The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-22 00:00:00

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FINANCES. OF AUSTRIA,

Among the countries requiring loans, there are
none whose wants are more urgent than those of
Austria. Her financial position, indeed, is so bad
as to preclude the possibility of external assistance
being rendered to her. In a total readjustment of
hope ofer
extricationcialaliafis from
eals
decay
yslemmust be found the
and bankruptcy,
heronly
c the
or g
anic changes thus required are of such
I magnitude as to demand the exercise of the boldest
statesmanship, even if the disposition to enter upon
them were known to exist. Five years back—
namely, 1857, the revenue of
£3,000,000,
4 the empire was
£29,800,000, and the expenditure
showing a deficit of £4,200,000, and this state of
affairs has since become worse and worse. The de-
ficit in 1858 was £3,600,000, in ( y
ear
the war in Italy) it was £24,400,000, and n
1860,
£6,600,000. These sums reach a total of nearly
1859 the
i of
£40,000,000, and during the past year the position
became still more disastrous. According to a report
from Mr. Julian Fane, the secretary of embassy at
Vienna, the anticipated deficit of the year 1861 was
computed in the Budget laid before the enlarged
Reichsrath at £4,000,000, and on the 17th of Jan.
last the Minister of Finance announced that this
sum had been very considerably overstepped, that
the expenses of the army had exceeded the amount
contemplated by £5,000,000, that those of the navy
had proved nearly double the intended limits, and
that altogether the outlay of the State had been
£5,900,000 beyond the total first stated; while the
revenues on the other hand had fallen short by
£1,000,000. The actual denuit, therefore, was
raised from £4,000,000 to £11,000,000. Under these
conditions the estimates for the current year (1862)
can command little reliance, and they are admitted
by the Government to be purely conjectural. They
are based, indeed, on the assumption that circum-
stances will permit of the reduction of the army to
a peace footing, and of an economical administra-
tion of the Naval Department. Supposing these
objects to be attained, the results which both sides
of the national account will present at the end of
, the year are estimated by the Government as fol-
lows:

Professor Owen, in his
Museum in Jermyn-street y
formation of the feathers of birds;AheArmElion.
and hatching of eggs, the building of nests, and the
principles of classification. He described the coni-
cal, highly vascular germs of the down, the moulds
from which the feathers spring, and the third stage
in which the quill-feathers and the colour of the
plumage are completed. The clothing of birds and
the supply of quill-feathers for the purposes of
flight is repeated more than once or twice in the
course of the year, which is a very exhausting pro-
cess, but it is provided for by their active circula-
tion, and by the quantity of food they eat, for no
class of animals eat so much as airds, nor are more
active in its pursuit. When the .1-Jutaage of the
male and female diff.,r, the feathers of young birds
resemble those of the females, and in those .pecies
in which the plumage of the male and female is
alike, that of the young is different from either.
After mentioning the process of change of colour in
ohi
the feathers, Professor Owen stated that the 3.ounff
birds of the white and of the black Tau can
scarcely be distinguished, and it is not until they
growt
h e
onef a larget
o species white tesi zane
of
and in
swanan t t thehet other
atitgreyehr
acolour
toa
bblacka
ek changes.lll
a peculiar neck
in
and a white body
e cygnets arc perfectly white.
In explaining the phenomena of the reproduction of
birds, Professor Owen stated
that the yolk of the
egg is first formed, and that the white consists of two
layers, which at the broad end of the egg enclose a
small quantity of air to supply the chick before
it
bursts the shell. The small speck of the yolk from
which the chick is first developed, and the yolk itself,
arelighter than the other parts of the egg, the yellow
colour being caused by the presence of an oily
matter, which gives it buoyancy, and in any posi-
tion of the egg brings it near the upper part of the
shell to receive heat from the body of the hen dur-
ing incubation. The yolk is afterwards included in
the body of the chick, and affords it nourishment
until it is hatched. An Australian bird, of which
there are specimens in the Zoological Gardens, lays
its eggs in dung and in decaying vegetable matter,
and leaves them there to be hatched; and Professor
Owen said it was interesting to observe the bird
adhering to the same habit in this country. The
eggs were laid with one end upwards, and the chicks
when hatched wore feathered, and could fly and
pick their food, and clean their feathers as well as
other young birds at least a minth old. Another
Australian bird, which he called the bower-bird,
adopts a very remarkable method to gain the affec-
tions of the female. It builds a large bower, the
entrance to which it decorates with the gayest fea-
thers collected in the woods, and then endeavours to
allure the female to the bower by fascinating atti-
tudes and by various adjustments of its plumage.
After the birds are mated, the bower is neglected,
and is made no use of in the formation of the nest.
A similar love of display is seen in the jackdaw and
magpie in this country, and Professor Owen sug-
gested that they might have been bower-builders
when England was in a thinly populated condition.
He concluded the lecture by pointing out the (lie.
tinguishing characters of the feet and claws of birds,
and the corresponding peculiarities in the formation
of their beaks, on which their classification by
naturalists principally depends.

.IMSTO.RATION OF TILE CHAPTER-
HOUSE, WBSTMINS2BB.

The Dean of Westminster has called a meeting
of noblemen and gentlemen for Saturday next, to be
held in the Chapter-house, to take into considera-
tion the steps which are desirable in order to call
public attention to the ruinous condition of that
beautiful building, with a view to its restoration.
This most elegant structure, which is justly regarded
as one of the finest examples of early English archi-
tecture, was built by King Henry ill., about the
year 1250. It is thus earlier than the Chapter-house
of Salisbury, but it has suffered from more than
five centuries of neglect and barbarous adupta.ien to
every-day uses, and has been reduced to a n.:ero
wreck. The main features have, however, hem dili-
gently traced by Mr. G. G. Scott. The Chapter-house
was made over by the Convent of Westminster for
the use of the House of Commons early in the
reign of Edward 111., with the express condition
that the Crown should keep it in repair. In the
time of Edward VI., the Commons having removed
to St. Stephen's Chapel, the Chapter-house came
into the hands of the Government. It has been ever
since employed as a record-office, and it is in adapt-
ing it to this purpose that it has been reduced to its
present unsightly state. It is an octagon of 18 feet
diameter, and had a vaulted roof which was sup-
ported by an elegant clustered shaft of Purbeck
marble. The windows were of great beauty, and the
walls beneath were occupied by arcaded stalls, the
backs of which were filled with paintings. Groups
of statuary adorned the doorways, and the flooring
was of encaustic tiles of the most rich and varied
-designs. The building suffered only from neglect
until the beginning of the 18th century, but it was
then wantonly reduced to its present state in order
to fit it for a record repository. The vaulted roof,
being considered dangerous, was destroyed and
cheaply replaced by a flat ceiling. The walls, rich
in most tasteful statuary and paintings, Were con-
cealed by presses and a gallery; the pavement was
boarded over, and thus fortunately preserved. lhe
bsa p y
sea.rtinconcsoecicueanleede
windows were blocked up, partly with brick and
partly with their own tracery. Nothing, in fact,
epositor
was left visible of its original beau.tyall except
ne the
cbeynatrarol
usghhafbt,uaucn
enerall r y for
documents bulkhead
e ovenacdhrounda p thatte Chapter-house,
hwa
tsouse,
and nothing is
mroefoctvohreedds fromth epublic
erection t
hoe the
ocu ents new
have now been re-
d
wanted but funds to enable its restoration to be
accomplished: The proposed meeting to effect this
important object will be held at half-past 2 o'clock
on Saturday.