panic state. France, that was thought almost extinguished by her stronger neighbor, has virtually come up, and is the most settled financial nation in the modern world to-day. The lesson is palpable. France was down, badly whipped and filched and humiliated; but instead of musing and passing resolutions, and wasting her time investigating the treachery or inefficiency that humiliated her, she settled all that as speedily as may be, and went to work, manufacturing, exporting, taxing; and generally depending, not on blatant oratory, but on close-knit, toiling labor, people and government together. The statistics of her returns tell the whole story, and point an invaluable moral which we need not take space or time to explain.

Tunnelling the English Channel.-There are various ways of joining together what nature has put asunder, and for a good while now the French and English, who had their chalk-line cut by the seas ages before French or English were dreamed of, have been trying to join hands across the Channel and exchange congratulations in some other way than by means of sea-sickness and the general inconveniences of the diminutive steamers that for years have been plying between the two countries. Those who have experienced the voyage can best appreciate the efforts being made to shorten the trip and make it pleasanter in every way. It is generally conceded, that in the old pre-historic days, Great Britain was a part of the continent. The cliffs on both sides are of similar formation, chalk being the predominating structure, and as chalk is comparatively impervious to water, this is held as a favorable indication that, as far as the opposition of the waves is concerned, the tunnel may go through successfully. The point as to whether or not the seas that once cut the channel through are still wearing the chalk away, and if so, to what extent, how many inches per century for instance, does not seem to have been seriously considered. The probable occurrence of fissures in the clay, through which a Niagara or two may spurt in upon the tunnellers unawares has been seriously thought of, and the probabilities are held as against any serious invasion of this sort. The chalk formation on each shore is over five hundred feet deep below high-water mark, and there is probably a good solid bed of about five

hundred feet at the bottom of the channel, through which to scoop out the proposed railway tube. The intention is to have at least two hundred feet of good chalk soil above the subway, which, if sound, it is calculated will safely support the one hundred and eighty feet depth of water above it, and keep the skyward side of the tunnel completely dry. For ventilation while at work, intermediate shafting has been given up, and air-pumps are to be used. The model of the tunnel is the one designed by M. Thome de Gamond, and shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1867: the tunnelling machinery to be used is the invention of a Mr. Dickinson Brunton, and is described as working like an augur, cutting off the chalk in slices, which break up and fall upon an endless band communicating with wagons in the rear. It will cut a nine feet hole through the clay at the rate of one yard per hour, and it is estimated that if a machine is set to work at each side simultaneously, they can meet somewhere about midway in the space of two years. It will take about six years' time and four millions pounds of money to complete the undertaking. In case of war or any sufficient national cause either country may blow its end of the tunnel to Jericho, or shut it, and force the world to take to the boats again.

When in London some years ago, we strolled to the Thames Tunnel and descended the long flight of steps to its mouth, expecting our curiosity to take us through, but the hole looked ominous; we felt as though the ghosts of all the martyrs that had been drowned in the Thames for centuries were after us, and struck up for the street again. But a few weeks stay in England, flying along the London underground railways, and leaving and arriving at the Liverpool stations by underground tracks, soon accustoms one to this sort of thing; and if the Atlantic should take frequent notions toward dangerous storms, and wrecks increase for awhile, or if we should make up our minds that we must make better ocean time, it would not much surprise us to hear of some enterprising Old and New England concern attempting to tunnel the ocean, and make the trip in about three full days. In stead of going around the world in eighty days, we may go through it in six by-and-by, and possibly come out at the other side, burnt to a cinder; for in going so fast one is sure to get scorched now and then.

A fac-simile of the "Domesday Book" of 1080 has been printed in London.

"The Farm-Yard Club of Gotham," by Dr. George B. Loring, is announced by Lockwood, Brooks & Co.

A "Young Folks' Book of American Explorers," by T. W. Higginson, will soon be published by Lee & Shepard.

A French medical journal (the Abeille Médicale) strongly recommends horseflesh to be used raw therapeutically, and asserts that it is much more nourishing than either beef, mutton, or pork. The best hygienic authorities would recommend oatmeal instead.

