Stilton Cheese. Although Leicestershise has acquired no national fame like Cheshire and Gloucestershire for the excellence of its cheese, it stands nevertheless, both as respects its superior quality and highest price, the first in the kingdom, perhaps in the world. Many of its best dairies invariably fetch equal prices with the higher qualities of those districts. This only puts it upon an equality. But it is in this county that the truly English Parmesan (called Stilton cheese) was first made, and continues to be a standard article of production. This far famed delicacy is to be found on the tables of the highest ranks, and when of the best quality and in the highest state of perfection, independent of its exquisite relish, it probably contains the greatest concentration of nutriment of any artificial preparation of food. The secret of its make was for some time confined to the family of the original inventors, who were under an engagement to sell all they could make to the famous Cooper Thornhill, of Stilton, and being thus to be obtained of him alone it received the appellation of Stilton cheese, when it ought to have been named Wichcote cheese, being first made in that small village on the eastern side of Leicestershire, bordering upon Rutlandshire, and about thirty miles from Stilton.

Self-made Gas.-During the last summer a bore was put down at Johnstone, to the depth of 150 feet, for the purpose of procuring water. The boring was mostly through shale or till. At the depth of 125 feet, or thereby, the workmen heard a noise proceeding from the bore, which they supposed to be from water rushing upwards, but which proved to be from gas. The bore was sunk 25 feet deeper, when an abundant supply of water was procured, so as nearly to rise to the surface. The supply of gas, however, did not fail. It continues to ascend through the superincumbent column of water with a hissing noise, and when a light is applied, burns with a blue flame. No analysis has been made of the gas, but from the accounts of the workmen it may safely be concluded that it is hydrogen. The quantity is so considerable as nearly to be sufficient to supply two or three gas-burners of the ordinary size. It gives out little light in combustion, probably from the absence of carbon in its composition.

Northern University. - The Dean and Chapter of Durham, taking into consideration the distance of the two Universities from the North of England, have, it is said, set apart a considerable portion of their revenues for the foundation and endowment of a college. The revenues of the above establishment, at its commencement, are intended to Jan.-VOL. XXXVI. NO. CXXXIII.

be above 10,000l. per annum. Prebendal stalls are to be held by two of the professors. The proposal has received the cordial approbation of the present Administration, and will probably be carried into effect with the least possible delay.

British and American Newspapers.-In America, where newspapers are not taxed, 555,416 advertisements are inserted in eight newspapers in New York, while 400 English and Irish papers contained, in the same space of time, only 1,105,000. The twelve New York daily papers contain more advertisements than all the newspapers of England and Ireland; and the numbers issued annually in America is 10,000,000, while in Great Britain it is less than one-tenth of that number. Advertisements which in England cost seventeen dollars, are inserted in America for about a dollar (fifty cents.); and an article which costs annually for advertising in the United States twenty-eight dollars, is liable in England to a charge of 900 dollars.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, a paper was read on the history of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who fell a victim to his obstinate adherence to the Pope's supremacy in the reign of Henry the Eighth. It gave an affecting account of the arbitrary persecution and hardships which the unfortunate prelate suffered. In a letter addressed to Cromwell during his confinement in the Tower, he says, "I have neither shirt nor sute, nor yett other clothes that ar necessary for me to wear, but that bee ragged and rent to shamefully. Notwithstonding, I myght easyly suffer that, if thei wold keep my body warm. And, ass our Lord knoweth, I have no thyng laft un to me for to provyde eny better, but ass my brother of his own purs layeth out for me, to his great hynderance." Yet such was the barbarous mode of treating prisoners in those days, that Fisher does not appear to have been worse provided for than Sir Thomas More and others, who were confined in the Tower at the same time. The unhappy prelate was so enfeebled by age and hardships (being nearly eighty), that he could scarcely walk to the place of his execution; and a chair was carried by him, on which he rested several times.

Wonderful Tree.-A curious production of the ocean was washed up by the tide above low-water-mark on the sea-beach at Crosbie, Liverpool, on November the 4th. It consists of the trunk of a tree, 39 feet in length, from which are appended millions of a singularly-strange shell-fish, sufficient to fill the bodies of two or three carts. The upper part sticks with the tenacity of a leech to the wood, and is a sort of a wormy sub

F

of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer having concurred, it recommends that the necessary

notice be given of the intended application. to Parliament to carry the recommendation into effect.

