Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

From his experiments it appears that the silkworm does not refuse to eat the leaves of the mulberry, sprinkled Peruvian bark, gentain, valerian, mustard, &c., and the two latter powders especially would seem to produce good effects. But scraped sugar appears for the present to be preferable to all other remedies. The worms eat the leaves sprinkled with sugar with extraordinary relish, and the experiments with this subsistence were accordingly repeated on a larger scale in the establishment of M. Augliviel, in the Department of the Guard, where one of the silk sheds, fitted up for twenty-seven trays, was reduced by disease to four. The worms of these were transferred to another shed, and divided into four lots; the first was fed in the common way, the second with moistened leaves, the third with sugared leaves, and the fourth was subject to a rigorous abstention of food for seventy-five hours, and then fed chiefly with sugared leaves. At the end of twenty-four hours several worms of the latter lot began to spin, and made several small and imperfect cocoons on the tray; the other worms began to shrivel up and diminish in size, but on receiving the sugared leaves they speedily rallied, and many of them spun cocoons. The worms fed with moistened leaves fared very badly, and very few of them spun cocoons. Those fed in the common way presented nothing remarkable, and yielded a certain quantity of cocoons; but those fed with sugared leaves thrived well and spun their cocoons sooner than the others. The quantities of silk yielded by these four lots were respectively :— 1st lot, 210 grammes; 2d lot, nought; 3d lot, 392 grammes, and of a superior quality; 4th lot, 152 grammes.

Now, when it is considered that such a result was obtained from the use of sugar on worms the state of which was hopeless, it may reasonably be concluded that its effect will be much more satisfactory in less desperate cases. At all events, one great fact has been put beyond a doubt-viz., that medicine may be administered to silkworms in the same way as it is administered to cattle and poultry.

GIRARD, THE MONEY-MAKER.

A recent number of the Household Words contains a sketch of Stephen Girard. It is not correct in all particulars, yet it embodies many interesting facts in the history of the celebrated banker. After giving the leading events in the early life of Girard, the writer proceeds as follows :--

In 1812 Stephen Girard, the one-eyed cabin boy of the Bordeaux, purchased the banking premises of the old Bank of the United States, (whose charter was not renewed,) and started the Girard Bank, a large private establishment, which not only conferred advantages on the community greater than the State institution upon which it was founded, but, while the public credit was shaken, the government finances exhausted by war, the Girard Bank could command large subscriptions of loan, and put itself in the position of the principal creditor of the country. In 1814 Girard subscribed the whole of a large government loan from patriotic motives, and in 1817 he contributed by his unshaken credit and undiminished funds to bring about the resumption of specie payments. In 1831 his operations were so extensive, that when the country was placed in extreme embarrassment from the scarcity of money, by reason of the balance of trade being against it, he was enabled, by a single transaction with an eminent English firm, to turn the exchanges and cause the specie to flow into the States.

To add to his singular and deficient character, he was deaf in one ear, could only speak broken English, never conversed upon anything but business, and wore the same old coat, cut in the French style, for five years together. An old ricketty chair, remarkable for its age, and marked with the initials "S. G.,"

drawn by a faded horse, was used when he rode about the city. He had no sense of hospitality, no friend to share his house or his table. He was deferential in appearance to rank and family, violent and passionate only to one man--an old and faithful clerk, named Roberjot. His theological opinions were heterodox in the extreme, and he loved to name his splendid vessels after Voltaire and Rousseau. He was devoted to the improvement of his adopted country, and he was a determined follower of ostentatious charity. No man ever applied to him for a large public grant in vain, while the starving beggar was invariably sent from his gate. He steadily rose every morning before the lark, and unceasing labor was the daily worship of his life.

Stephen Girard began his remarkable trading career with one object, which he steadi y kept in view all his long life--the making of money for the power it conferred. He was content at starting, with the profits of the retail trader, willing to labor in any capacity to make these profits secure. He practiced the most rigid personal economy; he resisted all the allurements of pleasure; he exacted the last farthing that was due him; and he paid the last farthing that he owed. He took every advantage the law allowed him in resisting a claim; he used men just as far as they would accomplish his purpose; he paid his servants no more than the market price; when a faithful cashier died he exhibited the utmost indifference, making no provisions for his family, and uttering no sentiment of regret for his loss. He would higgle for a penny with a buckster in the street; he would deny the watchman at his bank the customary Christmas present of a great coat.

