Year: 1860

three degrees lower; while on other davs it
runs up to 80 deg. How we poor mortals
1--we through this sliding scale of temperature
without contracting fatal diseases, is a sub
Ject for speculation. Our constitutions will
prove to be, like an India rubber coat,
weather proof if we suffer no bad results.


Considering the state of the atmosphere for
the past few days, it is a fortunate thing that
New Iorkers are for once this summer in a
state of tranquility The people of leisure
have gone off to the country, as well as many
I people of business, who are taking vacation
through August. There is no new show to
be seen, and no great mental excitement fur
nished by anything, either on or off the bills.
And yet the city is full of strangers, never
more so without any special cause. The i'm
portance of New York as a commercial me.
tropolis wakes greater and greater. To 80
many varieties of climate does she minister
In the matter of trade, that she has ceased to
have a Spring and Fall trade much more dis.
tinct than her Summer and Winter trade
They are fast blending into one continuous
business year. Notwithstanding the heat of
the weather, the theaters are well filled with
strangers, and the companies are doing well
both for themselves and for the public. The
Ravels in particular, drawing crowded houses
by their never firing and mirth-provoking
novelties.


That we are rather mercurial people is
testified to anew by the sudden turn in the
popular feeling toward the great English
ship, which has been drawing from three to
twelve and sixteen thousand visitors day
for two or three weeks The reaction to this
enthusiasm came when on the occasion fher
pleasure excursion to Cape May, her two
thousand passengers were left to shift for
themselves in the matter of anything to eat,
drink, or sleep upon. An Indignation meet
ing on board gave vent to small portion of
the burning indignation of the excursionists :
and altogether the big ship came back with
bad reputation. On the I'd she left this port
for another trip to old Point Comfort, with
only one hundred and eight passengers who,
1T seems from telegraphic dispatch are hay-
ing famous time. Not crowded as the first
excursion was, they on their part can luxuri.
ate in plenty of room and grand sailing at
fifteen knots an hour. While on the part of
the ships directors and caterer, they having
learned lesson from the tremendous growl
which the starved children of Uncle Sam
gave utterance to on former occasion, have
no doubt been laying themselves out" to re.
gain something of the popular favor. In fact
the Cape May affair was a misfortune to the
Great Eastern's prospects. And as this sort
of visitor never comes singly, another mis-
fortune has come upon the heels of the first
one, in the shape of a suit at law for the re-
covery of fifty thousand dollars. 1t seems
that an American patent has been infringed
by the combined use Of the side wheel and
stern screw as a motive power. Our laws
concede to foreign vessels the right to use an
American patent, restricting such use to the
arrival and departure of such vessels from
our ports and do not allow of their traffic in
American waters. The excursion to Cape May
therefore, since it was a money making en-
terprise, was an infringement of the patent of
James E. Smith, of Greenport, New York
This gentleman, it is said, once made applica
tiOn to Brunei and Stephenson to test the
merits of his improvement, which was by
them decided to be impracticable. It's adop-
tion in the construction of the Great Eastern
after such decision was, to say the least,
quite as unfair as complimentary to the
patentee However, we heard nothing of all
this until public curiosity was satisfied and
the public or portion of 1t, had been un-
generously treated on board of her. Then,
as if in speedy retribution, arose the ghost of
n patent, to haunt her with the fear of losing
fifty thousand dollars 1t is also now re-
membcred that the acaUe line in her model
which is the peculiar boast of her builders
was first used by George Steers in a New
Y ork pilot boat, and afterwards in the fa-
nous yacht America; and is now found in
several New York ships, as well as the
steamer Queen City on the western lakes.
Sic transit gloria Brittaaica


We are likely to never get rid of the
japanese question-the $l05 900 being rath-
er large pill for even our Metropolitan
throats yet we shall have to swollow it no
doubt,-for who ever heard of Board of
Aldermen being denied the privilege of dosing
a city with gloves and champagne at this
rate2 Then the Sl3 600 which the JuDanese
presented to the police force has not yet got
into the hands to which it belongs. Perhaps
the city fathers are anticipating the occasion
for more gloves in the prospective visit of
the young English Prince. Beauty before
duty" as the monkey said when he painted
his tail sky-blue. Apropos Of beauty and
the city authorities-it is reported that Mayor
Wood is soon to marry the beautiful, witty
and accomplished sister of Mrs. James Gor-
don Bennett. His ExceLency is one of those
men who have CHANGED to take the tide Of
fortune at its flood


The meteor | wrote you of in my last, has
kept the scientific and curious world in a
murmur of admiration, wonder and applause
ever since Not Il day but furnishes some
! fresh contribution to the stock of theoretical
remark concerning it, 1t is said to have been
about thirty-fve miles high, though in ap
pearance SO near that some people dodged it,
and the masts of some vessels were thought
to be in danger of taking fire from it, a
very fine sight it was, certainly, and worthy