Turkey Newspaper. The prospectus of a paper, to be published under the auspices of the Sublime Porte, has recently been received in this country. It is a document of great interest, and is pregnant with instruction for the absolutists of the country. The following are extracts from the prospectus :

"When the daily events of the present age are not publicly notified at the time of their occurrence, and their real causes remain thereby unknown, the people, acting in the spirit of the old proverb, that man dislikes whatever is strange to him,' are accustomed to resist every thing the occasion and necessity of which they do not comprehend. Thas has it hitherto happened that the people, viewing the internal and external relations, the official changes, and other affairs of the Sublime Porte, as things altogether enigmatical, have often referred political transactions to intentions very different from the views of the Government. And

as it is intended to communicate to the public in. formation on new inventions, the fine arts, the prices of the necessaries of life, and, in general, whatever relates to trade and commerce, this, in every repect, useful and salutary nndertaking, cannot fail to be regarded as a new and striking testimony of the liberality, justice, and enlightened foresight of our sublime ruler, and of his earnest endeavours to promote general prosperity and happiness. However, as it would be difficult to communicate all the above intelligence in manuscript, it has been thought advisable to establish a regular printing office, from the presses of which a new gazette, in different languages, will issue. Indeed, our high-minded and sublime monarch, being not only a benevolent and gracious ruler of his own people, but an upright friend to all nations which maintain the relations of peace and

amity with the Porte, it is desirable that the pub

lication of this journal should be rendered more useful by separate printing in other languages, and therefore an experienced European, well skilled in foreign languages, has been selected to carry this object into effect."

French Civil List.-The King: personal expenses, 100,000f.; privy purse, 300,000f.; cabinet, 60,000f.; library and subscriptions to engravings, 250,000f. The Queen, and children under fifteen years of age; personal expenses and gratuities, 1,000,000f. Military service; aides-de-camp, 360,000f. Service of the chamber; chamber, 230,000f.; chapel, 40,000f. ; music, theatre, and benefits, 300,000f. Service of the household; wages, 650,000f.; liveries, 200,000f.; linen and laundry, 160,000f.; firing, 250,000f.; lighting, 370,000f.; buttery and confectionery, 750,000.; cellar, 180,000f. Service of the stables; stable (three hundred horses) 900,000f.; the stud at Meudon, 120,000f. Intendance and Sous-intendance; intendance generale, 410,000f.;

archives of the crown, 23,500f. Treasury of the Crown; treasury, 320,000f.; superannuated fund, 860,000f.; reliefs and pensions, 1,500,000f. Garde Meuble; furniture and repairs, 1,200,000f.; manufactory at Sevres, 320,000f.; Gobelin manufactory, 288,000f.; Beauvais manufactory, 78,000f. Fine arts; the fine arts and museums, 450,000f.; objects of art, 500,000f.; mint and medals, 406,000f. Domains and buildings; forests and domains, 1,100,000f.; The buildings and repairs, 3,050,000f. faculty and medical service, 80,000f. Extraordinary expenses; travelling expenses, 1,000,000f.; festivals and ceremonies, 400,000f.; presents, 150,000f.; reserved fund for building, 200,000f.; sundries, 100,000f.-Total, 18,691,300f.

Discovery in Surgery.-Messrs. Taimich and Halma-Grand, on the 26th September, deposited at the academy of sciences a packet, containing the ingredients of a styptical liquor, which will be opened when these physicians have completed the experiments which they are pursuing with unremitted care and observation. Each of these experiments, we understand, are more and more conclusive. The carotid arteries of fifteen sheep have been opened, four of which were cut lengthwise, and nine across, and from two of them an oval piece of the substance has been taken out, and yet, in four or five minutes, the effusion of blood has been stopped, and, in a few days afterwards, the wound has been completely healed. The same result followed a similar

operation upon the carotid artery of a horse, a few days ago, at the Abattoir of Mountfauçon. In order to stop the hæmorrhage, it is only necessary to apply a pledger of lint, saturated with the liquid, which it is not required to fasten round the neck, in order to prevent its falling off by its proper weight. In the last experiment, half the lint dropped off ten minutes after its application, while the sheep was eating, and though a portion of the artery had been taken away, the hæmorrhage was not renewed.

