The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

JANUARY 7, 1854. Museum of Irish Industry, and it is publisl,ed in Dublin. It contains six articles. The first on the Dublin Exhibition of 1859, by Sir Robert Kane ; the second, by the editor, on the application of fish, &c., as a substitute for guano ; those that follow are not unworthy of a companionshi with these, the moits of which the names of the ir authors guarantee. The British Medical Directory for England, Wales, and Scotland. _ _ A LONDON MEDICAL DIRECTORY has existed for seve ral years, and attained, we believe, a circulation cor responding to its utility. In the present publication, which is now in its second year, a more comprehen sive view is taken, and all the information which a directory should properly contain is furnished with regard to the profession and its members throughout the whole extent of Great Britain. There are few classes which, in number and importance, rival that of the medical practitioners, and that importance is fully shared by the" Class Directory," which, like the volume before us, presents in lucid and well-classified order their names and addresses, the functions they fulfil, the offices they hold, and the numerous institutions of public, educational, or charitable purposes which they uphold, or to which they belong. London: The Boudoir Almanack for 1854. Waterlow and Sons. Ax elegant specimen of ornamental lithography, printed in colours on a single sheet, and adapted for presentation and for suspension in the apartments to which it is dedicated. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Memorable Women. Mrs. N. Crossland. Bogue 11 , 44 Janus t, and other Poems. Pickering TM , Shire Non. Mrs.. W. N. Wilkins. Chapman and I lan },'.Ray upon Consumption. It. I'. Coulson, M.D. Churchill John Mutton; or, Be , .ad Think. W. Hobson. Routledge shakTeare Restored. Muskett, Norwich Dante. F. Pollock. Chapman and Hall The Lays of Modern Rome. Ditto The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir E. Ruben . Lytton, Bir o Vol, IV. Ditto The Stratford Elhakspere. C. Knight. Vol. T Hodgson. Parham. .lAbrary—The Scottish Heiress. It M. Daniels. Ditto The Works of Oliver Guldsuitth. Vol. I. Murray Pelham. Sir E. Bt,lwer I.ytton, Bart. Routledge i'ave of the Poor Brother* of the Charter-house. The Life and Adventures of Dick Diming. No 4. V ick Priersam. . The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine. No. 4. Routledge The Coining Era of Practical Reform .1. Silk Thickingliam. No. 1. Partridue, Oakey, and Co. Cobilenic Policy the Internal Enemy of England. A. Somerville. Hardwicke Maephail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal. Mai:Than ttt glranta. DRURY-LANE THEATRE. A MELODRAMA, which would have been thought violent at the Adelphi and coarse at the Surrey, was brought out at Drury-lane Theatre on Monday last, under the tide of The Begging Letter. The piece consists of three acts, remorselessly crowded with the stale surprises, commonplace improbabilities, and hack neyed horrors that have furnished the materials for "scenes of thrilling interest" on the English stage from time immemorial. There was nothing in the incidents or the characters which could be called new, or which, if new, could be called good. It would be unmerciful to our readers if we detailed the plot, and uncharitable to the performers if we introduced the acting. Enough that The Begging Letter is by some degrees the very worst play which we have had the fortune to see on any stage. lon* Art, Xittraturt, tft. JEAN HENRI HENSCRITEL, Maitre de Chapelle of Biebrich Cathedral, died on the 20th ult. He was celebrated as a contrapuntist, the author of many compositions for the organ, and disquisitions upon the music of the ancients. Many excellent musi • cians were numbered among his pupils, of whom the most famous in after years was the illustrious Charles Marie von Weber. A BRONZE MEDAL OF HELIOOOBALFB has been found at Marsal, in the department of the Meurthe. The coin bears the name of the Empress Anna Faustina Augusta. On one side is the head of Heliogobalus, who is represented on the reverse giving his hand to the Empress. THE steam-boat the Rhone had arrived a few days back at the Pont d'Adge, on the river Rhone, when a number of police agents came on board, and insti tuted a strict search, which led to the discovery of a considerable number of copies of M. Victor Hugo's last work, entitled " Chatiment." The copies were seized, as was the steam-boat itself. TEE CELEBRATED LINOFT9T, M. G. F. GROTTFORD, died in Hanover on the 22nd ult., aged sixty-eight. He was the author of many works on the origin of the Greek and Latin languages, on the Phrygian and THE PRESS. Libyan inscriptions, and upon Oriental numismatics. M. Grotiford was also among the first to succeed in deciphering the cuneiform inscriptions. He was for many years professor in the University of Got