ledge how best to combine vegetable tannin with animal gelatin, which is the chemical process of making leather-call it by what other names you please.

There is a vast amount of knowledge which is now completely useless, that ought to be brought home to the understanding of every operative in this republic. We love industry, and respect all who practice it. But labor without study, is like a body without a soul. Cultivate and enrich the mind with all useful knowledge, and rest assured that an intelligent understanding will teach the hands how to earn dolllars, when the ignorant earn only cents.

HOW THE PRICE OF BREAD IS MANAGED IN PARIS.

In France the price of bread is regulated by government in a manner which seeks to insure to the consumer the full quantity that the price of flour will allow. To this end in Paris every bag of wheat, flour, or meal that comes to the city must be brought to the Hall au Ble, or Grain Hall. This is an immense area, enclosed with a circular wall and covered by a huge dome; so that it presents a vast, unbroken hall, of grand and beautiful proportions, lighted from the top. Various stalls, with desks, form the offices of the clerks and employees. On the floor of this stall are piled up, cob-house fashion, in huge piles, ten to twenty-five feet high, the bags of grain, presenting to the visitor a striking panorama of solid plenty.

The city of Paris is surrounded by a wall, not for defence, as it is comparatively slight, but simply for police, revenue, and other municipal purposes, one of which is the regulation of the bread market. Barriers--that is, gates-with police attendants and revenue officers, form the only entrances to the city, except the river Seine, which has also its guards. Every bushel of wheat or other grain brought to the city for sale must be registered and stored at the Grain Hall, under heavy penalties. This regulation is rigidly enforced, which it is easy to do, at the barriers, with so bulky an article; especially as the bags must be of uniform size.

From this register of the daily supply, the government of this city know at any hour just how many pounds or pecks of grain of any kind there are in Paris. From accurate statistics required to be furnished, they know how much flour or meal is baked daily at each bakery, and how much bread of all kinds is consumed. They are, therefore, able to fix the weight and price of loaves, each size and shape of which has its appropriate name, according to the ratio between supply and demand, allowing a fair and just profit to producers, traders, and bakers; no more, no less. This price, thus fairly graduated, at short intervals, is fully proclaimed to the public, the dealers, the bakers, and police.

The police are authorized to drop in, at any time, into any bakery or breadshop, wherever bread is exposed for sale, and weigh the loaves. There is also a special inspecting officer appointed for this same purpose. His visits are not stated, that they may not have things got ready for exhibition instead of inspection, according to the English and American fashion of doing such things. If the inspector finds the weight deficient, or the price of a particular kind of loaf too high for the grade, all the bread in the shop is swept off at once, and distributed to the hospitals and other eleemosynary establishments of the city. Thus are the public protected against private cupidity, speculating in the means of existence.

TOBACCO SMUGGLING IN SPAIN.

The great use of tobacco in Spain, and the heavy duties imposed, bring that, as almost everything else in that country, within the operations of the contrabandistos. The quantity of tobacco consumed in Spain, its value, and num. ber of smokers, is altogether a difficult account to adjust with the poverty of the revenue from this source. Some close estimates bave been made, and the Tutelar, which, perhaps, is the very best authority for matters of this sort in the country, has devoted several articles to the subject. It is claimed that there are no less than three millions of smokers in the country, who consume a value of not less than $16,400,000, the full profit on which is about $7,100,000, making a difference of $9,300,000. The question is, what becomes of this respectable balance? Into whose hands falls this excess? Who receives this enormous sum of $9,300,000, of which no government officer has knowledge or keeps an account? From the returns rendered in 1855 there appears to have been sold in that year 11,000,000 pounds of tobacco, the cost of which rises to $3,100.000, which is but a small part of that actually consumed, according to official data. This, with the fact that the great mass of the article elaborated costs on the average from fifteen to twenty-five cents the pound at the factory, suggests the question, what has become of the $9,300,000? There is but one answer-there can be no other-the greater part, and nearly all, goes to support the contraband trade, since the amounts admitted by special permissions are so small as not to be worth taking into account.

ALL WEATHER A BLESSING.

