On Henley street, in quiet Stratford town, there stands an old half-timbered house. The panels between the dark beams are of soft-colored yellow plaster. The windows are filled with little diamond panes; and in one of the upper rooms they are guarded with fine wire outside the old glass, which is misty with innumerable names scratched all over it. Poets and princes, wise men and foolish, have scrawled their names after a silly fashion, on... more...

FERN-SEED. By Celia Thaxter. She filled her shoes with fern-seed, This foolish little Nell, And in the summer sunshine Went dancing down the dell. For whoso treads on fern-seed,— So fairy stories tell,— Becomes invisible at once, So potent is its spell. A frog mused by the brook-side: "Can you see me!" she cried; He leaped across the water, A flying leap and wide. "Oh, that's because I asked him! I must not... more...

There has recently been a most interesting discussion at the Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester, on the above subject. The paper which gave rise to the discussion was by Mr. Brockbank, who detailed many experiments, and ended by stating his opinion that iron does become much weaker, both in its cast and wrought states, under the influence of low temperature; but Mr. Brockbank's paper was immediately followed by others by Sir W.... more...

ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AT CADIZ. Those who have had the good fortune to visit Andalusia, that privileged land of the sun, of light, songs, dances, beautiful girls, and bull fighters, preserve, among many other poetical and pleasing recollections, that of election to antique and smiling Cadiz—the "pearl of the ocean and the silver cup," as the Andalusians say in their harmonious and imaginative language. There is, in fact, nothing... more...

THE NAVAL FORGES AND STEEL WORKS AT ST. CHAMOND. With the idyls and historic or picturesque subjects that the Universal Exposition gives us the occasion to publish, we thought we would make a happy contrast by selecting a subject of a different kind, by presenting to our readers Mr. Layraud's fine picture, which represents the gigantic power hammer used at the St. Chamond Forges and Steel Works in the construction of our naval guns. By the side... more...

DR. MORELL MACKENZIE. The name of the great English laryngologist, which has long been honored by scientists of England and the Continent, has lately become familar to everyone, even in unprofessional circles, in Germany because of his operations on the Crown Prince's throat. If his wide experience and great skill enable him to permanently remove the growth from the throat of his royal patient, if his diagnosis and prognosis are confirmed, so... more...

THE RETIRO VIADUCT. We give engravings of the viaduct over the river Retiro, Brazil, our illustrations being reproduced by permission from the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In a "selected paper" contributed to the volume of these proceedings just published, Mr. Jorge Rademaker Grunewald, Memb. Inst. C.E., describes the work as follows:   VIADUCT OVER THE RETIRO, BRAZIL. This viaduct was constructed in the year 1875,... more...

MONUMENT TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, AT BARCELONA, SPAIN. The cultivated and patriotic city of Barcelona is about to erect a magnificent monument in honor of Columbus, the personage most distinguished in the historic annals of all nations and all epochs. The City of Earls does not forget that here the discoverer of America disembarked on the 3d of April, 1493, to present to the Catholic monarchs the evidences of the happy termination of his... more...

METAMORPHOSIS OF THE DEER'S ANTLERS. Every year in March the deer loses its antlers, and fresh ones immediately begin to grow, which exceed in size those that have just been lost. Few persons probably have been able to watch and observe the habits of the animal after it has lost its antlers. It will, therefore, be of interest to examine the accompanying drawings, by Mr. L. Beckmann, one of them showing a deer while shedding its antlers, and the... more...

NEW EIGHTY TON STEAM HAMMER AT THE SAINT CHAMOND WORKS Ever since the improvements that have been introduced into the manufacture of steel, and especially into the erection of works for its production, have made it possible to obtain this metal in very large masses, it has necessarily been preferred to iron for all pieces of large dimensions, inasmuch as it possesses in the highest degree that homogeneousness and resistance which are so... more...