All this may, it is true, be mere appearance. ignominiously at anchor in the Bosphorus, expoThe Czar may know very well what he has to sed to the shame and mortification of hearing expect, and the Emperor Francis Joseph may that every fine day the Russian ships have issued have made up his mind precisely what he means from their fastness and reinforced or victualled to do. He may be merely waiting to advance their troops, while we could do nothing to aid and come into collision with his former savior ours. We believe we do not in the least exagge till his new allies have crossed the Danube and rate the case. If there be a single harbor in the are prepared to support him. Still we do not Black Sea where our fleets could ride in safety quite understand why he should concentrate his during the winter, and be at hand to succor our troops at Orsova, two hundred miles from Bucha- land forces, except the great port of the Crimea, rest, the nearest Russian post, instead of availing it has not yet been discovered or made public. himself of those he possesses near Hermanstadt Now, to enable us to take that port—if indeed and Cronstadt, to pour down upon the Russian it be not impregnable our troops now at Varrear and flank, and bring matters to a crisis.na and Adrianople must be set at liberty by AusBut probably the commanders of the allied forces comprehend Austrian plans and tactics better than we can do; and we are well aware that, in military operations, to criticise at a distance is nearly always to criticise in the dark. We will, therefore, only draw attention to one pointthe vital importance, namely, of knowing without any further delay what active aid from Austria can be counted upon, in order that we may be able to ascertain what the Anglo-French army can do and may attempt, and whether any more detachments will be needed. tria undertaking bona fide to do their work, or all hope of this must be at once abandoned, and fresh forces must be immediately embarked for the Crimea. We wish we could see any flaw in our argument; but at present we do not. The destruction of Cronstadt is no doubt important, and would be a brilliant and glorious exploit ; but it would need that and more to gild over to the world or to the British public the deplorable necessity of allowing our Eastern fleet to pass another inactive and inglorious winter in the comfortable security of the Golden Horn. We must not forget that the original meaning All private accounts and published descriptions and object of the war has undergone consider- concur in representing Cronstadt, not as impreg able change. We have not only now to drive nable perhaps, but as only assailable at an awthe invaders out of the Turkish territory-if that ful sacrifice of life and treasure. Some surveying were all, probably the forces of Turkey and of the steamers have lately reached to within two thouWestern Powers combined might suffice for suc- sand yards of the outer fort, and returned with ces in this campaign without Austrian aid confirmed impressions of the formidable nature though, as we have observed, in countries where of the task before them. It is admitted on all means of transport are so inadequate and roads hands that the only method of managing the enso few and bad, it is more easy to repel an inva- terprise would be by destroying or taking the der, than to expel him when you have to march forts one by one. But there is no real night in two hundred miles through an exhausted terri- those latitudes during the open months, theretory to get at him. But we have also to cripple fore there can be no surprises; the case is not Russia, and to compel her to come to terms, or one for boat service, since ships cannot approach so to damage her as to make her stubbornness near enough to support their boats; large ves comparatively unimportant. Now, for either pur- sels cannot come within two miles of the forts, pose, it is essential that the Anglo-French army therefore their broadsides could not produce much in the East should be set free for other enterpri- effect on stone walls, and the lower tiers of guns ses, or that another army should be sent to un- could not be elevated sufficiently to be brought dertake them. A glance at the map will show to bear on such distant objects; the guns of how enormously difficult it will be either to ex-steamers and vessels of smaller draught would pel the Russians from their position on the Sereth not be powerful or numerous enough for the mas and the Lower Danube, or to provide for the sive fortifications they would have to batter down comforts, sustenance, or reinforcements of our and to face the fire of; and, finally, as all the own troops, unless we have, and keep, the com- batteries are casemated, shells would probably be mand of the Black Sea. That command we harmless. And even if all these