Ruins of an ancient City.-Lieut.-Col. Galindo, Governor of Poten, in Central America, has discovered the ruins of an extensive city, called Palenque, which extends for more than twenty miles along the summit of the ridge which separates the country of the wild Maya Indians (included in the district of Poten) from the state of Chiapas. These, in the words of the discoverer, "must anciently have embraced a city and its

suburbs. The principal buildings are erected on the most prominent heights, and to several of them, if not to all, stairs were constructed. From the hollows beneath, the steps, as well as all the vestiges which time has left, are wholly of stone and plaster." The stones of which all the edifices are built, are about eighteen inches long, nine broad, and two thick, cemented by mortar, and gradually inclining when they form a roof, but always placed horizontally; the outside eaves are supported by large stones, which project about two feet. (These are precisely similar, from the description, to the stone-roofed chapels, three or four in number, at Cashel, Glendalough, St. Doologh's, near Dublin, and we believe one other, still existing in Ireland.) The wood work has all disappeared: the windows are many, subject to no particular arrangement, being merely small circular and square perforations. Human figures in alto relievo are frequent on small pillars; and filagree work, imitating boughs and feathers, is perceptible in places. Some of the sculptured ornaments look very like the Corinthian foliage of the ancient architects. The ruins are buried in a thick forest, and the adjacent country, for leagues, contains remains of the ancient labours of the people-bridges, reservoirs, monumental inscriptions, &c. The natives say these edifices were built by "the devil."

The Emperor Nicholas has ordered that a granite column, in imitation of the celebrated Trajan column, eighty-four feet high, and twelve in diameter, should be erected in the square of the Winter Palace, in memory of his brother Alexander; it has been cut from a granite rock in Finland, and 600 workmen have been employed in cutting it during two years; its weight is estimated at about 9,676,000lbs.

Palm Tree. The palm-tree, known by the name of the Palma Japonica, which flowered and produced fruit in the garden of Schoenbrunn, at Vienna, last year, and which is now 123 years old, has again blossomed this year, as has likewise another of the same species, 75 years old. The foreign and rare plant called the Arbor Draconis Clusii has likewise blossomed, and the fruit about the bigness of a cherry, and of an orange yellow colour, bids fair to ripen, which, it is supposed, is the first time they have arrived at such perfection in Europe.

Earthquake.-A letter from St. Gall, in Switzerland, states, that a mountain near Bregenz split asunder, with a frightful noise, and an opening of fifty feet in width was formed. Forests of fir were overthrown, and large rocks removed from their places. A brook had entirely disappeared, and it was feared that its collected waters would cause great mischief. Many families left Bregenz through fear.

Transport of Edifices. — In May last M. Gregori alluded to a circumstance mentioned in a late number of the "Journal des Artistes,” of a rock of granite, forty-two feet long and twenty-seven high, having been transported from the Bay of Finland to St. Petersburgh, to serve as a pedestal to a statue of Peter the Great. He stated that a much more remarkable fact had occurred at Crescentino in 1776, when a common mason, named Serra, succeeded in transporting a brick belfry, which he had contrived to cut from its base without injuring the walls, from one church to another, at a considerable distance. While it was being moved, a man inside rang the bells. A model of the machine employed in the transport was deposited in the library of the Institute.

New Mineral.-In the month of August 1830, the Academy of St. Petersburgh was presented with a new mineral, found in some government lands in the province of Perm. It has received the name of Volkonskoïte, in honour of Prince Volkonsky. The spot in which the vein was found is in the mountain called Efimiatskaïa, in the district of Okhausk. The bed does not consist of regular veins, but in bits of from one to four verschocks thick, by a quarter to three-quarters of an archine long; sometimes ten of those bits or patches are found in the space of a single sagene, and sometimes there are three sagenes without a single one. The mineral, in colour, approaches the grassgreen; it divides in longitudinal plates, and breaks on the slightest pressure. When plunged in water, it separates with a loud noise into angular pieces, on which, when dried, the water no longer takes any effect. This mineral may be employed as a colouring matter to replace some of the most expensive colours, such as malachite and verdigris. The fine orange-colour of chrome may also be chemically obtained from it, as it contains about seven per cent. of extract of chrome. It is easily worked, and at a small expense.