Thus he attained his eighty-second year in 1830; he had nearly lost the sight of his one eye, and used to be seen groping about his bank, disregarding every offer of assistance. Crossing one of the Philadelphia roads, he was knocked down by a passing wagon, his face was bruised, and his right ear was nearly cut off. His one eye, which before opened slightly, was now entirely closed; he gradually wasted away, and his health declined. On the 26th of December, Stephen Girard expired in the back room on the third floor of his house in Water-street, Philadelphia, leaving the bulk of his large fortune, upwards of a million sterling, to found charities, and to benefit the city and the country in which he had acquired it.

THE HAIR TRADE.

In most countries the hair is regarded as one of the finest ornaments of the female head. Among the inhabitants of Britanny, however, in France, a contrary idea prevails, and while the men wear theirs hanging over their shoulders in long tresses, it is a mark of immodesty for a women to reveal a single lock or ringlet. A close fitting cap, which effectually hides the hair, is the height of propriety. But there are other prudential reasons for this besides that of modesty. The females turn their hair to account in other markets than that of love, and make a good profit out of it. Shocking as it may appear, "many London and Paris ladies are indebted for the magnificent hair which adorns their heads, to the wilds of Brittany."

A recent English traveler detected the traveling hair merchant in the very act of spoliation. He says:--

Strolling through the street, my attention was attracted by a crowd around a half-ruined house. Wedging my way to the entrance, I saw a man standing in the middle of a room, armed with a formidable pair of scissors, with which he was clipping the hair from a girl's head, with a rapidity and dexterity bespeaking long practice. For not only was the operation performed with almost bewildering quickness, but when the girl was liberated, her head assumed the appearance of having been shaved. There was a great laughing among the peasants, as she emerged from the house, leaving the long tresses in the hands of the hair merchant, who, after combing them carefully, wound them up in a wreath and placed

1

them in a basket already nearly half full of hair. For, as I heard, he had been driving a highly profitable trade all the day; and girls were still coming in willing, and in some cases apparently eager, to exchange their fine chevelures--which would have been the glory of girls anywhere but in Britanny--for three poor little handkerchiefs of gaudy hues, scarcely worth a dozen sous!

This terrible mutilation of one of woman's most beautiful gifts, distressed me considerably at first; but when I beheld the indifference of the girls to the loss of their hair, and remembered how studiously they conceal their tresses, my feelings underwent a change, and I looked at length upon the wholesale croppings as rather amusing than otherwise. Great was the apparent disappointment of girls, when the hair, although seemingly abundant and fine, did not come up to the hair-merchant's standard; but the fellow had so abundant a market, that he was only disposed to buy when the goods were particularly choice. His profits, too, must have been great, as the average price of a good head of hair, when cleaned, is eleven shillings."

CLOCKS AS AN ARTICLE OF EXPORT.

In the early part of the present century, this species of time-keepers was first introduced. Rapidly superseding the tall Dutch and English clocks—not more by their cheapness, than by their greater beauty and convenience--they soon penetrated to the remotest settlements of the South and West-astonishing all by their cheapness, and charming all by their beauty and accuracy of performance. It is but a few years since American clocks first attracted the attenion of merchants and shippers as articles of export to foreign countries. Yet now large quantities are regularly exported to the British North American Provinces, to Europe, to South America, and the East and West Indies, to Australia, to Constantinople and the various ports in the Mediterranean, to the Cape of Good Hope, to China, &c. &c. In the year 1857, 1,000 packages of clocks, valued at $10,000, were imported into Hamburg, Germany, from the United States. In short they are now sold in nearly all the great markets of the world, wherever commercial enterprise carries the constantly increasing manufactures of our country. Every newly settled region, and every new market opened to American commerce, are sure to create fresh demands for clocks of every description. There has been, for the last year or two, a constantly increasing foreign demand for these articles. The large quantities, shipped from time to time for the foreign export trade, as reported in our pages, can hardly have escaped the notice of our readers and doubtless, with so general a demand, handsome profits have been realized therefrom.