difficulties were have now, and shall have during the summer overcome, and Cronstadt were reduced to ashes, months; but without the possession of Sebastopol (or St. Petersburg would most likely be protected at least the entire destruction of the Russian by the shoal water which surrounds it, the infleet harbored there), we cannot, as is well known, side sea being nowhere more than four fathoms, keep it beyond the end of October. The events of and generally not more than two deep. Of course last winter and spring proved this amply. There we feel perfectly satisfied that whatever skill and is not in the whole Black Sea a single port ex-valor can do will be done by Sir Charles Napier cept Sebastopol where our ships could shelter or in the Baltic; but we confess we should have prebe safely stationed. Sinope is quite open to the ferred a concentration of our forces and a transnorth and east; Odessa will only accommodate ference of desperate and daring enterprise to ana few vessels of large size (and Odessa, moreover, other quarter where brilliant success is probably is not yet ours); and the only other port (and much more attainable and certainly far more that lies on the Asiatic coast) can only admit needed. If Sebastopol were taken, Asia as well frigates and smaller ships. Unless, therefore, as Europe would be won;-a triumph in the Sebastopol is ours bofore October, our fleets Gulf of Finland would be scarcely heard of in must pass next winter as they passed the last, Persia or Affghanistan. THE PROUDEST LADY. THE Queen is proud on her throne, And proud are her Maids so fine; And oh! she flouts me, she flouts me, Still ever the same she doubts me. She is seven, by the kalendar- But oh! this little lady's by far It's her sport and pleasure to flout me, She can't well do without me! When she rides on her nag away, But at times, like a pleasant tune, modern Mexican dollar is to the full of equal value, that it contains as much pure silver, that so far as coinage goes it is a more perfect manufacture-in spite of all, the Chinese have to this day persisted in receiving the Carolus pillar dollar at 10, 15, and even 20 per cent. higher value than the Mexican dollar, and in the same proportion, or even greater, than British silver or Indian rupees. At Shanghai, at one period last year, the Carolus dollar, the intrinsic value of which is 4s 2d, was worth 7s 8d. This preference of the Chinese for this special coin has led to its being collected from every other part of the world for that market. The countries in the Mediterranean where this coin formerly was the chief currency, have been almost entirely swept of it for the East. The difficulty, therefore, which has attended the trade of China has been, that with a constantly increasing demand for this coin, the market of supply was rapidly becoming exhaust ed. At length, however, the ingenuity of the Chinese seems to have discovered a solution to this growing and increasing difficulty. A mint has been established at Canton for coining Carolus pillar dollars of a date of 1778. And although, no doubt, in one respect it is a fraud to coin a foreign coin of the last century and of a king long since gathered to his fathers, yet in respect to real intrinsic quality there is no fraud. In every respect the Chinese Carolus pillar dollar is as much like the real dollar of Carolus the IIII. as those dollars are like each other. In intrinsic quality they are precisely the same. It is true the keen eye of the China Schroff is alive to the distinction, and we understand they only take them at 10 per cent. discount upon the real ancient dollar. This difference, however, is likely soon to disappear, and it is probable that this mint will prove the solution of all the currency difficulties of the East, and will lead to different coins beeyes,ing accepted at their real intrinsic value in pure silver, in place of the arbitrary rates which they now command. If so, the Canton mint will exercise a powerful influence over the whole financial transactions of the East.-Economist. Oh! she dances round me so fairly! In my puzzled face with her two great Oh! the Queen is proud on her throne, Good lack! she flouts me, she flouts me, she may, T. WESTWOOD. CHINESE CURRENCY. THE CANTON MINT AND THE PILLAR DOLLAR. THOSE who are best acquainted with the trade of the East, best know the singular preference which the Chinese people have always shown, and continue to the present day to show, for the old Carolus pillar dollar. In this passion they have defied all principle of self-interest and of intrinsic value. In vain it has been shown that the PROPOSED CHANGES IN INLAND CONVEY. ANCE. It is a somewhat curious coincidence that, at the very juncture when companies are making a merit of using iron sleepers, as well as of adding to the strength of their rails, a project should be submitted for public consideration by which iron is to be banished from railway construction. According to Mr. Daft's prospectus of his infant invention, not only are sleepers to continue to be made of wood, but wheels, axles, springs, and all their complexities and combinations, are to be abolished, and carriages made to glide by a glass groove upon a tri-edged wooden rail. This, however, is a mere adjunct to the invention itself, the chief innovation of which consists in making the enginewheels of brass, and strongly coating them with vulcanized India rubber, the tenacity of which is strikingly exemplified on the model, on which they remain stationary at any gradient, even 1 in 8.