tingen. Os the 9.oth of December Mozart's Don Giovanni was represented at the Grand Opera house in Berlin for the 300th time, that day being also precisely the sixty-third anniversary of its first performance in the Prussian capital. The opera was preceded by an occasional prologue spoken by M. Stawinski, chief director of the Opera-house, after which the curtain rose and displayed the bust of Mozart, surrounded by groups representing the principal characters of his most popular operas. The audience applauded this scene with enthusiasm, and a shower of bouquets and garlands fell around the statue of the great com poser. Mlle Wagner took the part of Donna Anna in the opera afterwards, and was recalled six times at the close. THE establishment of a Roman Catholic journal to advocate Ultramontanism, like the Paris Univers, is under contemplation in Berlin. As a consequence of the reduction in the postal tariff in Prussia, the revenue from that source during eleven months only of 1853, or up to the Ist of December, exceeded by 329,0(W) thalers the whole receipts for 1852. _ M. EXILE SEURRE, the sculptor of the colossal statue of Napoleon on the column in the Place Yen. (Vane, has just met with a dreadful accident. He fell down during the late frosty weather and broke his left arm and collar-bone. His present state is said to be somewhat dangerous. _ _ M. PIERRE Donor, son of Ambmise Didot, and brother of Firmin Didot, died a few days ago in Paris, at the age of ninety-three. The funeral of this senior of the French press took place on Mon day last at the cemetery of Mont Parnasse. THE problem as to the success of the calorie-ship Ericsson approaches a solution. The engine, says the New York Journal of Commerce, is now so nearly completed that a trial trip will probably be made in a few days, and Mr. Ericsson is in the best spirits, such as confidence of success inspires. We learn from one of her principal owners that experiments already made show that the desired amount of pres sure may be easily obtained, and a full reliance is entertained that the ship will attain a speed equal to at least nine miles an hour, which will be a rate entirely satisfactory. We also learn that it has been determined to place the Ericsson on the route be tween New York and Havre, as an independent steamer, to replace the temporary vacancy occasioned by the destruction of the Humboldt. A RECENT domestic calamity of the most afflicting nature prevents M. Mario from appearing before the Paris public. THE revision of the tariff of charge for the Bel gian Electric Telegraph was resisted in elate discus sion by the Minister of Public Works, on the ground that the small number of efficient employes possessed by the Government were incapable of transacting the increase of business which would follow a reduction. A MONUMENT to the memory of the monk, Berthold Schwartz, to whom is commonly attributed the inven tion of gunpowder, has just been erected at Frihurg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden. The monument, which is executed by M. Knittler, is placed on a fountain, built in the centre of the grand market place. It consists of a statue of Schwartr., who lived in the commencement of the fourteenth century, in his monkish dress. He holds in his right hand an open book, and is contemplating a mortar placed on a stand on his left. THE FROST has seriously impeded the working of the electric telegraph in France. On the Rouen line the wires snapped, and the intercourse was for some time interrupted. On other lines the snow which fell on the wires melted by the action of the sun, and then, forming into icicles, united the wires, and, thus b ec oming conductors, the despatches inten ded for one place passed on to another wire, and arrived at a false destination. THE LATE SALE of the Constitutionttei has given rise to two actions brought against M. Veron by different parties of former shareholders in that journal, who charge him with having appropriated the larger share of the proceeds to himself, distributing among the general mass of proprietors a much smaller sum than they were entitled to. One of these actions came on for hearing on Saturday last before the Civil Tribunal. The plaintiffs' advocate, M. He bert, gave a narrative of the manner in which, according to their own allegations, they had been de frauded. He contended that the sale made by M. Veron ought to be declared radically null, as the consent which his clients had been induced to give to it hai been obtained from them by misrepresen tation, and entered into an elaborate financial history of the Ceastitutionsal from the time of M. h'eron's connection with it. In D 438, when that connection commenced, the estimated value of the paper was 1,900,000 f. ; but in 1844, from competition of new 21 and cheaper journals, it fell to 540,000 f. In that . year some modifications were mado in the statutes, by which the number