Mr. William E. Robinson, of Brooklyn, will shortly publish a book on the "Origin and Source of the American People," in which he will endeavor to show that Irishmen and their descendants now form a decided and overwhelming majority of our population, and that a large majority of the immigrants to this country, prior to the Revolution as well as since, were from Ireland; and that the Irish element is and has been foremost and truest in the American army and navy, in the pulpit, at the bar, on the bench, in medicine, on the press, on the stage, in art, invention, discovery, literature, legislation, commerce, science, music, architecture, schools, colleges, an

lic works.

History of the City of New York. Parts I.-IV. Illus trated. By MRS. MARTHA J. LAMB. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes & Co. Sold only by subscription. Histories of the United States and histories of separate States, counties, cities and towns, are multiplying on our hands very fast in these days. This "History of the City of New York," by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, is what might be distinctively called a popular work. The design of the cover is beautiful and attractive, the work is handsomely printed on fine, toned paper, and the illustrations of old places, costumes, prominent events and noted people are well chosen and well executed, and the first-page engraving of Manhattan Island as it was in its primeval solitude is happily conceived and very creditably done. Of the literary merits of the production it will be more in keeping to speak when the work is further along. Meantime it may be said that Mrs. Martha J. Lamb gives abundant evidence of having worked industriously at her task, and the publishers deserve credit for having brought out her work in such an attractive style.

Mrs. Lamb is a member of the New York Historical Society, and we learn from the publishers that the preparation of this work has occupied a period of over ten years. “In scope" it is claimed to be "a complete literary picture of the rise and progress of our great American metropolis," to which last expression the Philadelphia Press, in its notice of the work, takes umbrage, and says: "This assumption that New York is the metropolis of the United States is incorrect. It is a fine city, not nearly as large as Philadelphia, nor, were the census fairly taken, so as to include only those who live on what was the island of Manhattan, is its actual population equal to that of our great Centennial City." All of which, when carefully sifted, should teach editors and authors and publishers to be careful in their assertions regarding such things.

Essays, First and Second Series, and, Representative Men. By RALPH WALDO EMERSON. New and Revised Edition. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co.

It is an old treasure-house of rarest gems, reset in a manner well becoming the Boston publishers. Were we to speak as we feel of the absoluteness of Emerson's headship in American literature we should appear extravagant to many readers of this magazine. Every page is full of the finest wisdom of the race up to this hour. There are limitations to this Concord philosopher as to each human soul. There are certain apparently strained ways of expression. But why carp at the inevitable? If it is light we are after, and a superior guide, and light the clearest and purest, let us read these volumes again and again for that, and not to pick holes in the sun. Were we to attempt a review of each chapter and subject, quoting at the dictates of our inclination, we should quote page after page till our readers had the whole of it in the magazine instead of feeling their need of the books themselves. The subjects of these Essays are all interesting, radial, of universal bearings; but it is the man and the purity and simplicity of his relationships with nature, and the boldness and lucidness of his utterance of universal laws of thought, of being, of life, that are all-captivating to mature, thinking souls. To those of our readers who have not yet familiarized themselves with Emerson's works we

say, do not any longer deprive yourselves of one of the rarest enjoyments of your lives. And to those who have read him but do not own his works, we would most heartily commend this latest edition, now being published by Messrs. Osgood & Co. For sale in Philadelphia by Messrs. Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger.

Bibliotheca Americana. Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Books and Pamphlets relating to America. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co.

It is a compilation that all classes of book-buyers will find it to their advantage to refer to. It comprises a large class of very valuable works, and the entire plan and aim of it are clearly indicative of the enterprise of its publishers.

Magee's Centennial Guide to Philadelphia.

We have on a previous occasion had the pleasure of calling the attention of our readers to the unusual merits of this little work. It seems really to have caught the true Centennial spirit, and is very full in its record of such places and events as visitors to Philadelphia will care most to read about.

