The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 16, 1802,

THE JAPANESE AMBASADORS.

The Japanese Ambassadors were received on Sun-
day by the Emperor at the Tuileries. At half•past
two five Court carriages went to the Hotel du Louvre
to convey them to the Palace. The cortege entered
the yard of the Tuileries by the Arc de Triomphe,
troops being drawn up at each side to pay them
military honours. The first carriage contained
two noble Japanese officers, entitled to wear two
swords, who carried a coffer containing the
letter written by the Emperor of Japan to his
Majf sty Napoleon 111. In the next carriage,
drawn by six horses, were the second and third Am-
bassadors, attended by Baron Sibuet, secretary for
the introduction of foreign representatives ; in the
next, also drawn by six horses, was the first Am-
bassador, with the title of Minister Plenipotentiary,
accompanied by Baron Lepic, introducer of ambas-
sadors ; and in two other carriages, with two horses
each, were other officers, and the interpreters of the
Embassy. They alighted under the entrance of the
Pavillon d'Horloge, and there fixed in their belts
the second sword, which in Japan is a mark of high
distinction. They were received at the foot of the
grand staircase, on which were ranged the Cent
Gerdes, by the Duke de Cambaceres, Grand Master
of the Ceremonies. After having passed through
the Galerie de la Paix, and the magnificent rooms
of the Palace, they were introduced into the Salle
du Trone. The Emperor, the Empress, and. the
Prince Imperial were there seated in state, sur-
rounded by the whole Court. The gentlemen were

in full official costume, and the ladies in Court
dresses and trains. The Chief of the Embassy, after
having made a profound obeisance to their Majes-
ties, delivered the following address in Japanese,
which was repeated in French by one of the inter-
preters :

" Sire,—According to the orders of his Majesty
the Tycoon, we have the honour of presenting our-
selves this day at the audience of your Majesty.
" Since the conclusion of the treaty between
France and Japan relations tend to develope them-
selves more and more between those two countries;
our Sovereign has consequently charged us to
deliver a personal letter to your Majesty, and to
express to you, at the same time, the sincerity of
his devotedness and his desire to see the treaty
maintained.

" Our Sovereign has ordered us to respectfully
make known to your Majesty that he attaches
great value to the fact that, by your Imperial
kindness, the Embassy sent to Europe is to be con-
veyed back to Japan on board a French vessel of war.
"We conclude by expressing the best wishes for
the welfare of your Majesty and of your august
family, as well as for the happiness and prosperity
of the French nation."

The Emperor replied in the following terms :
" I am happy to see for the first time in France
the representatives of the Emperor of Japan.
" The treaty which we have entered into together
will, I hope, lead to favourable results for the two
countries.

"I doubt not that your residence in France will
give you a just idea of the grandeur of our nation ;
the reception which you will here meet with, and
the freedom which you will enjoy, will convince y ou
that hospitality is one of the first virtues of a civi-
lised nation.

" I will willingly have you conveyed back to
your country by a vessel of war, and you will carry
with the remembrance of your voyage to Europe
the assurance of my desire to keep up the most
friendly relations with Japan."
The Embassy then retired, and was conveyed
.back with the same ceremonial to the Hotel du
Louvre. The members of the Embassy wore cos-
tumes of the richest kind, and their arms were mag-

nifieent. The valuable presents for their Majesties,
which had been sent via Suez, have not yet arrived.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXIIIBMON.