of shares was fixed at I+lo, each being nominally worth 3,000 f. At that time M. Veron was appointed manager (girant), with full powers to conduct and manage the paper as he pleased; but to sell it the consent of a general assembly of share • holders was necessary. The paper prospered so much that in 1848 the profits of each share were 622 f.; in 1850, 782 f.; and in 1852 they were likely to be 000 f. But in that year the new laws on the press had made the situation of newspapers a very difficult one ; and, though the Constitutionnel was it governmental journal, it re ceived two "warnings" for the publication of articles on Belgium offensive to the Government. On this, M. Veron convoked the shareholders, and drew a lamentable picture of the situation of the journal ; he also represented that it was menaced with ruin from the competition of the Pays and the Illonitenr. lie accordingly proposed to the shareholders to make a sale of the paper to M. Mires, at the rate of 4,000 f. a share. They hesitated, but by manfeurring the majority of them were brought to consent.. It turned out, however, that, though they (July got so small a stun, Id. Wren himself received 720,0thW. for his shares, and for his position as girant, and that another gentleman (M. de Morey), who was also connected with the paper, had received mie,oooe Learning this, the dissentient shareholders imme. diately protested, and brought their action ; and his clients subsequently brought an action, also, to ob tain a fairer distribution of the proceeds of the sale. The learned gentleman, in the course of his plead ings, made some very sharp remarks on Ti. ViTon ; and contended that his representstiona to the share holders as to the damaged state of theirproperty were, undoubtedly, in the eye of the law, fraudulent. The case remains uncompleted, the further pro ceediugs having been fuljounied for a week. ALEXANDER vow Heineman has lately given to the world, through his publisher, Cotta, the first volume of his minor writings, containing the geognoatic and physical phenomena. It is dedicated to I eopold von Buch, whom he calla "the talented investigator of nature, and the greatest geoguost of the age," as a little monument of a friendship never disturbed for sixty years. Tne Leerrnes at the University of Copenhagen will henceforth be delivered in the Danish instead of,' as hitherto, in the Latin tongue. Tus Exereoe Ntenothe has conferred the Grand Cross of the second class of St.. Vladimir on M. Struve, Councillor of State, Director of the Peters burg Observatory, for his services in measuring the arc of the meridian firom the Polar Sea to the Black Sea. For their services in the same affair, M. de Stang, Minister of the Interior of Norway, has received the Order of SL Stanilas of the tiret. class; Dr. Ilanstaen, Director of the Hydrographic Depart ment of Norway, the Order of St. Anne of the second class, with the insignia in diamonds ; N. Prazmowaki, First Assistant of the Director of the Astronomic Observatory of Warsaw, and M. Seelaa der, Director of the Observatory of Stockholni, the Order of St. Anne of the second effete ; Dr. Lind. hagen, Assistant to the Directer of the principal Observatory, the Order of St. Vladimir of the fourth class; Captain de Lund, of Norway, Lieutenant Skogmann, of the Swedish navy, and Professor Agardth, of the University of Lund, in Sweden, the Order of St. Anne of the third class ; and Dr. Weld stadt, Professor and Director of the Observatory of Ilelaingfors, and the candidate Wagner, rings set with diamonds. Some very important experiments have been made during the past few weeks in her Majesty's dock yard at Portsmouth, for the purpose of testing the power of an apparatus invented by Mr. Prideaux for the consumption of smoke and improvement of engine-furnaces. The experiments have been per fectly successful. A chimney giving out immense clouds of dense black smoke had suddenly ceased to do so, by opening the valve which Mr. Prideaux places on the furnace door. la ten seconds the dense black cloud tlisappesivii, and in forty-five seconds there was nothing left but a light brown vapour. The apparatus is simple, and even elegant in its appearance. Not only is the smoke destroyed, but them is a great economy of fuel. Mr. Prideaux estimates the saving at, from 10 to 20 per cent., ac cording to the quality of coal. Another curious feature is the low temperature of the furnace door. While the valve is in action its temperature is but a few degrees above that of the external air. This desirable result is obtained by cutting off all the radiant heat by means of the peculiar construction of the valve. lly aid of this apparatus engineers will he - enabled to reduce the temperature of stoke holes on board steam-vessels, and to make them much more endurable for the men. The application of the apparatus involves no expensiv, ttLtenl . . _ existing arrangements. „ . • .. . - ;1 !I