The Catholic World Volume Ii Part 108

"_Donnerwetter!_" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the now infuriated _rentier_; "this is too much of a good thing. Just send round for my banker and he will tell you who and what I am. I'll sue you, sir--I'll sue you, sir, as sure as you are born," repeated the Herr, growing more exasperated every moment.

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The superintendent, like most men of his profession, was well versed in physiognomy, and could read the features of the human face and interpret their varied expressions. "This is not feigned anger," he said to himself.

The banker was sent for, and identified the prisoner as his friend Herr Richter. As a matter of course the wealthy gentleman escaped the grasp of the Philistines.

On leaving the beetle-browed gateway of the police barracks the Herr breathed freely again, rejoicing that matters had turned out no worse in that empire of suspicion and caprice. He moved along through the princ.i.p.al thoroughfare of the Austrian capital, pondering over his recent unpleasant adventure. At length he called a cab to take him to his club, where he might drown the indignity of the morning in a b.u.mper of Tokay or Johannisberg, and invite oblivion by devouring a good dinner. Hardly, however, had he placed his foot on the step than he was forced deep down into the vehicle by a mysterious personage at his back, who, whispering to the driver, "To the police station!"

enters the cab also. Speechless and aghast as though a spectre were the intruder, the unfortunate Herr Richter looked wildly at his compulsory companion.

"Sir," said the spectre--

"I know all you are going to say," feebly remarked the desperate Richter, cursing his fate.

"_Of course_ you know," sneered the spectre at his side, who, however, is no spectre, but a jolly-booking individual in the prime of manhood.

"_Of course_ you know." And with this he dives his hand into his pocket, and drags forth the fatal warrant.

"All right!" groans out the inevitable captive, with whom despair was fast degenerating into recklessness. "All right, you need not take the trouble to read every trait. I have read the account myself. It is very correct, wonderfully correct, terribly correct."

"For a gentleman of your profession," observed the portly detective, "you are really very civil. Half a dozen such as you would marvellously improve the manners of our modern _chevaliers d'industrie_. I say, old boy," continued the pleasant thief-catcher, poking the unresisting Herr in the ribs, "you ought to think it over, and exert yourself to instill a little politeness into your tribe.

It's a large section of the community, you know. If yon get out again, think over my advice."

The only reply of Herr Richter was a faint, helpless smile.

Arrived at the station, a general shout of laughter greeted the captor and the captured.

The latter seated himself in a chair, and, composing his thoughts for a desperate harangue, thus addressed the commissioners present:

"Gentlemen, here I am again, and here I am resolved to remain. As it is, I should not be safe anywhere else a quarter of an hour until arrested and taken to the station by _all_ your detectives one after the other. Calculating from to-day's experience, and forming a moderate estimate of the rate of locomotion at which I could proceed under the circ.u.mstances, it would take me a fortnight to get home and bury myself from the now hated gaze of mankind. You will therefore have the kindness to let me keep you company and make the personal acquaintance of each member of your force, who will then, I hope, be able to recognize me when he sees me in the streets."

The commissioner-in-chief regretted that he could not a.s.sent to the Herr's proposition. "Impossible! it would never do, my dear sir," he informed the astounded Richter, "for a civilian, even a man of your respectability and appearance, to know all the detectives; the state itself would be endangered. However," he added very graciously, "I will give you a certificate, under {713} my hand and seal, that you are not the man you have been taken for; and this will make, I hope, as far as lies in my power, the _amende honorable_."

"A ticket-of-leave?"

"_Comme vous voulez_."

Poor Richter surrendered unconditionally, glad, like the Bishop of Hereford, "that he could so get away." Never from that hour did he lose sight of that precious "ticket-of-leave," the prison release of the Austrian Scotland Yard. He always carried it about with him as a kind of amulet to charm away the too active _agens de police_. In his last will and testament he inserted a special clause, ordering that the old leather sheath, containing the official permit, should be placed in his coffin.

"Who knows how many a fix it may yet help me out of?" was written in the margin with his own hand.

Why should not I, then, do like Herr Richter? thought your humble servant, as he still lay awake. If ever the dastardly hand of a peeler be laid on my shoulder, such shall be my first step. Pshaw! why should I not take time by the forelock? why should I not go that very morning to Scotland Yard and acquaint the commissioners that my counterfeit was at large, and might commit some fearful atrocity, some terrible crime, and so beg for a ticket of recognition--a ticket-of-leave?

Alas! whilst I was putting on the breastplate and buckling on my armor against imaginary foes, I had forgotten the real danger that encompa.s.sed me. Whilst I was congratulating myself on the ingenious dispensation I was to obtain from the police, I forgot that I had not yet obtained a dispensation from the partner of my joys and sorrows who was calmly reposing by my side. Calmly reposing, I say, for nothing seemed to disturb her. There are natures, it appears to me, whose repose nothing _can_ break, and it is exactly that cla.s.s of natures which can most easily and effectually disturb the peace of others. It is a mighty faculty, and was possessed, _a merveille_, by Mrs. Sam.