—Railway Times. From Chambers's Journal. to the latter, and the latter the oxygen essential CUSTOMS AND MANNERS UNDER THE to the former-is already known to our readers; WATER. of the deep. and we have only to add, that the desired por tion of the sea, with its animals, plants, rocks, SCIENCE has become intimate with animal life thus the philosopher has nothing to do but to sit and sand, is contained in a glass tank, and that on the land-even with those creatures that are down in his night-gown and slippers, and watch too minute to be seen with the naked eye; but, the goings on, and pry into the family secretstill recently, the ocean appeared to baffle its re-using his lens when necessary-of the inhabitants searches, and in its turn to say to man in the hollow and mysterious voice that threatens as well as charms: "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther!" But all was in vain. Science, which explores the further heavens, was not to be arrested in its progress by the waters; and moving steadily onwards in this new direction, it has now invaded the depths of the sea, and examined, with its calm, observant eye, the forms and manners of its inhabitants. This has not been accomplished by means of perilous adventureand, indeed, no perilous adventure could have achieved the feat. The French zoologist who proposed, some time ago, to pay a domestic visit to the fishes of the Mediterranean, provided with a water-tight dress and a breathing-tube, would have come back doubtless well able to furnish a pleasing superficial sketch, but quite ignorant of those minute details of individual life which form the materials of natural history. This is well illustrated in a beautiful little work now before us, in which the author declares that the records of animals which form the foundation of all our correct generalization, are strictly biographical. He traces an idiosyncrasy in the lower orders of creation somewhat akin to that of man; remarking that the shepherd recognizes every sheep of his flock by its face-that the groom is a physiognomist in horses-and that he himself comprehends the expression of birds. By this alone he was able, while in Jamaica, to tell one from another the wild doves in his cages, although they were perfectly alike in color. "Shakspeare and Scott," adds Mr. Gosse," who treat of man as an individual, are not inferior, in their walk of science, to Reid and Stewart, who describe him as a species." seem a difficult matter, from the floating myriads To preserve the transparency of the tank would of spores or seeds of the algae that are constantly finding a resting-place on the glass, and trying to curtain the whole from the water's edge to the bottom. To avert this danger, we employ a couple of little slavies, the common periwink, and as common top (Trochus); and these creatures go constantly about, shearing away the tender growth of vegetation as soon as it is formed, and taking the crop in lieu of wages. Mr. Gosse watched, through his pocket-lens, a top at his work; and this was the modus operandi: "At very regular intervals, the proboscis-a tube with thick fleshy walls-is rapidly turned inside out to a certain extent, until a surface is brought into contact with the glass having a silky lustre: this is the tongue. It is moved with a short sweep, and then the tubular proboscis infolds its walls again, the tongue disappearing, and every filament of conferva being carried up into the interior from the little area which had been swept. The next instant-the foot meanwhile having made a small advance-the proboscis unfolds again, the tongue makes another sweep, and again the whole is withdrawn; and this proceeds with great regularity. I can compare the action to nothing so well as to the manner in which the tongue of an ox licks up the grass of the field, or to the action of a mower cutting down swath after swath as he marches along. The tongue with which the confervoid plants are swept away is a curious instrument: "It is, in reality, an excessively delicate ribbon of transparent cartillaginous substance or membrane, on which are set spinoas teeth of glassy texture and brilliancy. They