New Islands in the Pacific.-Captain Warden, of the American service, has published an account of a group of six newlydiscovered islands he fell in with in 1830, on his return from New Zealand to Manilla. He has given them the name of Westerfield. The inhabitants are black, of good stature, and robust, and their manners apparently pacific. They had no arms, were quite primitive in their habits, fancied their own group of islands the whole world, from one' of which they imagined Captain Warden to have come; they evinced a desire for thieving, and the captain having sent some of his crew on shore to punish them, they attacked the party, in number 21, and killed all except five, who regained the ship. He gave the island the name of Massacre Island, on account of this carnage. Six months after

wards, in September, he visited the islands, and found that one of the party supposed to be massacred still survived, who came off shore and joined the ship. This sailor stated that all the islands are under the control of one chief, who issues his orders to the chiefs of the islands, who have under them inferior chiefs. All children but those of the chiefs are murdered, and the natives act with the extremest jealousy to their wives, killing them on the slightest suspicion. The sailor, whose name is Leonard Shaw, says that the natives have not the slightest notion of a Divine Being, and that his escape from the fate of the other sailors

was owing to his concealment at first, and his then instructing them in little arts of civilization.

Roman Cosin.-At least five thousand Roman coins, of various periods, weighing six-and-thirty pounds, have been lately found at Silly, in France, near Argentan, in the department of the Orne. The mode of their discovery was singular. Two or three pieces of silver were observed by some labourers to have been turned up to the surface of the earth by moles; this induced them to dig, and at the depth of only a foot they came to a broken vase of red clay, filled with the treasure.

Destruction of Weeds in paved Paths and Courts. The growth of weeds between the stones of a pavement is often very injurious as well as unsightly. The following method of destroying them is adopted at the Mint at Paris and elsewhere, with good effect :-One hundred pounds of water, twenty pounds of quick-lime, and two pounds of flour of sulphur, are to be boiled in an iron vessel; the liquor is to be allowed to settle, the clear part drawn off, and being more or less diluted, according to circumstances, is to be used for watering the alleys and pavements. The weeds will not re-appear for several years.

In a recent communication to the Holderness Agricultural Society, by Mr. Stickney, of Ridgmont, we meet with the following remarks upon Corn-trade legislation, and rape-thrashing: "When Parliament," says Mr. Stickney, "began to legislate, in compliance with the prayer of the petitions of the merchants and the manufacturers, and although it was several years before they could agree upon any fixed alteration in the Corn Laws, yet, during that period of debate and uncertainty, the Ministry, by Orders in Council, frequently disappointed the reasonable expectations and hopes of the farmer, by admitting the introduction of foreign corn at merely a nominal duty, and at times when it was not wanted. About this time the growth of rape-seed had greatly extended in this country; it was one of the most profitable, and, in my opinion, one of the least injurious crops to the land grown by the farmer; it was also a crop which provided a great deal of employment for the labouring class. The reaping and thrashing of rape was generally performed before the corn harvest commenced, and thereby almost doubled the time of harvest wages to the labouring class; I have paid as much as four shillings per day for reaping and thrashing rape. The Government, by taking off the duty on foreign rape-seed, has nearly annihilated the growth of it in this country."

Sand as a Manure.-An elaborate report on this subject has been presented to the French Academy of Sciences: good arable land is proved to contain four primitive earths, the varied proportions of which form the different qualities of the soil. It appears, the siliceous principle predominates in good land. M. Chaptal found of it 49 per cent. in the most fertile soil on the banks of the Loire; Davy extracted 60 from the best of the English soils, and Giobert found 79 in the most productive lands near Turin. M. Dutrochet made the experiment of covering with siliceous sand previously unproductive land, and obtained by this means crops as good as in the most (naturally) fertile soil in the vicinity; and he gives it as his opinion that its great fertilising virtue consists in its allowing both water and air to reach and penetrate to the roots of the vegetable, of which they form the two principal elements.

Substitute for Tea.-A patent was granted in February last to a tea-dealer, "for a new mode of preparing the leaf of a British plant for producing a healthy beverage by infusion." According to the specification, the British plant in question is the hawthorn, from which the leaves may be taken from the month of April to September inclusive; they are at first to be carefully picked and cleansed, then to be well rinsed in cold water and drained; and whilst in the damp state they are to be put into a common culinary steamer, where they are to be subjected to the action of the vapour until they change from a green to an olive colour; the leaves are then to be taken out and dried upon a hot plate well heated, and are to be continually stirred up and turned over till they are thoroughly dry, in which state they may be preserved for use. When required for that purpose, an infusion is to be made in the same manner as tea, and sugar and cream are to be added to suit the taste of the drinker.