When she woke I meekly broached my idea of police protection, thereby intending by a side-wind to establish my spotless innocence before her. Granted the necessity of police protection, the corollary would be that the story of the opera and the countess was all a myth. Mrs.

Sam let me run the whole tether of suggestion with surprising complacency. I almost felt I was triumphant.

"Mr. Samuel----, you may be guilty of whatever folly you please; it is nothing strange to you," she began in her most stately and cutting manner; "but if you think of bamboozling me and throwing me off the scent, you have mistaken your woman. The herring to trail across my path must be stronger flavored than the one you have in hand if you would turn me from the pursuit. Justice I am resolved to have, and will sift the matter to the bottom. It is not yet time to get up, and I wish to finish my sleep. After breakfast, with your kind _permission_ (oh the agony of that irony!) we will together call on the countess. She, perhaps, may be able to explain."

I knew the countess had left town; but I did not dare to say so, and hypocritically a.s.sented to Mrs. Sam's proposal. She was furious when she learnt that the countess was from home. "How long had she been from home?" "A fortnight," was the testimony of the butler. "Has she not been in town since?" "No." "Was she not in town on Monday?"

"Certainly not." How freely I breathed as this witness gave his involuntary and corroborative evidence in my favor. Mrs. Sam turned round upon me with an incredulous smile. "I condone it this time," she graciously observed as we descended the steps, which reminded me very forcibly of the verdict of the Cornish jury--"We find the prisoner _not_ guilty, only we advise him not to do it again."

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MISCELLANY.

_An Intermittent Fountain_--M. l'Abbe Laborde, writing to _Les Mondes_, describes a simple apparatus for producing an intermittent fountain. It consists of an inverted flask fitted with a cork, through which pa.s.s two tubes of unequal length. The longer reaches nearly to the bottom of the flask, and outside has a length of some twenty inches. The shorter tube merely pierces the cork, and does not extend to any length inside, and outside it ends immediately in a jet, which can be curved round. The flask is filled with water, fitted with the two tubes, and then, with the finger on the shorter tube, is inverted, plunging the end of the longer tube in a vessel of water. The instrument may now be fixed in this position, as an intermittent jet of water begins to flow at once, continuing until the flask is empty.

The column of water in the longer tube will be seen to be alternately rising and falling, from which phenomena an explanation has been given of the cause of the intermittent flow.

_On Phosphatic Deposits Recently Discovered in North Wales, by Dr.

Aug. Voelcker._--An extensive mine, containing several phosphatic minerals, was accidentally discovered early last year by Mr. Hope Jones, of Hooton, Ches.h.i.+re, whilst he was searching for other minerals in the neighborhood of Cwmgynen, about sixteen miles from Oswestry.

Mr. Hope Jones found the phosphatic mine to be continuous for more than a mile, and to come within twelve feet of the surface. It is not far from the clay slate and lead bearing district of Llangrynag. The strata (slaty shale) contain several beds of contemporaneous felspathic ash and scoriae, and the usual fossils of the Llandillo series are found, but not in great numbers. The strata are vertical, and run east to west, or, more correctly speaking, fifteen degrees north of west (magnetic). A true vein, or fissure containing vein deposit, partially metallic, divides two phosphatic deposits. One of them is nearly three yards in thickness, and embodies phosphatic limestone beds, containing from ten to upwards of thirty-five per cent, of phosphate of lime. The other, and more valuable deposit, is a yard and a half thick, and consists of a black, graphitic shale, largely impregnated with phosphate of lime. This deposit is free from carbonate of lime, and much richer in phosphate of lime than the first-mentioned deposit. In specimens taken at a depth of about twelve feet from the surface, Dr. Voelcker found from 54 to 56 per cent. of phosphate of lime in this phosphatic shale. At a greater depth the shale becomes richer in phosphates, and, consequently, more valuable.

In the deeper specimens the proportions of phosphate of lime amounted to 64-1/2 per cent. This phosphatic mine is readily accessible, and naturally drainable to a depth of about 500 miles, and contains many hundred thousand, if not millions, of tons of valuable phosphatic minerals. The discovery of this extensive mine in England appears to be of great importance to the English agriculturist, who at the present time consumes annually many tons of phosphatic minerals in the shape of superphosphate and similar artificial manures.

_Belgian Records_.--The Royal Historical Commission of Belgium, which for some years past has been doing good service by publis.h.i.+ng records and indexes of the doc.u.ments relating to the domestic history of Belgium, held its usual quarterly meeting a few weeks back. M.

Galeshoot presented a copy of the "_Livre des Foudataires_" of John III., Duke of Brabant, copies of which were ordered to be distributed to the scientific and other bodies ent.i.tled to receive the publications of the commission. At the same time, M. Piot, chief keeper of the archives, submitted a proposal to publish the chartulary of the abbey of St. Trond, which was founded in the year 660. The doc.u.ments of which the chartulary is composed are of high interest, and commence in the eighth century. They {715} throw much light on the civil and religious history, manners and customs, and inst.i.tutions of the middle ages.