The following happy allusion to the weather was made by Hon. Edward Everett, at his recent speech at Birmingham :

To speak seriously, I should be ashamed of myself if it required any premeditation, any forethought, to pour out the simple and honest effusions of the heart, on an occasion so interesting as this. A good occasion, sir; a good day, sir, notwithstanding its commencement. I have heard from one friend and another this morning-kind enough to pay his respects to me, knowing on what errand I had come I have heard from one and another the remark that he was sorry that we hadn't a good day. It was, it is true, raining in the morning. But it is a good day, notwithstanding the rain. The weather is good; all weather is good; sunshine is good; rain is good. Not good weather, sir? Ask the farmer, in whose grains and roots yet there remains some of its moisture, to be driven out by to-morrow's sun. Ask the boatman, who is waiting for his raft to go over the rapids. Ask the dairyman and grazier if the rain, even at this season of the year, is not good. Ask the lover of nature if it is not good weather when it rains. Sir, one may see in Europe artificial water works, cascades constructed by the skill of man, at enormous expense-at Chatsworth, at Hesse Cassel, and the remains of magnificent water works at Marly, where Louis XIV. lavished uncounted millions of gold, and thus according to some writers, laid the foundation of those depletions of the treasury, which brought on the French Revolution. The traveler thinks it a great thing to see these artificial water works, where a little water is pumped up by creaking machinery or a panting steam-engine, to be scattered in frothy spray; and we talk of its not being a good day when God's great engine is exhibited to us. His imperial water works sending up the mist and vapors to the clouds, to be rained down again in comfort, and beauty, and plenty, upon grateful and thirsty man! Sir, as a mere gratification of the taste, I know nothing in nature more sublime, more beautiful, than these rains, descending in abundance and salubrity from the skies."

HOW TO TAKE LIFE.

Take life like a man. Take it just as though it was, as it is, an earnest, vital, essential affair. Take it just as though you personally were born to the task of performing a merry part in it, as though the world had waited for your coming. Take it as though it was a grand opportunity to do and to achieve, to carry forward great and good schemes; to help and cheer a suffering, it may be a brokenhearted brother. The fact is, life is undervalued by a great majority of mankind. It is not made half as much of as should be the case. Where is the man or woman who accomplishes one tithe of what might be done? Who cannot look back upon opportunities lost, plans unachieved, thoughts crushed, aspirations unfulfilled, and all caused from the lack of the necessary and possible effort? If we knew better how to take and make the most of life, it would be far greater than it is. Now and then a man stands aside from the crowd, labors earnestly, steadfastly, confidently, and straightway becomes famous for wisdom, intellect, skill, greatness of some sort. The world wonders, admires, idolizes; and yet it only illustrates what each may do if he takes hold of life with a purpose. If a man but say he will, follows it up, there is nothing in reason he may not expect to accomplish. There is no magic, no miracle, no secret to him who is brave in heart and determined in spirit.

MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING.

There can be no doubt that the materials from which paper can be manufactured exist in abundance, and yet this avails nothing so long as the cost of converting them into paper exceeds a certain limit. The attempt to convert straw into white paper is an example. That it can be effected there is no question; but that it can be effected profitably is yet to be demonstrated. The process, as ordinarily pursued, is a simple one. The heads, grain, and all knots and joints must be removed by chopping and winnowing, a process involving considerable expense and much loss in weight. The silica investing the straw, together with much gum and coloring matter, must be removed by the action of a caustic alkali, the alkali effecting the separation of these substances by uniting with them and forming soluble silicate of soda, or potash and soluble soaps. It is claimed that a large part of the alkali so expended may be recovered by evaporating the residuary liquors and caleining the deposited matters. Theoretically this can be done; practically, with economy, it cannot. In these operations, and in bleaching, the straw suffers a depreciation in weight of at least sixty per cent, and is then inferior to rag stock.

MACKEREL CATCH OF GLOUCESTER.

According to the Cape Ann Advertiser, the mackerel catch for the year 1858, of Gloucester, (excluding Annisquam, which will not materially vary the result,) amounted to 54,562 barrels against 64,599 barrels in 1857-a falling off in 1858 of 10,0374 barrels. Of the catch this year 39,151 were No. 1; 6,605 No. 2; 8,603 No. 3; 202 No. 4. It is believed that the catch of Gloucester has been larger in proportion than that of any other place, with a less falling off, while this year's catch netted as much as that of last year, if not more, owing to the better prices of the fish and the less cost of outfits.

THE MICROSCOPE AND The gun.

Professor Agassiz was a member of that party of scientific men and literatures from Boston and its vicinity, whose camping-out last summer in the Adirondack region, is clebrated by a writer in the last Atlantic. Among other sports the savans indulged in shooting, and in the absence of game more adapted to stir up the blood, it was their custom to fire at the butt end of a junk bottle. It was found that Agassiz was the best shot in the party, and not only that, but a very excellent shot, whose ball went straight home every time, guided by a steady hand, and an eye that wandered not a hair's breadth from the mark. And yet the distinguished naturalist was no sportsman, had never practiced with firearms, and his skill was merely the result of long practice in the use of the microscope. The muscles of the eye and of the hand had been brought under such control, and disciplined to such accuracy in the use of this instrument, that the professor found himself unexpectedly bearing the palm of an untried art. Science had rewarded his devotion to her cause by endowing him with a new accomplishment.