are To visit the inhabitants of the sea, in the constrained manner that would have been compul- which the middle ones are three-pointed, while perfectly regular, and arranged in three rows, of sory in a being formed like man, would have in each of the outer rows, a three-pointed tooth been of little use as regards biographical details. alternates with a larger curved one, somewhat What, then, was to be done? To bring them to boat-like in form. All the teeth project from the us, to be sure, since we could not go comfortably surface of the tongue in hooked curves, and all to them-to have them up in a witness-box and point in the same direction. The action of this make them give an account of themselves. But sort of tongue is that of a rasp, the projecting it was necessary to do this in a particular way, teeth abrading the surface of the plants on which for fish are no more at their ease out of the wa-the animal feeds, just as the lion is said to act ter, than we are under it; it was necessary to with the horny pupilla of his tongue on the flesh bring a portion of their element with them, and of his victim. to have all their little comforts about them, such Among the strange animals described by our as stones, sand, mud, and marine-plants; it was author as inhabiting his Aquarium, is the cepha necessary, in short, for the purposes of science, lopod called the Sepiola vulgaris; a curious little to have a piece of the sea laid upon our table: and, creature, which, when first taken from its native being necessary, this was done. The principle haunts, betrays much agitation, but finally sus upon which the Aquarium is constructed the pends itself in mid water, "like a brown moth mutual dependance of animal and vegetable life, hovering over a flower," with its protuberant eyes the former supplying the carbonic acid essential gazing on either side. "While thus hovering motionless in the water, the sepiola presents a fair of color, which are great and sudden. We can opportunity for observing its curious transitions The Aquarium: an Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sen. By Philip Henry Gosse, A. L. S., etc. London: John Van Voorst, 1854. scarcely assign any hue proper to it. Now it is | We usually see it in the morning perched on the nearly white, or pellucid, with a faint band of brown summit of some one of the more bushy weeds in specks along the back, through which the internal the Aquarium, as the Chondrus or Phyllophora viscera glisten like silver; in an instant the specks rubens, where it has taken its station during the become spots, that come and go, and change their night, the season of its chief activity, as of most dimensions and their forms, and appear and dis-other crustacea. It interested me much to see appear momentarily. The whole body-arms, it climb: seizing the twigs above it by stretching fins, and all-the parts which before appeared out its long arms alternately, it dragged up its free, display the spots, which, when looked at at-body from branch to branch, mounting to the tentively, are seen to play about in the most sin- top of the plant deliberately, but with ease. gular manner, having the appearance of a colored While watching it, I was strongly reminded of fluid, injected with constantly varying force into the ourang-outang at the Zoological Gardens: cavities in the substance of the skin, of ever- the manner in which each of these very dissichanging dimensions. Now the spots become milar animals performed the same feat was so rings, like the markings of a panther's skin; and closely alike as to create an agreeable feeling of as the little creature moves slightly, either side surprise." bencath the fin is seen to glow with metallic lus- Every page of this fascinating work is quotatre, like that of gold-leaf seen through horn.ble; but perhaps nothing will be read with more Again the rings unite and coalesce, and form a pleasure than the account of the Aphrodite, or beautiful netted pattern of brown; which color sea-mouse. "In the Aquarium the sea-mouse increasing, leaves the interspaces a series of crawls restlessly to and fro, and round the marwhite spots on the rich dark ground. These and gin of the bottom; once or twice I have seen it other phases are every instant interchanging, and essay to burrow under the fine gravel, but genepassing suddenly and momentarily into each rally it lives exposed. It is uninteresting in its other with the utmost irregularity. But here is manners, though the brilliance of its changing a change! One is hovering in quiescence, his co- colors will always attract admiration. Perhaps lor pale, almost white; one of his fellows shoots it is most beautiful by candle-light, when red and along just over him: with the quickness of orange reflections predominate; by day, pearly thought, the alarmed creature turns from