appears that Russia will take part in the great work. The astronomer at Pulkowa, near St. Petersburg, states that the number of Russian observing stations will be twenty-four, extending from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Siberia, and to Persia. Competent observers and efficient instruments will be provided for each station; and as photography will be made use of, some of the party have been exercising themselves in that art, and with such good results, that they can now take instantaneous photographs of the sun with dry plates. This looks promising; and as other observers are practicing with the spectroscope, we may be pretty sure that the coming transit will be observed as transit was never ob. served before. The Russians have already set on foot meteorological observations at their stations, with a view to select places which usually have clear weather in December. Other countries are expected to co-operate; and we hear that the astronomers of Germany will, ere long, publish their plan of operations.-Chambers's Journal.

THE LAND OF MOAB.-News has been received from the Rev. Canon Tristram, who, by fresh travels, has again widened our knowledge of Scripture geography and topography; in this instance by an explanation of parts of the Land of Moab heretofore unvisited by Europeans. No important inscriptions were found: the Arabs being "children of nature," have learned that if they bury inscribed stones and choice sculptures, a scarcity is effected, which raises the price when accordingly, some months later, they make “discoveries" of hidden treasures. The topographical satisfactory; they zigzagged through the whole of work accomplished by the party is described as the highland plateau of Moab, and discovered many ruined cities, some of which contain remains of temples and of Christian churches; and the sites of these places were carefully laid down on maps which, we may hope, will one day be published. One part of the country is traversed by the Callirhoe, a tremendous gorge, which is described as highly interesting in its geology and its botany; and the plains of Moab, between the hills and the Dead Sea, are found to contain much fertile land with hot and cold springs. More than one attempt has been made to establish an agricultural colony in the Holy Land; will the existtion, occasion yet another? ence of good land in Moab, with means of irriga

ART.

PRESENT CONDITION OF ART IN ROME.— We spoke in a former paper, says the Art Journal, of the manner in which Rome was being af fected by its becoming the capital of united Italy. We would now add that this great event in history should finally promote rather than obstruct Art. It will do so if the Italians are only patient, not desirous of fresh political upheavals, and not carried away by variety and meretricious display. The Eternal City has always been a passive rather than an active inspirer and teacher of the Fine Arts. It is the stately ruins, the Art-treasures, the beauty of position and climate, rather than its elementary schools or professors, which make it of inestimable value to the artist. Let a young man come here, well-trained in England or elsewhere, and then make use of his own eyes rather than of oral instruction, and he will never regret the labor nor the expense; otherwise, unless he possess rare ability, the direct loss will be great. It might be different were there at this time any prominent painter or sculptor to give a decided tone to Art; but since the death of Canova, Thorwalsden, and Gibson, there has been no one of sufficient merit to act as leader, though we have had, and still have, many artists of great merit. Each coterie has its favorite sculptor or painter, around whom it considers that the Art-life of Rome will centre, but these do not affect the world at large. Again, the standard of Art is

much higher in England than here. We may cite the case of a youth who was sent at great outlay by his friends to be educated as an artist in Rome. He received three medals and considerable credit at the Academy of St. Luke, but on returning to London proved incompetent for the primary class of the Royal Academy. The French nevertheless show their wisdom and generosity, in the important school which they established many years since for their countrymen in the spacious and stately Villa Medici, and which they still maintain, in spite of rumors as to its being converted into the French embassy, and of the fact of the Italian Government having offered to purchase it for Ministerial purposes. While the difficult position of a new Government in a divided city calls for every allowance, there is at the same time reason for grumbling. The blockers-out and marbleworkers find, in many cases, the bread taken from their mouths by rivals from Florence, at a period when freshly imposed taxes and dearness of provisions hang heavily upon the whole population. The municipality has therefore acted judiciously in adding thirty busts of popular Italians, such as Cavour, Savonarola, and Cola di Rienzi, to those of other celebrated men in the Pincian Gardens, and thereby employing a number of native artists and work-people. No small offence too has been given by the difficulties which exist in taking casts from the treasures of the Vatican.

