machine; Kum's belt-stretcher; the effects of heat upon steel; an electric light tower for Canal-street and Levee, New Orleans, designed by Mr. Wm. Golding, M.E.; M'Naught's side-saddle girth; Fritt's safety car coupling; M'Donald's pocket hanger for hats and garments; Simpson's improved nut lock; Whitney's improved rein holder; Place's stock alarm for locomotives; Bayha's toolholder for grindstones; Shaw's fire escape; Lancaster's four-barrelled hammerless gun; a portable electric lighting for siege purposes; Bergh's railway-track gauge and level; Preston's improved gate; Butler's improved hand vice; Miller's pump piston; Ide's door hanger; Bennett's saw frame; a curiously worn hammer handle; Risk's sash fastener; Langle's show box cover; Spongilla Fluviatilis; grape vine grown by Herr Sage; compound "tandem" engines of steamship Parisian; French's insulator and projector, for underground lines; Grebe's stalk rake; Thornberry's telephone receiver; Iske's motor; a new fire escape; Candee's anti-friction journal box; a dry steam portable engine, made by the Taylor Manufacturing Company, Westminster, M.D.; and the brush turkeys of Australia. We append a few extracts of useful information. FALL OF BALD MOUNTAIN.-A large section of Bald Mountain, North Carolina, near Bakersville, is said to have fallen into the valley, February 13. The rumbling noise, preceding the crash, was heard for miles. The cause of the fall is uncertain; probably the recent heavy rain and snow storms have had something to do with it. A smaller land-slide, four years ago, gave rise to local fears of a volcanic eruption. The fallen part of the peak is described as a "slice half-a-mile square." ROSE CULTURE.-Kezanlik Valley, in Roumania, is entirely given up to the cultivation of roses. The essence is sold wholesale in Paris for £30 to £40 per pound, while it is retailed at £100 or more per pound. RED SNOW.-At a recent meeting of the San Francisco Miscroscopical Society, Dr. Harkness presented a bottle of red snow," which he gathered last June on the Wasatch Mountains. The red snow was found on the north side of a spur which rose about 10,000 feet above the sea level. When fresh, the snow has the appearance of being drenched with blood, as though some large animal had been killed. The "red snow" is caused by the presence of a one-celled plant called Protococcus nivalis, which reproduces itself by subdivision; that is, the cell divides itself into several new cells. This is done with great rapidity, and a few cells lodged in the snow, under favourable conditions, soon will give it the appearance called red "snow." It was remarked that the phenomenon of "red snow" had been observed from the earliest times, as Aristotle has a passage which is thought to refer to it. The subject was, however, lost sight of until brought up by the investigations of Saussure, who found it on the Alps in 1760. He made chemical tests which showed him that the red colour was due to the presence of vegetable matter, which he supposed might be the pollen of some plant. In 1819 an Arctic expedition, under Captain Ross, brought some specimens from the cliffs around Baffin's Bay, and they were examined by eminent botanists, some of whom mistook the nature of the plant, and there was long discussion as to its proper classification, some holding it to be a fungus, some a lichen; but it was finally set at rest as one of the unicellular algo. It is of interest also that some of the early examiners pronounced the colour due to animalcules, but this was disproved. Dr. Harkness said that during his last visit to England he saw the original bottle of specimens brought from the Arctic more than sixty years before, and in which the protococcus could still be seen with the microscope. A RIGHT WHALE IN NEW YORK.-A large right whale was recently captured off Montbank Point, and brought to New York for exhibition. It is a female, said to be 70ft. long, and estimated to yield 100 barrels of oil and 1000 pounds of whalebone. It was prepared for exhibition by the removal of the entrails, and the filling of the cavity with 90 barrels of cork chips, saturated with 22 barrels of preserving fluid. The whales previously brought to this port for exhibition have been white whales or fin-back whales. A REMARKABLE GAS WELL.