white greens and blues prevail. This difference is owto a uniform deep brown, the rich full color suf-ing to the position of the light, and the angle at fusing the skin in a second, like a blush on a young maiden's face. The hue is very beautiful; it is the fine, deep sienna-tint of tortoise-shell; a substance which, indeed, the mingling clouds of brown and pellucid horn closely resemble in the intermediate phases of color. which it is reflected. Thus, if the eye glance along the bristles towards the light, which is reflected at an obtuse angle, the reflected rays will be lilac, passing into ultramarine; if the angle of reflection be a right angle, the rays will be green; if the light be between the observer and The Black Goby is a ferocious little cannibal, the animal-not directly, but obliquely, so as to about three inches long. Like other robbers and make the angle of reflection more or less acute murderers, he loves the dark, lurking at the bot--the reflections will take yellow, orange, scarlet, tom under the shelter of rocks and weeds. If and crimson hues." very hungry, however, he will dart up even to the surface to seize his prey; but turning instantly, he will dive down again into his lair. A youngster of the same tribe, but of a different family, was put into the tank, and unfortunately caught the eye of the skulking goby, who at once made a dash at him, and caught him by the tail, ingulfing it in his capacious throat. "The Blackie glared like a demon, as with dilated head, he held fast his victim, clutching further and further holds by repeated jerks: the delicate pellucid head of the unfortunate prey, projecting from the cavernous mouth, panted and rolled its eyes in pain, but there was no escape; for now nothing was visible but the head, when the ferocious victor shot under an umbrageous weed, and on my next sight of him all trace of his meal was gone." Among the denizens of the Aquarium was rather a rare animal, the strawberry-crab, so called from its being studded with pink tubercles on a white ground; and between this creature and the ourang-outang, Mr. Gosse traces a somewhat striking analogy. "The straw-berry crab," says he, "is a climber. If it were a terrestrial animal, I should say its habits are arboreal. True, it now and then wanders over the bottom of its abode with slow and painful march, the hindfeet held up at an angle above the level of the back; but generally it secks an elevated position. The most curious part of the sea-mouse is the expiratory machinery. "As it crawls, the Aphrodite usually elevates the tail, which is so folded together as to form a deep groove beneath. By watching this, we see now and then ejected a stream of water, with considerable force. I found that the jet occurred once in twenty-five seconds, with punctual regularity. This is a respiratory act. The grooved orifice through which the jet is poured is not the termination of the intestine, as we may at first suppose, but the exit of a capacious chamber, which is external to the body, though concealed. A very marvellous and quite unparalled structure here comes into view. If we take a sea-mouse into our hand, we see the whole breadth of the back occupied by a woolly substance, closely resembling felt, and formed by the interlacing of fine hairs. If we insert a penknife into the tail-groove, and slit up this feltlike cover, we expose an ample cavity running the whole length of the animal, the floor of which is the true skin of the back, on which are set two rows of large overlapping plates, or membranous scales (elytra). The dense tissue of interwoven hair resembling felt acts as a filter for the water to be respired, straining off the earthly particles held in it, which thus accumulate in its substance, and impart that peculiar dirty appearance which it possesses. The scales, according to Dr. Williams, are periodically elevated and ments, aware, probably, by the vibrations of its depressed. In the former action, the water per- huge fellow-tenant's body, that feeding was going meates the felt and fills the vacuum formed be-on. The mode and the place of the worm's ap tween them and the back. As soon as it is full, they collapse, and the filtered fluid, now deprived of its oxygen, is forcibly expelled at the anal groove." pearance were the same in every case, and it invariably glided to the crab's mouth between the two left foot-jaws. I was surprised to observe what a cavern opened beneath the pointed head Mr. Gosse throws much new light upon the of the nereis when it seized the morsel, and with manners of the soldier-crab, a creature destitute what force comparatively large pieces were torn of the usual defensive armor of his tribe, but off and swallowed, and how firmly the throatmaking up for the want by courage and address. jaws held the piece when it would not yield. OcHe