The galleries have been used by the Pope for his daily promenade, and thus closed alike to work-people and visitors. This was especially annoying in the depth of the winter, when admittance by ticket could be merely gained between the early hours of eight and ten, With milder weather, and probably because his Holiness can now walk in the grounds, the regulations have been altered. In the midst, therefore, of much blundering and mismanagement, it is a relief to mention, that a very promising monthly journal has been started under the direction of native artists, entitled Roma Artistica. The information which it at present affords is not great, and is chiefly confined to an essentially Italian sphere, but the illustrations are good; so that it merely requires to be known and encouraged to become a most useful feature of Roman Literature. Would that the public exhibition of the Fine Arts, opened in the last week in February at the Piazza del Popolo, were equally encouraging. It is a most depressing spectacle, the works sent are few in number, and, with rare exceptions, would do small credit to an English provincial town. Professor Bompiani is one of the most noted exhibi

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portrait-painter in Rome. Caggiano, the pupil of Dupré at Florence, sends an ideal statue, entitled "Bread and Labor." A young girl, who has evidently just risen, sits busily netting; a portion of a loaf of bread lies in a basket at her feet. It belongs to the style of the "Reading Girl," a class which has become very numerous since the first appearance of that popular statue. Many clever artists are altogether opposed to exhibiting in England. They dislike subjecting their works to the ordeal of being jostled into public notice, and, consequently, foregoing praise and censures, choose to make their way by slower means. Mr. Leighton, however, who does not shrink from criticism, will unquestionably acquaint thousands with the results on canvas of his visit to Rome this winter; other birds of passage too will import innumerable Italian incidents of life and scenery to the walls of the Academy. In the meantime, among the regular residents in this city, we can not begin more suitably than by mentioning Mr. Glennie, whose landscapes rank with the best samples of the English school of water-colors in Rome. Specimens of this gentleman's skill and mode of rendering may be annually seen at the old Water-color Exhibition. His easels and portfolios present innumerable pleasing illustrations of Italian landscape; and prominently so his various views of Pola.

AN ATHENIAN VASE.-In the course of exca

vations at Capua, a prize vase has recently been found, which was won at the gymnastic sports at Athens in the year 332 B.C. The skeleton that lay in the tomb beside it is probably that of the winner. Unlike our costly cups, it is simply an amphora of clay, with a painting that represents on one side the goddess Athene hurling her spear and striding between two columns, which indicate the place of contest, each column being surmounted by a figure of Victory; on the other side a group of wrestlers, with a youth on the left look. ing on, and an umpire on the right, a bearded old man, with branch of office in his hand. On the front is written the name of the chief magistrate at Athens for the year, and the words "a prize from Athens." Such vases are rare, and apart from their archæological value in determining the character of this branch of art at a particular time, awaken a more general interest from the circumstances in which they are found.

Two pictures received at the French Academy have been withdrawn by the order of M. Thiers, because they represent scenes from the FrancoGerman war. M. Edouard Detaille and M. Benjamin Ulmann, two very well-known French artists, had each contributed a picture representing the pillage of French goods and chattels by German conquerors. They were admitted by the committee, who could not but approve of them as works of art. M. Thiers heard of the subjects treated by the artists, and after consulting with M..Jules Simon, he politely requested the com

mittee to solicit the withdrawal of the pictures, on the ground that they may give offence to Germany.

VARIETIES.

DESCRIPTION OF A TURKISH BATH.-On our arrival at the stable, after a long and dusty ride, what could sound more inviting than the invitation to take a genuine Turkish bath. So after paying what would be about twenty-five cents for our three hours' ride, we start out to find the baths. We have already been once, with Isaac for a guide. Poor fellow! long and lank and ungainly, with a most miserable smile on his sickly countenance, which was garnished with a few yellow hairs. He followed us about so unmercifully on our first arrival, that we at length dismissed him one night with a piastre, on condition that he would always keep out of our way in future. By some misfortune we meet him again now, and he follows us to the entrance of the baths. Very cool and inviting it looks within, as we descend a few marble steps to the tessellated floor. We are shown into a little dressing-room at one side, with lattice work walls, and with two lounges or divans, one at either end. Here we disrobe, and wrapping a large, bright colored shawl like a piece of cloth about the waist, and throwing another over the shoulders, we step down into the hall again, and at the same time into a pair of wooden slippers, relics of the inquisition. A piece of wood for the sole, with a little block two or three inches high under the heel and another under the toe, and only a single strap over the foot to hold it on. Imagine one walking on one of these diminutive stilts. It is awful, and a twisted ankle seems inevitable; but the natives appear to navigate easily enough in them. We are led first into' a warm room where we lie down for a while on a mattress with a plentiful supply of pillows. Presently, two domestics enter and commence manipulations. As we be gin to get warmed through, a door opens, and we are motioned to enter. Within it is-well, hot! and the air is dense and almost stifling. The roof is domed, and it is lighted by little round and square windows with stained glass; water is flowing from several marble basins on the sides, and in the middle is a raised marble platform, upon which we lie down and actually begin to melt, for the moisture runs out of every pore.

