The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-18 00:00:00

fortign ;trt, Sittraturt, &r.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL LWOFE, whose campaigns
have been dramatic, and whose victories were won
with the pen and not with the sword, has been per-
mitted
by the Emperor of Russia to resign his mili-
tary appointments. M. Lwoff is, in fact, a musical
composer, whose works had obtained celebrity in
Germany and Italy, and who in consequence was
dignified by almost the only distinclion which
the Czar dispenses to his favourites—that of mili-
tary rank. The maestro has accordingly figured in
the St. Petersburg circles of fashion and of art as
a major-general. Upon resigning this rank M.
Lwoff has received a more congenial appointment—
that of director-general to the theatres in the Rus-
sian capital, including three houses where Italian
operas are performed—a French Opera, and a Ger-
man Opera.
A MANUFACTURE OF PASTEBOARD from the pulp of
beetroot has just been established at Foulain, in the
department of the Haute Marne.
THE TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION between Pied-
mont and Lombardy, Trieste, Venice, and all the
other countries forming part of the Austro-Germanic
line, was opened on the 9th inst.
THE CELEBRATED LINGUIST, FILOSSENO LUZZATI,
died at Padua on the Bth inst., in the twenty-fifth
year of his age. Though so young, be had acquired
much celebrity from his knowledge of languages,
especially the Oriental and extinct tongues. He was
the author of many important works upon the cunei-
form inscriptions; the Assyrian inscriptions found in
Persepolis, Hamedan, and Khorsabad ; and of a
volume entitled "Researches respecting the Hebrew
Races said to Exist in the Interior of Africa."
DR. PETERSEN, director of the Observatory at
Altona (Holstein), who succeeded the celebrated
astronomer Schumacher as the chief of that establish-
ment only a few months since, died suddenly on the
sth inst. He was in his forty-eighth year.
A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY was announced:to the
Academy of Sciences by M. Dumas in its last sit-
ting. He stated that M. Saint-Clair Deville had
succeeded in obtaining from clay (alumina) a metal
as white and brilliant as silver, as malleable as gold,
and as light as glass. It is fusible at a moderate
temperature. Air and damp do not affect this metal,
which is called aluminium : it retains its brilliancy,
and is not affected by nitric or sulphuric acid, either
strong or diluted, if the temperature be not raised.
It is only dissolved by very hot hydrochloric acid.
Several specimens of this metal were exhibited to the
academy, and, on the proposition of Baron Thenard,
it was voted unanimously that a sufficient sum should
be placed at the disposal of M. Saint-Clair Deville to
enable him to make experiments on a large scale.
IN SWEDEN A NEW RELIGIOUS SECT has sprung up,
called the Contemplators, because they believe that
in meditating incessantly on the essence and quali-
ties of God, which they call contemplating God, they
attain the perfection of saints. They are more in-
tolerant than the other sects in Sweden, as they
think that everybody who does not join them will
certainly be damned. Some short time since a pea-
sant named John Olsson, of the village of Otteslaett,
in the province of Gothenburg, cut the throats of his
two children, to, as he said, preserve them from eter-
nal condemnation.
THE ephemeral duration of the periodical press
in France is curiously illustrated by the remarks
which the fact of the great Gallic literary serial, the

THE PRESS.

Revue des Deux Mondes, has actually reached its
thirty-fourth year has elicited from the Paris press.
The journals speak of this event as well nigh unpre-
cedented, and comment upon it as a wonder. Com-
paring this period with the date of the best-known
English periodicals, we find that the Edinburgh
Review is just 50 years old; the Quarterly, 44;
the New Monthly Magazine, 33; Blackwood, 38 ;
and Fraser, 24.

ON SATURDAY LAST A SELECT DRAWING-ROOM
ENTERTAINMENT was given at the London Mechanics'
Institute, Chancery-lane, by the members of the
Jerrold Dramatic Club, assisted by several eminent
vocalists, for the benefit of the widow and four chil
dren of the late William Willis, a compositor, many
years employed at the Shipping Gazette. The pro-
gramme was gone through in a manner reflecting
the highest credit on the parties concerned ; and the
audience appeared highly delighted with the even-
ing's entertainment. Between 700 and 800 persons
were present, and it is stated that there will be a
handsome surplus for the widow.
THE EQUESTRIAN STATUETTE OF THE QUEEN by
Mr. Thorneycroft, which was submitted to her Ma-
jesty and the Prince last week, and elicited warm
commendation, is being executed for the Art-Union
of London in bronze for prizes.
MR. ADAMS gives his annual music ball, for the
eighteenth year in regular well.approved succession,
at Willie's Rooms, on Tuesday next, the 21st inst.