It seems difficult to take an impartial view of
the great question whether the Exhibition will or
will not be ready and in order on the day fixed
for the opening. Of course, as to the opening
there is no matter of doubt. Ready or not ready
the public will be admitted by the Ist of May.
What is trembling in the balance is the complete-
ness or otherwise of the display which will then be
presented to their view. If a chance visitor to the
Eastern or Western Annexes, or the most complete
section of the building—the English half—were
asked to give his opinion, we expect he would un-
hesitatingly declare that it was next to impossible
to make a show even by June. But those who see
day by day the progress which is made in a few
hours would be likely to take a much more sanguine
view of the case, though even to the most sanguine
it seems difficult to believe that a great deal—a
very great deal—of work will not have to be done
after the opening. The foreign side, in spite of
the exertions of Mr. Owen, the superintendent of
this division, have quite lost the long start they
had of our countrymen, and are now confessedly
behindhand in their work, and in several important
courts in this class not a dozen cases are in the
building. This backwardness is especially evident
in the picture galleries. All the English pictures,
owing to the care and diligence of Mr. Redgrave,
have long since been placed on the walls; but the
galleries on the foreign side are still almost bare.
Stringent notices have been posted as to the removal
of packingcases and completion of trophies in the
nave before the 26th of this month ; but even
notices from the Commissioners cannot compass im-
possibilities, and such it seems to be to expect that
the foreign side can be ready in time. In respect
of the arrangement of this half of the nave, how-
ever, we cannot help thinking that the foreigners'
plans will contrast very favourably with ours. The
English end of the building is, as a rule, filled with
the finest trophies which the arts or manufactures
of this country can produce, but, with rare excep-
tions, they are so crowded together as quite to spoil
their effect, and in some cases—as in that of Mr.
Wilkins's mast of a light ship—a really coarse and
unsightly obstruction is placed vis-a-vis to some of
the most elaborate and artistic designs in the build-
ing. On the foreign side all this is avoided. Ample
passage-ways are kept, the trophies are few but rich
and well chosen, and are placed in such a manner
as to harmonise admirably. Yesterday the model
of the Warrior by the Thames Iron Works, with a
large section model, showing the manner of build-
ing, was placed in the nave. Such trophies as these
and others exhibited by distinct trades deserve the
best places that can be given, but the feeling is
strong and unanimous, even among the executive
staff of the building, against permitting the mast of
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the nave, will
scarcely be visible at all.

In philosophical and scientific instruments of
all kinds the English portion of the Exhibition
will be unusually rich. These are included in
Classes 13 and 25, which are placed under the super-
tendence of Mr.C. R.Weld. Class 13 (philosophical
instruments and the processes depending upon their
use) comprises almost every description of the
newest and most improved kinds of philosophical,
optical, and telegraphic apparatus, models of en-
gines, &c. Among the exhibitors are all the great
makers of instruments in England, with a large
number shown by scientific gentlemen. The im-
mense number of inventions devised within the last
ten years upon electric telegraph'', each of which is
u an improvement upon the other, will
successively
ecsetersiskilyivnegly illustrated by the various collections
exhibited by the Universal Telegraph, the British
and Irish, the Submarine, and other companies.
The British and Irish Company exhibit an in.
genious and novel system of controlling turret and