CURRANT WINE.

In answer to the request of a correspondent, we give the following recipe :— Braise eight gallons of red currants with one quart of raspberries. Press out the juice, and to the residuum after pressure, add eleven gallons of cold water. Add two pounds of beet root sliced as thin as possible, to give color, and let them infuse, with frequent stirring, for twelve hours; then press out the liquor as before, and add it to the juice. Next dissolve twenty pounds of raw sugar in the mixed liquor, and three ounces of red tartar in powder. In some hours the fermentation will commence; when this is complete, add one gallon of brandy, let it stand for one week, and then rack off, and let stand two months. It may now finally be racked off, and placed in a cool cellar where it will keep for years: The cider white wine is a pleasant beverage; here is the recipe. Mix sixteen gallons of apple juice, sixteen pounds of honey, four ounces of white tartar, enclose in a bag one ounce each of cinnamon, cloves, and mace, and suspend them in the wine while fermenting. When this fermentation is complete, add one gallon of rum.

TRADE OF LAGUAYRA.

American vessels entered at Laguayra for the three months ending September 30, 1858-From Baltimore, five vessels, 1,068 tons-value of cargo, $31,136 41; from Philadelphia, five vessels, 1,695 tons--value of cargo, $142,817 65; from New York, eight vessels, 814 tons-value of cargo, $52,788 68. Total, 3,577 tons; value of cargoes, $226,742 74.

American vessels cleared from Laguayra during the above period :--For Baltimore, two vessels, 504 tons, 142,360 pounds coffee, 490 hides; for Philadelphia, five vessels, 1,695 tons, 21,780 pounds cocoa, 390,600 pounds coffee, 7,663 hides, 694 skins; for New York, two vessels, 459 tons, 54,000 pounds coffee, 1,340 hides, 603 skins. Total value of exports, $91,564.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-New American Cyclopedia; a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. IV. Royal 8vo., pp. 766. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The fourth volume of this extensive work, containing about twenty-four hundred articles, extending from Brownson to Chartres, has been received. Having in former notices explained the general character of this work, and expressed an opinion of its merits, we will not repeat it here, more than to say we are sorry to hear some of the regency complaining of the non-Catholicity of the work, and say that, while it uniformly abstains from opinions and judgments unfavorable to Protestantism, it abounds in opinions and judgments unfavorable to Catholics. Whether there is any justness contained in these charges or no, especial care should be taken that it be a fair exponent of whatever relates to the development of opinions in the free exercise of thought, as well as in rendering a faithful report of the systems, discoveries, events, actions, and characters that make up the history of the world. It is this peculiarity, this unbiased view of all dogmatic or historical questions, which lends much value to the work, as a whole. and too much care cannot be exercised in carrying it out in our new Cyclopedia. The present volume contains much that is interesting to merchants, and such articles as those relating to Buenos Ayres, Buffalo, Bugis, Calico, California, Canada, Carolina, Cape Colony, Ceylon, Canary Islands, Celebes, Calcutta, Canton, Cashmere, Catawba wine, and many others, will well repay examination. while politicians, farmers, mechanics, lawyers, clergymen, military men, physicians, and artists are equally represented.

2.-Lectures and Addresses on Literary aud Social Topics. By the late Rev. FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON, M. A., of Brighton. 12mo., pp. 318. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.

This volume consists of lectures and addresses delivered by the late Rev. Frederick W. Robertson, before the members of the Working Man's Institute. or of the Athenæum at Brighton, to which is added some speeches delivered on different occasions of public interest. Some of these speeches are remarkable not only for a certain nobility of thought pervading them, but for the reconciling. harmonizing spirit they evince between the struggling poor man and those occupying the higher walks of life, the former of whom he was wont to designate as his friends, the working classes." Such sentiments as we find contained in these speeches, coming from one occupying a high position as a minister of the church of England, appear to us like streaks of light in dark places, and we feel much inclined to do homage to the man who, with language like this, we find severing the bonds of circumstances, and stepping fearlessly out upon the broad platform of one origin and one common nature. There is no fulsome adulation of the politician about these addresses, as though he expected some offering at their hands, although seemingly cognizant that the balance of power was fast slipping into the hands of those he was addressing, but he seems to have been led towards them simply by the bond of common identity and human brotherhood, breaking through, as it were, all external differences, and acknowledging but one element-the everlasting basis of our common nature, “the human soul by which we live." It is true we sometimes hear this doctrine promulgated from the pulpit, but how often do we hear it in our public places without being able to detect the flatterer in the King's house-the empty words of him who proclaims the voice of the people is the voice of God, simply that he may ride on their backs? We have been struck with the eloquence, the power, and brotherly love contained in these addresses, and heartily recommend them to the attention of every one.