TRADE MARKS IN FRANCE.

The Moniteur publishes directions, drawn up in concert by the Ministers of Justice and of Commerce, for the execution of the law of the 23d of June, 1857, and the decree of July 26th, 1858, on manufacturers' marks. Manufacturers, dealers, or agriculturists, who wish to deposit their respective marks at the registrar's office of the Tribunal of Commerce, or, in places where there is no Tribunal of Commerce, at that of the Civil Tribunal, may either present themselves personally or by another having a power of attorney to that effect. In the latter case the procuration must be duly signed and registered. The depositor must furnish a copy, with a duplicate, of his mark or paper. This model or copy must consist of a drawing, engraving, or impression, executed so as to represent the mark in a clear and distinct manner. The paper on which this model is traced must be seven inches square, and have the mark placed in the center of it. The mark must not be more than three inches high by four wide. The two copies must be exact counterparts of each other. One of them will be posted on the leaves of a register kept at the office; the other will be sent to the Minister of Commerce, and by him deposited at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, where it will be shown without charge to any one requiring it.

CURRENCY TERMS.

The origin of the word sterling has been explained as follows in a correspon dence of the Transcript :-

"Your correspondent refers to the pound sterling, or easterling, which word, I believe, is commonly spelled esterling. Some of your readers may not be aware of the origin of the word sterling, about which antiquarians have doubted. The word esterlings may be found in Spelman's glossary. The word was first applied to English pennies, in the reign of Edward I., about the year 1279. Henry, in his History of G. B., vol. vi., page 297, London, 1814, says In the course of this period, the silver penny is sometimes called an esterling or sterling; and good money in general is sometimes called esterling or sterling money.' 'It is unnecessary to mention the various conjectures of antiquaries about the origin and meaning of this appellation. The most probable meaning seems to be this-that some artists from Germany, who were called esterlings from the situation of their country, had been employed in fabricating our money, which consisted chiefly of silver pennies, and that from them the penny was called an esterling, and our money esterling or sterling money.

"I used to be puzzled to know why a certain coin was called a milled dollar. Antoine Brucher, a Frenchman, invented the 'mill' for making money, and money was first struck with it, in 1553. It was brought into England by Philip Mestzel, and Elizabeth had milled money struck in England, in 1562. It was used in France, till 1585, and in England, till 1572, but gave place to the cheaper expedient of the 'hammer;' which, in 1617, gave place to the engine of Belancier; which was merged in the great improvements of Boulton and Watt, at Soho, in 1788. In 1811, the art was brought to very great perfection, at the mint in London. One of the most interesting objects, at the present day, in Philadelphia, is the whole process of coinage, from first to last, from the crude California snuff, as it enters the melting pot, till it verifies the proverb and taketh the wings of an eagle and flieth away."

The dollar mark ($) is derived from the use of the old Spanish pillar dollar, which was of very general circulation and known value, the two pillars enclosed with an S became the cypher for a Spanish dollar.

FULMINATING QUICKSILVER.

On the late trial of Dr. Simon Bernard, in London, for conspiracy to murder Louis Napoleon, some very interesting scientific information was elicited in the testimony regarding fulminating powder. J. D. Parker, a druggist, testified that Bernard on the 14th of November, 1857, bought of him 8 pounds of absolute alcohol, 10 pounds of pure nitric acid, and 1 pound of quicksilver, which were the exact proportions for making fulminating quicksilver. C. Nicholson, chemist, engaged in the manufacture of fulminating powder for the government, testified that the ingredients and proportions for making fulminating mercury were 1 part by weight of mercury, 8 of absolute alcohol, and 10 of pure nitric acid. In order to make this powder, the mercury is first dissolved in nitric acid, and the solution thus obtained is added to the alcohol. When this is effected, a violent reaction ensues, accompanied with evolved masses of white vapor, aud the fulminating mercury is precipitated in the form of a dense powder varying from a white to a gray and a yellow-brown color, but the white is the purest and strongest. It is more explosive than gunpowder when dry, but it is kept prepared in a wet state, when it is perfectly harmless. M. C. Picot, director of the chemical laboratory connected with the artillery department in Paris, testified that the powder of the shells or grenades employed in the assassination act in Paris, was pure fulminating mercury. He had examined their contents and was sure of this. W. Tozer, of the artillery works of the Woolwich arsenal in England, testified that fulminating mercury was twenty times stronger as an explosive agent than gunpowder. This he had proved by experiments with shells.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-The Life and Times of Sir Philip Sidney. 12mo., pp. 281. Ticknor & Fields.