other clocks, patentedby Mr. L. Jones, of Chester,
unlike any previouslyin use; the clocks being con-
trolled only, and not /Loved either in whole or part,
by electricity. The tiree clocks shown are in all
respects, excepting tI pendulum, of ordinary con-
struction, and will go without the electric current,
keeping their own lima The pendulum is a hollow
electro-magnet, oscillate gover or around permanent
magnets. When a currant is sent, second by second
from a controlling cloec,
the temporary attraction
between the electro-nagnet and: the permanent
magnet compels the astrolled pendulum to copy
the vibrations of the eel ller, even thaugh there
may be a discrepancy (f several minutes in their
daily independent rates The above company also
send the acoustic telegraph, a clever and extensively
used instrument, invented by Sir Charles and Mr. E.
Bright. By its means a telegraph clerk, in taking off
a message, writes it himself without being obliged to
raise his eyes from tlb paper, the signals being
pair of bells of different
il a
er side of his writing-desk.
tones,produce oned b
placedy
on
jt
The other telegraph instruments shown and in use
by the company consist of Highton'e needle tele-
graph telegraph. There
transmitting relay, patented by the
is
also anda
Messrs. Bright for tus, in connection with a
needle telegraph, by mesas of which the taking off
of a message at an internediate station is rendered
unnecessary, extra batters power being used instead.
We also notice a rareflecr-aii lightning protector,
patented by these gentlemen, and specimens of in-
sulators used by the company on their extensive
lines of road telegraph throughout the kingdom.
Professor Wheatstone's most ingenious, but most
simple, telegraph for domestic use is to be shown in
working order. Mr. Walker, the telegraph engineer
of the South-Eastern Railway, will show the appa-
ratus in use throughout the lines of the company
for train signalling. The most important feature
in this valuable apparatus is its extreme simplicity,
being almost destitute of mechanism in order to
lessen the chance of its getting out of repair. Mr.
Walker also exhibits a graphite battery in work,
remarkable for its simplicity of action, and the con-
stancy of the power evoked ; an audible system of
train-signals; an index for counting, and an appa-
ratus for recording them. None of these most
valuable contrivances are patented. Messrs. Elliot
a number of electrometers of the most delicate kind;
large electrifying machines, with ebonite discs ; im-
proved air-pumps on a large scale ; drawing instru-
ments in aluminium,
and shell mt
iniunil
;bronze,
&c. ; micrometer
gauges
for h
improved quadrants for
levelling rifled cannon; and a large and very beau-
tiful sectional model of a steam engine, with all the
latest improvements. Messrs. Murray and Heath
t
will show an improvement upon the electric lamp,
by which the electrodes are kept at
any clockwork
o r dis-
tancesmotio.
nwitAhnoutimtphreov eimproved
interventioninst
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nfor observingo f k
the circular polarisation of liquids, and an entirely
new reflecting stereoscopic microscope, as might be
expected, form a most prominent feature in this
class. All the principal makers of these important
instruments, which have, since their great improve-
ment, developed microscopic study into a distinct
science, show their most valuable and simple
apparatus, from the costly binocular instrument
which defines the globules of the blood or the
circulation of vegetables, down to the cheap but
serviceable instrument for the young student or
schoolboy. The collection of improved binocular
microscopes will be one of the finest of the kind
ever seen. In this class also will be shown some
exquisitely-adjusted balances and weights bal-
ances which the 100th part of a grain would turn
at once. Mr. Warren De la Rue exhibits a most
interesting series of photographs, showing the pro-
gress of the late total eclipse of the sun, as seen in
Spain. Among the chief exhibitors in this class
also are the great makers, Messrs. Negretti and
Zambra. Their show of scientific and philosophical
instruments will be one of the most complete and
extensive of all. Some of their instruments are
entirely new, and most of the important ones, upon
the instant action of which scientific observation
depends, are self-registering. Among these will be
shown a thermometer so exquisitely sensitive as to
rise at once upon the approach of the hand within
two or three inches. This was made specially to
test the temperature of the body and coils of the
python during her attempted incubation at the
Zoological Gardens. This class of philosophical in-
struments also contributes trophies to the nave,
among them the large telescopes by Messrs. Grubb,
Dalmeyer, and Cooke. Lighthouse lanterns, with
all the rt cent improvements, are also shown, includ-
ing, among others, the execrable red post and ball
we have already referred to. The now Observatory,
under the management of a committee of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, send a
beautiful series of instruments for the automatic
registration of the variations of magnetometers.
These present some convenient, though not very im-
portant modifications of Mr. Brook's ingenious in-
struments as employed at the Observatories of
Greenwich and Paris. Class 25 is also under the
care of Mr. Weld, and includes skins, furs, feathers,
and hair. There will really be a splendid show of
articles in this section. One very fine trophy will
be formed entirely of ostrich feathers, and another,
almost equally beautiful, of hair and hair or-
naments. Messrs. Nicholay, the Court furriers,
also exhibit a splendid trophy in this class in the
nave. It will contain specimens of the rarest
and most valuable kinds of skins from the tropics
to the Arctic circle. The great feature of this
trophy will be a Royal Bengal tiger endeavouring
to free itself from the attack and coils of a huge
boa-constrictor. The boa which is here represented
as making this attack was alive and coiling about
less than four months ago. In other parts of the
trophy will be placed the rarest and most costly
descriptions of fur-lined coats, cloaks, and mantles ;
army regulation outfits as supplied to the Crimean
and Canadian troops—Russian and North American
sable and ermine circular cloaks, stuffed specimens
of the rarest of all the rare skins, those of the silver
and white Arctic fox, stuffed groups of ermines,
leopards, &c. In the centre of the trophy will be
exhibited a large full carpet of splendid design and
tepvhin and Sons are
workmanship, with rugs, representing leopards
almost lifelike in their bold relief. In leather (class
display indeed, in-
undressed, and
c2l6a)di thereag a
all
will ikindsllbe ofa hidesvery goodof
dressed,
essed,
showing
consisting of an
assortment of morocco, roan, and skiver leathers,
gloving leathers from Cape sheep, calf, lamb, and
kid skins. This trophy is surmounted by a fallow
deer, with a group of beads of the. animals whose
eB gton
hides are chiefly used in the leather trade. America
at the last moment has applied for and obtained
space for exhibition, but the application has been
so long delayed that when it came it was not in the
power of the Royal Commissioners to give them
any division in the foreign countries, all the space
in which having been allotted and occupied. For-
tunately, however, space was found in the south-
east corner of the building between the entrance of
the British side and the carriage department. The
show of goods from tho States which are to
occupy this portion of the building is, as might
be expected, neither large nor important, when
compared with what would have been sent but
for the outbreak of the civil, war. No tenders
have yet been received for tne right of taking
photographs in the building during the
time of the Exhibition. Some of the first
firms in the kingdom are 'willing, we be-
lieve, to give the Commissioners very large sums
for this privilege, but all are at present withheld
from making an offer by the most absurd condition
with which they are a clogge--namely, that the
Commissioners will not provide any space or room
for photographers, or for their processes of develop-
ing or preparing their plates or otherwise, all of
which processes must be carried on beyond the
limits of the Exhibition buildings. If this rule is