The attendants enter and begin to rub us down with a coarse, hair-cloth mitten. We begin to be ashamed of ourselves immediately. We thought we were of "cleanly" habits, but alas, the fellow rubs off the dirt in great rolls, which he shakes off on the floor; but our shame turns to consternation as he goes on-for those rolls are white and must be the epidermis, and we think of the horror of being flayed alive. He is done presently and retires, leaving us to regain our equanimity. He soon returns, bringing a large basin, a piece

of soap and a bunch of loose tow, tied together at one end; he makes a thick lather, with hot water and proceeds to cover us therewith; then, filling one of the basins, at the side, with hot water, he rinses off the soap; gradually letting in cold water until it is entirely cold. He then wraps about us a large, dry Turkish towel, thick and soft; another about the shoulders, and a third, as a turban, about the head, and we go back into room number two, where we recline for a while; when, exchanging our partially damp towels for fresh and dry ones, we return to the dressing room where we lie back on the comfortable pillows and enjoy the "rest after toil," the dolce far niente, the "sweet do nothing," while we sip the sweet coffee, from delicate little china cups, which the little Turkish waiter boys bring in.-From "Travels in the Orient."

FREDERIKA BREMER.-Miss Bremer, the celebrated Swedish novelist, was in Rome, and the Hawthornes went to take tea with her by invitation. They found her in a little room of a large old building, a little way back from the brow of the Tarpeian rock-a tiny, humble domicile, just large enough to hold her narrow bed, her teatable, and a table covered with books. Of the pleasant evening Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne has given the following record: “She welcomed us, however, with the greatest cordiality and ladylike simplicity, making no allusion to the humbleness of her environment, and making us also lose sight of it by the absence of all apology, any more than if she were receiving us in a palace. There is not a better bred woman; and yet one does not think whether she has any breeding or Her little bit of a round table was already spread for us with her blue earthenware tea-cups, and, after she had got through an interview with the Swedish minister, and dismissed him with a hearty pressure of his hand between her own, she gave us our tea, and some bread, and a mouthful of cake. Meanwhile, as the day declined, there had been the most beautiful view over the Campagna out of one of her windows, and from the other, looking towards St. Peter's, the broad gleam of a mildly glorious sunset.

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the garden, beneath her window, verging upon the Tarpeian rock, there was shrubbery and one large tree, softening the brow of the famous precipice down which the old Romans used to fling their traitors, or sometimes, indeed, their patriots. There is no better heart than hers, and not many sounder heads; and a little touch of sentiment comes delightfully in, mixed up with a quick and delicate humor, and the most perfect simplicity. There is also a very pleasant atmosphere of maidenhood about her; we are sensible of a freshness and odor of the morning still in this little withered rose, its recompense for never having been gathered and worn, but only diffusing fragrance on its stem. I forget mainly what we talked about,—a good deal about

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art, of course, although that is a subject of which Miss Bremer evidently knows nothing. Before we left the court Miss Bremer bade us farewell, kissing my wife most affectionately on each cheek; and then, turning towards myself, she pressed my hand, and we parted, probably never to meet again. God bless her good heart! She is a most amiable little woman, worthy to be the maiden aunt of the whole human race. I suspect, by the by, that she does not like me half so well as I do her; it is my impression that she thinks me unamiable, or that there is something or other not quite right about me."