-In the spring of 1881, C. A. and D. Cornen were drilling a wildcat well on lot 586, Clarendon, Pa., when they encountered a powerful vein of gas. Drilling was continued only about five feet in the gas sand, as it was very difficult to make much progress under the circumstances. All the sand rock cut by the drill was thrown out as soon as loosened from the main body of rock. Chunks the size of hens' eggs were sent up through the derrick as though shot from a cannon. All idea of an oil-well was abandoned, and a project was inaugurated for utilising the enormous amount of gas for light and fuel. A gas company was formed, with sufficient capital stock to make the venture a success. A charter was obtained, and a pipe line laid to Clarendon, a distance of three-and-a-quarter miles. It was the Company's intention to continue the line to Warren, six miles further, but the winter coming on when the line was completed to Clarendon, work was temporarily suspended until spring. The well is now furnishing fuel to twenty-six drilling wells, three pumping wells, one hundred and twenty-five stoves, two machine shops, and two pump stations. Recently, on a rather cold day, the gauge in the Company's office showed a pressure then of seventythree pounds to the square inch. This gas is dry, containing no oil, gasoline, or water, and has never frozen on any part of the line, although the pipe is, in many places, exposed to the weather. An effort was made at one time to test the pressure, and the stopcock could not be turned more than half round, when the indicator would fly as far as possible, showing two hundred pounds to the square inch. It was feared that the casing would be torn to pieces if the investigation were pushed further, therefore it is not known what the actual power of the gas is. The nearest oil wells are nearly two miles away, and they are very small, so the territory in the neighbourhood will not likely be drilled, which will give the gas well a long lease of life.— Petroleum Age. I. In a Californian Bungalow. By CHARLES WARREN STODDARD IV. Esthetics. Part III.-The Ridiculous. By ARVID NILSON (Sydney) IX. The Râmâyana: An Ancient Sanskrit Epic. By JAMES MURDOCH, PAGE. 253 262 273 285 299 By ALFRED PLUMPTON 312 320 324 M.A. (Maryborough, Queensland.) X. Browning's "Waring," and the New Zealand Epic. By DAVID BLAIR 350 XI. Some Phases of Social Advertising. By EDMUND FINN XII. The Old Race and the New. By FRANK EDWARDS XIII. The Contemporary Thought of Great Britain, Europe, and the United States 356 362 368 Advertisements to be sent direct to Manager "Victorian Review," 9 Flinders Lane W THE FEDERAL AUSTRALIAN : A WEEKLY SUMMARY OF THE Pastoral, Agricultural, Horticultural, Viticultural, Political, Social, Scientific, And Sporting Affairs of the whole of Australia. SU UBSCRIPTIONS are payable in advance, and may commence from any number. COUNTRY COUNTRY CHEQUES. COUNTRY CHEQUES must include the Exchange on them for collectionusually Sixpence. MONIES FOR SUBSCRIPTION OR ADVERTISEMENTS. LL MONIES, either for Subscription or Advertisements, are payable at the Head Office only, 9 Flinders Lane West, Melbourne. The Victorian Review Publishing Co. Limited, MELBOURNE. THE VICTORIAN REVIEW. VOL. VI.-No. XXXIII.-JULY 1, 1882. IN A CALIFORNIAN BUNGALOW. IT was reception night at the Palace Hotel. As usual the floating population of San Francisco had drifted into the huge court of that luxurious caravansary, and was ebbing and eddying among the multitudes of white and shining columns that support the six galleries under the crystal roof. The band revelled in the last popular waltz, the hum of the spectators was hushed, but among the galleries might be seen pairs of adolescent youths and maidens swaying to the rhythmical melody. We were taking wine and cigarettes with the Colonel. He was always at home to us on Monday nights, and even our boisterous chat was suspended while the blustering trumpeters in the court below blew out their delirious music. It was at this moment that Bartholomew beckoned me to follow him from the apartment. We quietly repaired to the gallery among the huge vases of palms and creepers, and there, bluntly and without a moment's warning, the dear fellow blurted out this startling revelation:-" I have made an engagement for you; be ready on Thursday next at 4 p.m.; meet me here; all arrangements are effected; say not a word, but come; and I promise you one of the jolliest experiences of the season." All this was delivered in a high voice, to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals; he |