adhered to, not a single shilling will be offered
for the privilege, for, as any practical photographer
can tell the Commissioners, the so called privilege
of taking views will be utterly worthless unless
they have some place in the building in which to
prepare and develop their plates. In the form of
tender issued there is no date put as to the time
before which the offer is to be sent in, and, above
all, the photographers most justly complain that
they are required, when stating the sum which
they are willing to pay for the right, to state also
how many copies of every photograph " which may
be taken in the building they are willing to place
at the disposal of the Commissioners for distribu-
tion, but not for sale." If in the tenders for refresh-
ments the contractor was called upon to specify
how many free dinner tickets each day would be
placed at the disposal of the Commissioners for
distribution but not for sale, the public, we think,
would express their opinion very freely upon the
nature of such an agreement, and we confess we
are at a loss to see the difference in principle between
such an arrangement and that which the Commis-
sioners expect to make with the photographers,

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF TILE

CITY OF LONDON.

At the weekly meeting of the Commissioners of
Sewers, held yesterday—Mr. De Jersey in the chair
—Dr. Letheby, the medical officer, presented his
quarterly report on the sanitary condition of the
City, which was as follows:
"In the winter quarter, which has just expired,
there were 805 births, and 769 deaths in the City.
Both of these numbers are below the average for
the corresponding quarters of the last ten years.
The births, indeed, have declined from 919 to 805,
and the deaths from 840 to 769. As usual, the
largest amount of this reduction has been found in
the central division of the City.
0 The 805 births in the quarter were thus distri-
buted :-326 were in the Eastern Union, 196 in the
Western, and 283 in the Central. These are in the
annual proportion of 31.8 for 1,000 of the inhabi-
tants of the first-named district, 29.3 of the
second, and only 24.4 of the third, making together
a general average of 28.1 for the whole City. In
all England, at this season of the year, the annual
proportion of births is about 36 per 1,000 of the
population. The birth-rate, therefore, in the City
is much below the average. It is right, however,

to mention that the number of births in the last
quarter is greater than than that of the two pre-
ceding years.

" The distribution of the deaths was as follows :
—283 were in the Eastern Union, 199 in the
Western, and 287 in the Central. These numbers
are at the annual rate of 27.4 per 1,000 of the first
named district, 29.8 of the second, and 24.7 of the
third, making together 26.8 for the whole city.
The average death-rate in England in the winter
quarter is 24.8 per 1,000 of the population ; in the
chief towns it is 26.5 per 1,000, and in the country
districts only 22.5. The death-rate of the City has
not, therefore, been above the proportion which is
common to the large towns of England. It has,
however, been somewhat high in the Western sub-
division of the City, and especially in those parts
which are densely overcrowded; but even there,
there is a marked improvement, for the number of
deaths is less than in anfwinter quarter for the last
nine years.