ARTESIAN WELLS.-Numerous and useful as the London Artesian wells are, they sink into insignificance when compared with the application of the same system in Paris. Our deepest wells range from about 400 to 500 feet, and the water comes from the chalk hills at a nearest distance of from fifteen to twenty miles from London; whereas in Paris the well of Grenelle is 1798 feet deep, and derives its supplies from the rain water falling in the Lower Greensands of Champagne, and traveling above 100 miles underground before reaching Paris. The well of Passy, sunk also through the chalk into the Lower Greensands, at a depth of 1923 feet, derives its supplies from the same source. The water-delivery is large and well maintained. These results were considered so encouraging, that in 1865 the Municipality of Paris decided on sinking two Artesian wells of unexampled magnitude. Hitherto the bore-holes of such wells have been measured by inches, varying from fourteen to four inches, that of Passy alone having been four feet at the surface and two feet four inches at bottom; but it was resolved to exceed even the larger dimensions of this well.

One of these experimental wells is in the north of Paris, at La Chapelle, St. Denis, 157 feet above the sea-level. A shaft, with a diameter of 61⁄2 feet, was first sunk through tertiary strata to a depth of 113 feet. At this point the boring was commenced with a diameter of 5% feet, and carried through difficult tertiary strata to a depth of 450 feet, when the chalk was reached. A fresh bore-hole was here commenced in August, 1867, which in September, 1870, had reached the depth of 1954 feet. The works were stopped on account of the war until June, 1871, when they were resumed, and the bore-hole has now reached the great depth of 2034 feet, with a diameter still of 4 feet 41⁄2 inches. It is now in the gray chalk, and it is calculated that the lower greensands will be reached at a depth of about 2300 feet.

The other Artesian well is at the Butte-auxCailles, on the south-east of Paris, at an elevation of 203 feet above the sea. The tertiary strata are there only 205 feet thick. This well is not quite on so large a scale as the other, and is still,

at the depth of 1640 feet, in the white chalk. The discharge from these great wells will probably be equal to that of a small river. At Passy, notwithstanding some defective tubage, and the circumstance that the surface of the ground is there 86 feet above the Seine, the discharge at the surface is equal to 3,500,000 gallons daily; and it has been above 5,000,000, or enough for the supply of a town of 150,000 inhabitants.

The question may arise, and has arisen, why, with a like geological structure, should not like results be obtained at London as at Paris.— From an address of Mr. Prestwick.

THE JEWS.-The Allgemeine Zeitung gives some interesting particulars as to the dispersion of the Jews over the world. In Palestine they have long been reduced to a very small proportion of their former numbers. They are now most numerous in the northern part of Africa, between Morocco and Egypt, (where, specially in the Barbary States, they form the chief element of the population,) and in that strip of Europe which extends from the Lower Danube to the Baltic. In the latter region there are about 4,000,000 Jews, most of whom are of the middle class among the Slavonic nationalities, while in the whole of Western Europe there are not 100,000 of them. In consequence of European migrations, descendants of these Jews have settled in America and Australia, where they are already multiplying in the large commercial towns in the same manner as in Europe, and much more rapidly than the Christian population. The Jewish settlers in Northern Africa are also increasing so much that they constantly spread farther to the south. Timbuctoo has, since 1858, been inhabited by a Jewish colony of traders. The other Jews in Africa are the Falaschas, or Abyssinian black Jews, and a few European Jews at the Cape of Good Hope. There are numerous Jewish colonies in Yemen and Nedschran, in Western Arabia. It has long been known that there are Jews in Persia and the countries on the Euphrates; in the Turcoman countries they inhabit the four fortresses of Scherisebs, Kitab, Schamatau, and Urta Kurgan, and thirty small villages, residing in a separate quarter, but treated on an equal footing with the other inhabitants, though they have to pay higher taxes. There are also Jews in China, and in Cochin China there are both white and black Jews. The white Jews have a tradition, according to which in the year 70 A.D. their ancestors were 10,000 Jews who settled at Cranganore, on the coast of Malabar, after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. The Jews remained at Cranganore until 1565, when they were driven into the interior by the Portuguese. The black settlers are supposed to be native proselytes, and have a special synagogue of their own.

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