The Lynn (English) Advertiser finds that the learned authors in the British Museum are a very shabby, dirty set; that while they are celebrated in name all over the world they do not comb their hair nor spend £10—the price of a magazine article-on their clothes during the whole year; that they are bald, and that they stoop, and, in short, that they are not pretty to look at and are poorly paid. Exactly so; the last reason accounts for it all. Add to this, they are so absorbed in work that they think little of externals. But when we hear that "Tommy make Room for your Uncle" gains two thousand pounds, of which the author's share is two; that the copyright of "Slap-bang, Here we are Again" is worth quite as much, ninety thousand copies of the song, at a huge profit, having been sold, and that the poet is amply paid, let us say, by thirty shillings-we may imagine that higher works return less profit to the publishers and oftentimes nothing to the writers. The fact is, the trade of authorship depends upon the exertions of one man who pockets one pay-that which he earns; while in a trade, or even a profession, a man can direct into his pocket-and rightly so a portion of that of others. In fact-in spite of Lord Macaulay; Dickens, with his wondrous fertility, and his business aptitude, and Daniel Deronda and its price, which is said to have been ten thousand pounds (and it is added the returns prove it cheap at the money)-authorship is a miserable trade to the many and gainful only to the few. One might add: Like most other trades.

Terrestrial Life.-Professor P. G. Tait, of the University of Edinburgh, in his lectures on recent advances in physical science, lately published, considers the question how long life has been possible on 'the earth. He concludes that ten millions of years is "the utmost that can be allowed from the physical point of view for all the changes that have taken place on the earth's surface since vegetable life if the lowest known form was capable of existing there." Opposed to this is the view of the most eminent modern geologists, that at least three hundred millions of years have passed away since terrestrial life began.

The Centennial City.-In our MEMORANDA in the June MONTHLY, page 460, we allude to the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Natural Sciences, as "important accessories to the education and culture of the people after they have passed the school period." We propose now briefly to sketch these very valuable institutions, their purposes and useful and prosperous career, giving accurate wood-cuts of their new buildings:

As early as 1803 the artists and art patrons of Philadelphia saw the need of an institution to promote the higher culture of the people by fostering and refining the public taste for works of true art, and at the same time to cultivate and encourage American genius, and enable it to develope in the study of the works of masters in painting and sculpture; the first aim to be attained by founding a first-class gallery easily accessible to the people, and the second by providing the best specimens and models of fine art and securing capable instructors in the principles and practice of art. In 1805 a meeting was called in Independence Hall, where seventy-one gentlemen met and completed the organization of the Academy of Fine Arts; a suitable building was immediately erected on Chestnut street midway between Tenth and Eleventh streets; early in 1807 a charter was obtained from the Legislature, and in 1811 the Academy gave its first formal exhibition, comprising more than five hundred works in painting and sculpture, by both American and foreign artists. A large proportion of the exhibits at this initial exhibition was of high character, and the institution was from that time regarded as an honor to our city. It is remarkworthy that a majority of the seventy-one original members were lawyers, and ever since the bar has furnished a liberal proportion of the intelligent members and supporters of the Academy. In 1845 the Academy met with a severe loss in the burning of their building with many choice and rare works of art, among them "the Roman Daughter," an original Murillo, and a fine gallery of casts from the antique. Immediately a new edifice on a larger scale and largely fireproof was built on the old site. The steady progress of the Academy and many additions to its treasures necessitated repeated extensions of the building, until every foot of available ground was covered, and at last it became imperatively necessary to procure a new site and erect a building commensurate with the requirements of the flourishing and valuable institution.

In 1868 the lot on the southwest corner of Broad and Cherry streets, having a front of one hundred feet on Broad, and a depth of two hundred and fifty-eight feet on Cherry street, was purchased; upon this lot has been erected the edifice shown in our engraving. The style of architecture

appears to baffle critics; one calls it ornamented Gothe another, modified Gothic; another nearly touches creases in calling it " Byzantine or Venetian;" perhaps we may me still nearer the truth in designating it as a comber.com or patchwork style; we doubt if any known epithet wa vey to one who has not seen it a conception of the marve incongruities that go to make up the showy exterior of the new Academy of Fine Arts-the architect has shown himself a tas versal genius in architectural art, and appears to have been so lost in his admiration of the many approved styles that be cred

THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS.