,‘ 284 or about 37 per cent. of all the deaths were
among children of less than five years of age, and
196 or rather more than 24 per cent, among persons
of 60 and upwards. These are nearly in the pro-
portion of former years ; and, as usual, the largest
mortality of children has been in the Eastern Union;
there it has amounted to 45 per cent. of all the
deaths ; whereas in the Western Union, with a po-
pulation almost as dense, it has been only 33 per
cent.

" The chief causes of death are classified in Ta-
ble 111. of the appendix; and it will be seen that
the largest proportion is set down to inflammatory
affections of the lungs, as pneumonia and bronchitis,
which have occasioned about 22 per cent., or nearly
one-fourth of all the deaths ; and the mortality has
been chiefly among infants, showing how, with a
little care, the high mortality of children might be
prevented. Next to this in the order of severity
is phthisis, a disease which causes about 11 per
cent. of all the deaths ; and this, with hydrocepha-
lus, scrofula, and mesenteric disease, the other ma-
ladies of the tubercular class, make about 17 per
cent. of all the deaths. The septic or zymotic dis-
eases have caused 152 deaths, which is nearly one-
fifth of the whole mortality. Of this number 44
were from continued fever, 25 from scarlet fever, 7
from diarrhoea, 7 from measles, 3 from erysipelas,
and 66 from whooping-cough, croup, and diptheria.
Some of these are below the average for the season,
but others are greatly above it. Measles, for ex-
ample, have declined from 23 to 7, and diarrheas
from 10 to 7; but continued fever has risen from
25 to 44; scarlet fever from 18 to 25 ; and whoop-
ing-cough, &c., from 44 to 66, Of all these the in-
crease in continued fever has been the most serious.
As stated in the last quarterly report, it has bedn
gradually progressing in severity since the summer
of last year ; at that time the quarterly return was
only 18 ; and in the winter quarter of 1861 it was
but 19. This indeed has been the proportion of
deaths from it in all the winter quarters of the last
four years, but now it has advanced to 44, which
is the highest mortality since the winter of 1855.
The largest increase in the number of deaths has
been in the central division of the City, which is
not occupied by the poorer classes of the commu-
nity. The houses in this district are well built, are
not over-crowded, and are supposed to have all the
appliances which are necessary for maintaining
their sanitary condition; and yet it is here that the
disease has been most fatal. I alluded to this in
my last quarterly report, and the experience of the
quarter which has just expired confirms the obser-
vations which I then made, namely, that it is not
the poor, but the better classes, which are at pre-
sent the subjects of continued fever. The question
indeed is forced upon us whether the latter are not
worse provided for, in respect- of many sanitary
measures, than the former ; and I submit it for con-
sideration. It deserves to be noticed also that a
large increase in the proportion of deaths from fever
his generally preceded a more fatal epidemic.
" As to the sickness returns for the quarter, they
also have been somewhat larger than the average
for there were 3,223 cases of illness attended among
the poor of the City by the union medical officers.
Of this number 129 were cases of fever and 57 of
andthe
diarrhoea. The fever cases are more than five times
as numerous as they were last winter, although
they are below the average for the corresponding
these
housescases
haveperiod
beenof the last
subjects
off specialour years.
inquiry, of
inAll
in which they occurred were at once carefully in-
spected.

" The meteorology of the quarter is seen in table
IV. It is from observations at Guildhall, under the
superintendence of Mr. Haywood. The mean tem-
perature (42.2 Fahr.) is rather more than 1 deg.
above the average winter temperature in the City,
and it is 4 degrees above the mean temperature at
Greenwich. The highest temperature in the quarter
has been 58.7 : it occurred in the middle of Feb. ;
and the lowest 21.5, in the first week of Jan. The
greatest daily range has been 22.3 deg, and the
average 11 8. The fluctuations of the barometer
have not been very great, but the humidity of the
atmosphere has been excessively high ; for instead
of an average of 83 deg, of saturation it has often
exceeded 90, and the mean has been 89 deg. This
has been occasioned by the unusal rain-fall during
the quarter. Altogether there have been 45 wet
days, and the amount of rain has been about 51 in.
The average number of wet days in the winter
quarter is only 35, and the rain-fall a little less than
4 in.

" The sanitary work of the quarter is as follows