Boston:

The only memoirs of Sir Philip Sidney, the poet knight, who fell so gloriously in the Netherlands, while bravely combating for the glory of his country and old Queen Bess, are those written by Greville and Dr. Zouch, both of which being now out of print, the author has herein undertaken to collect the scattered souvenirs of Sir Philip Sidney's life, in whom, we are told, were united, with the patriot, philosopher, and scholar, the hero and pride of chivalry. The book from beginning to end is tinged with a shadow of "lang syne," and carries one back to the time when London, we quote here from the author, possessed only 60,000 inhabitants. The picturesque old timber houses were built with gable roofs, oriel windows, gilt vanes, and immense carved chimney-pieces. Tapestry and wooden panels were just giving way to plaster, on which a contemporary writer thus delightedly expatiates- Besides the delectable whitenesse of the stuffe itself, it is laid on so even and smoothlie as nothing, in my judgment, can be done more exactly.' Wealth was displayed in quantities of silver plate, in mirrors from Venice, and clocks from Germany; but carpets had not yet superseded the rushes that littered even palatial halls. The table was divided by a large salt-cellar, above which were the seats of honor, the choice viands, the Muscadel and Hippocras sparkling in Venice goblets; and below the humble guests and poor kinsmen were content to sit with ale and coarser fare. Knives were a recent luxury, and forks still unknown. The streets of London were lighted by individual agency, each family hanging out its lanthorn. The Thames was a clear stream, upon which 4,000 watermen plied their craft. Coaches were not introduced until 1650, and were then regarded as an effeminate innovation. St. Paul's Cathedral was the fashionable resort each day from 10 to 12 A. M., and from 3 to 6 P. M. There sauntered the Mercutios and Gratianos, to sport their jeweled rapiers, to learn the news, (for newspapers, those exhilarating little fountains of gossip, had not yet made their appearance, and in the churchyard was the principal book sale of London, for book-shops had, at that time, no existence.) to make appointments, to offer challenges for the duels, to barter and to bribe." Desecrating times we would call these, if at these times our middle aisles do still teem with gallant knights, silken cloaks, and ruffs starched almost as stiff as were even old Queen Bess'.

2.-The Ministry of Life. By LOUISA CHARLESWORTH, author of "Ministering Children," etc., etc. 12mo., pp. 422. New York: D. Appleton & Co. In gathering from the experience of life, says the author, there is found much to regret in the present aspect of many amongst the sons and brothers of our land who indulge in a reckless selfishness, as if it were a birthright privilege, or who study apathy as if it were repose, and appear incapable of being quickened into self-forgetting interests and animated energy. And equally amongst the daughters and sisters of our land must we mourn the indifference, the unsheltered forwardness which are effacing the true dignity and feminine grace which have been one peculiar glory of our nation. All very sensible Mrs. Charlesworth. She further says, as it would be impossible in so small a volume to delineate all the bearings of society's large circle, no attempt has been made to illustrate the personal effort involved in moral progress on earth, but to illustrate the actual ministry of life, and to point out as it were a more excellent way. It appears to be exceedingly well written, nothing lacking in incident and denouements, the whole narrative running gracefully along with one finger upon the earth and the other pointing to the skies. The moral certainly is a good one, and as such we wish it success.

« PředchozíPokračovat »