seizes upon any empty shell of suitable size, casionally, it was dragged quite away from the and makes it his habitation; and it is curious to crab's jaws, and quickly carried into the recesses observe him in the Aquarium becoming discon- of the shell: sometimes, in this case, he put in tented with his house, and looking out for a new one of his claws, and recovered his morsel; at one. This process, however, has been frequently others, he gave a sudden start at missing his described; but it is less known that the soldier grasp, which frightened the worm, and made it has generally a fellow-lodger inside, while the let go and retreat; but sometimes the latter made roof of his dwelling, the spire of the shell, is good his foray, and enjoyed his plunder in secret. often the chosen abode of an anemone. This ex- The worm is itself a striking and even handtraordinary creature is a parasite, although it has some animal; and there is in its colors and their been known to exercise some volition in choosing distribution-two bright white lines running its site. When displaced from a shell, it will through the whole length on a light red ground plant itself on a stone by means of its suckers; a curious similarity to the coloring of the but of its own good-will, it would always get crab." This worm, we may add, is much prized upon the roof of another individual's wagon, by fishermen as bait; and so commonly is it and so enjoy the pleasure of being carried. The found in the companionship above described, anemone resembles a tall, thick pillar surmount- that at Weymouth they always break the shells ed by a fringe of tentacles, that wave gallantly tenanted by the soldier-crab to look for it. at every motion of the Sinbad chosen for his The common cockle one would think, has not porter by this Old Man of the Mountain. The much more facility of voluntary motion than the companion who chums inside with the soldier is anemone; but in reality its gymnastic feats are a worm-but we will allow our naturalist to in- of some note. The tuberculated cockle, howtroduce him: "While I was feeding one of my ever, the giant of the tribe, is quite a formidable soldiers by giving him a fragment of cooked vaulter; and when a number of them are thrown meat. which he, having seized with one claw, had into a heap, they seem to defy the riot act. Our transferred to the foot-jaws, and was munching, author once turned out some of these creatures I saw protrude from between the body of the into a dish, as he knew they liked the air somecrab and the whelk-shell, the head of a beautiful times; but by and by when the family were quietly worm (Nercis bilineuta), which rapidly glided out reading, an awful uproar commenced among round the crab's right check, and, passing be- them, as if a crowd of flint-stones were battling tween the upper and lower foot jaws, seized and rattling over one another. We must now the morsel of food, and retreating, forcibly have done, however; many of our readers will dragged it from the crab's very mouth. I beheld doubtless get the volume for themselves, and, inthis with amazement, admiring that, though the dependently of its other merits, they will find it crab sought to recover his hold, he manifested a fitting ornament for the drawing-room table, not the least sign of anger at the actions of the on account of the gorgeous chromo-lithographs worm. I had afterwards many opportunities of with which it is illustrated. Some will likewise seeing this scene enacted over again; indeed, on find it important to be able to obtain in so agreeevery occasion that I fed the crab, and watched able a way, full instructions for forming a marine its eating, the worm appeared after a few mo- aquarium, with the cost of the different sizes. From Chambers's Journal. ing, beautiful, still beautiful; and with a word I could have crushed her heart and turned her brown hair gray. To myself, I seem to No MAN knoweth me, whence I come, or have two separate beings: my first existence who I am. My brother met me yesternoon, still is in my every thought, and usurps heart and brushed my shoulder; I looked into his and brain; my second self-my presenteyes, and he into mine, and we walked on dwells in my frame alone, rules my mere out our diverse ways like strangers; my mother ward action, and is loathsome and contempti mourns her dear son yet, that died twelve ble to my whole soul. I write this life for years agone, and yet he lives, and has been more than common eyes, for an end, too, I in her company, and shaken friendly hands yet half dread to contemplate, so fearful, nay, with her not six months back. My wife so fatal, may be its consequences. But to who, since I married her, has become the the general reader, shocked at my strange widow of another man-I saw this very morn- narration, and disbelieving in its awful truth, |