_Sun-Spot Period_.--Professor Wolf, of Zurich, has undertaken the laborious work of determining the number of Sun spots at the dyouifferent periods when the planets, more especially Jupiter, are in perihelion and aphelion. In the year 1859 he expressed his opinion that Jupiter determines the leading character of the sun-spot curve, that Saturn causes small alterations in the height and length of the undulations, and that the earth and Venus determine the indentations of the curve. More recently. Mr. Carrington and Mr. De la Rue have returned to the same subject, and the latter, in conjunction with Mr.

Stewart, has found that when "the sun or a part of the solar surface approaches a planet, the spots disappear, or the brightness increases." It is the intention of Professor Wolf to calculate for every five days a mean relative number of sun-spots during the period 1811-1865. He gives the results of a portion of his labors in showing the connection of the sun-spot period of 11.11 years with the revolution of Jupiter between the years 1805 and 1816. The numbers given are certainly very remarkable, for whilst only 21 spots were visible soon after the perihelion of Jupiter in 1809, 64 were seen in 1815 at the time of the aphelion. The progression of the numbers is otherwise very remarkable.

_Plastic Wood_.--Among new inventions we hear of plastic wood, or rather of a method by which wood can be rendered plastic, and so applied to various novel purposes. The method consists in forcing dilute hydrochloric acid, under pressure, into the cells of the wood, and continuing it a sufficient time, according to the quality of the wood operated on. When completely saturated with the acid, the wood is washed in water, and subjected to pressure, which presses the fibres close together without breaking them, and reduces it to about a tenth of its original bulk, and the size and form thus impressed on it remain unaltered. Thus, if pressed in dies, the details retain all the sharpness ever afterwards, unless the wood should get soaked with water. Wood treated in this way is particularly well suited for carvings, as it cuts under the tool almost as easily as cheese; and it may be made ornamental, for various dyes can be forced in to color it at the same time with the acid. But it can also be made hard as flint and incombustible, by forcing in a preparation of water-gla.s.s or soluble flint. From all this, it seems likely that wood may be employed in new ways for ornamental and useful purposes.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: Its Const.i.tution, Tendencies, and Destiny. By O. A. Brownson, LL.D. 8vo., pp. 435. New York: P. O'Shea. 1866.

This book, which was merely announced in our January number, is the fruit of Dr. Brownson's mature age, ripe experience, great learning, and extraordinary intellectual and literary culture and discipline. It would seem that his life-long labors as a philosophical and critical writer had been simply a course of preparation for this crowning achievement, and that nothing less severe could have trained his mind to grasp and handle the great principles involved with such masterly power, ease, perspicuity, and completeness.

The questions discussed are: Government; the Origin of Government; Const.i.tution of Government; the United States; Const.i.tution of the United States; Secession; Reconstruction; Political Tendencies; Destiny--Political and Religious. The argument throughout is sustained and connected in such a perfect manner, and the connection between the divisions of the subject so thoroughly welded, that it is impossible to make extracts at all within the compa.s.s of this notice which would give a correct idea of the work. It must be read and studied to appreciate its beauty, scope, and cogency.

Government and the origin of government are a.n.a.lyzed and placed on their historical and metaphysical basis. {716} The const.i.tution of the United States is explained in a manner never before attempted or approached. The relations of the United States to the states in the Union, and their relations to her as a unit, are for the first time made clear and intelligible, and secession, while dealt with charitably as respects individuals and the erroneous premises honestly entertained by mult.i.tudes both South and North, is logically proved to be the highest of political crimes--"_state suicide_.'" The const.i.tutional and Christian method of restoration is pointed out, and the glorious destiny of the country painted on the sky of the future with artistic beauty and prophetic grandeur.

The style is remarkable for its strength, density, clearness, and purity. It supports and carries forward the immense weight and volume of thought, argument, and historical and philosophical ill.u.s.tration without apparent effort, and transmits the author's meaning directly to the intellect, like a ray of light pa.s.sing through a Brazilian pebble to the retina. If Dr. Brownson had done nothing else, his philological labors would ent.i.tle him to the lasting admiration of every lover of pure English.

We do not expect the work to be popular in the common sense of the term, or that it will escape the vituperation of narrow-minded men and those who have used all their feeble power in vain to pull down the structure of const.i.tutional unity. But we do believe that it will be read and appreciated by a very large cla.s.s of right-minded, thinking men South and North, and exert an immense influence in the direction of complete reconciliation and reconstruction by demonstrating the absolutely illogical character of secession, while it does justice to the honesty, manhood, courage, military skill, and fort.i.tude displayed by the Southern people. It is the logical defeat of the rebellion. It places Dr. Brownson in the first rank as a Catholic statesman, doctor of laws, and fervent, consistent, patriot. He is the citizen who never despaired of the republic. Every man who wishes to understand the history and politics of the country must study this book, and if we are to realize the destiny distinctly indicated by the finger of Providence, the principles which it has established must become the ruling principles of the statesmen of the country. The glove is fairly thrown to the champions of the various specious and popular forms of error, falsehood, and fanaticism, both civil and religious, and they will be compelled to take it up and defend themselves successfully or be condemned by default in the final verdict of mankind. The typography, binding, and general execution are equal to the best London books.