not choose any one; though he affords a suspicion that be per fers the Venetian, he no sooner starts on that style than be appears to repent his choice, and modifies until the style loses its right to that class designation. But, when we have passed the impending triple-arch, and gotten within the building we forget and forgive the absurdities of the exter in admiration of the perfect and exact fitness of every part of the interior for its specific purpose; indeed, the interior leaves nothing to be desired in the way of modification or change The first story, devoted chiefly to educational purpose includes a lecture-room forty by sixty feet; a life-clas m forty feet square, with studio for drapery and stili fe, a a modelling-room, a library and print-room twenty-four w fifty-four feet; the directors' room, and five galleries of a from the antique, averaging more than thirty feet in wit each. The exhibition galleries occupy the upper flot, an are admirably planned, finished and decorated, while the light is ample and its supply well managed acconang to special requirements of the works exhibited.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, now one of the mos prosperous and useful institutions in Philadelphia of Fee sylvania, and of its class in the United States, hadi an exceedingly small beginning: in January, 1812, seven gente men of scientific tastes and culture, met casually an), after a friendly conversation upon scientific topics, formed themselves

into a scientific association; at the first inception, there was no thought of founding an institution for the public weal-it was simply a society for mutual improvement in congenial studies that these seven scientists contemplated, and it was not until 1817 that they and others determined to found the Academy of Natural Sciences, and to that end obtained a charter from the Legislature. A building was secured on Second street, and the nucleus of a museum and library formed; then a laboratory and requisite apparatus were procured. The Academy moved in quest of more room to a building on Arch street, and later to the northeast corner of Twelfth and George (Sansom) streets, and in 1842, built a two-story edifice for themselves at the northwest corner of Broad and Sansom streets, which soon became too small for them and a third story was added. Soon, even this enlarged building was found far too small, and the management found much difficulty in disposing to advantage of their grand and rapidly increasing collection of scientific specimens and books, on account of inadequate space; after suffering much inconvenience for years, it was decided to procure a new location and erect a building, at once larger, better adapted to their plans and purposes, and more ornate. A fine property on the southwest corner of Race and Nineteenth streets, facing Logan Square, was accordingly purchased and upon it a large, appropriate and exceedingly elegant edifice has been built. It is a fire-proof building, of Collegiate Gothic architecture with no deviations to

mar the harmony and unity of its style. The outer facing of, the walls is of rich green serpentine-stone, and the openings are neatly trimmed with Ohio sandstone. The building is not merely handsome externally and internally, but is well planned for its various purposes, comprising a lecture-room; a laboratory, equipped with suitable apparatus of the most approved kinds; a reading-room, supplied with all the valuable scientific periodicals of the world; a grand library, with more than thirty thousand standard volumes on science and correlative topics, and well arranged museum rooms, with cabinets and cases full of invaluable treasures in all departments of Natural Science; besides these, there are workshops, committeerooms, study-rooms, apartments wherein artists and others may copy specimen objects, and a room or rooms for every use legitimately connected with scientific study, research, etc. The museum is second to none, in this country at least, in the number or character of its specimens and objects, and the library is equally full and excellent.

We have earlier in these MEMORANDA mentioned the American Philosophical Society as one of the monuments of Benjamin Franklin's learning and his noble efforts to diffuse learning among the people. In 1727 the Doctor called together a number of friends of kindred or similar tastes,

and they formed the famous "Junto," which was restricted to twelve members. In 1743, at his suggestion, this select conclave was expanded into a society "for the promotion of useful knowledge in the British Provinces of North America," and this society was called the American Philosophical Society. In 1750 a society was organized for "the discussion of natural history, philosophy, science, and morals;" this was called the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. In 1767, the Philosophical Society had declined until it had but six members, and the second Society was likewise in a bad way; at last wise counsels prevailed, rivalry was set aside and the two coalesced in 1769, under the title of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge, and thence

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCE

onwards the Society was successful. It has a Hall on Fifth street adjoining the Mayor's office on the south, and within Independence Square; the lot was presented by the State to the Society in 1785, and the plain brick structure still standing was built in 1787-89. Among the successive Presidents we find the names of Benjamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Jefferson, Professor Caspar Wistar, Professor Robert Patterson, Chief-Justice William Tilghman, etc.

The Franklin Institute was organized in 1824, and incorporated March 30th of that year, its object being "the promotion and encouragement of manufactures and the mechanic and useful arts by popular lectures, the formation of a library, with a cabinet of models and minerals, offering premiums on all subjects deemed worthy of encouragement, and by examining all inventions submitted to them." The Journal of the Franklin Institute is the oldest publication of its kind in America and has always stood deservedly very high as an authority in matters relating to the mechanic arts. The Institution is, and has been since its commencement, one of the most estimable institutions of the country, and has well earned its great success by its noble achievements. Its exhibitions are ever immensely popular, its premiums highly prized, and the lectures delivered under its