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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



contact with the note, itself yielded a picture 

 of the inscription, showing that the influence 

 from the ink had passed to the zinc plate. 

 It was noteworthy that the signature was 

 not in writing ink. A cutting from the 

 Times, the paper being transparent, showed 

 a picture of the printing on both sides; the 

 picture, moreover, was reversible, showing 

 that a perfect picture of both sides of the 

 paper had been impressed on the one plate. 

 This interesting phenomenon is, however, 

 not quite explained, but the great amount of 

 work he has done leads him to the provi- 

 sional opinion that the effect is due to the 

 evolution of hydrogen peroxide." 



Scientific "Trade Hunting."— The re- 

 cent movement in England toward the estab- 

 lishment by the Government of a commercial 

 intelligence office for the securing and diffu- 

 sion of information regarding foreign trade 

 has given rise to considerable discussion 

 among the English trade papers. The busi- 

 ness of the office is to be the gathering of 

 general information of interest and value to 

 the English merchant with a foreign trade, 

 and especially of pointing out new ways for 

 the extension of foreign commerce, and call- 

 ing attention to possible new markets for 

 English goods. A number of schemes have 

 been proposed, among others that of sending 

 an expert once every year or two to the 

 different foreign " trade areas," for the pur- 

 pose of collecting information and samples, 

 and of giving a trustworthy estimate of its 

 commercial prospects ; another, that of ex- 

 tending the consular reports in such a man- 

 ner as to compass the same ends. There is 

 considerable opposition to the scheme from 

 some branches of business, where it is held 

 that no one is so likely to get hold of useful 

 information as the trader himself, and that 

 the publishing of such Government reports 

 as the scheme contemplates would result in 

 giving the information to foreign as well as 

 English traders, and thus negative whatever 

 advantage might come to the English mer- 

 chant from his individual discovery of a 

 valuable market. 



Dr. IVenfeld. — The London Times of Sep- 

 tember 13th gives the following account of 

 the career of Dr. Neufeld, who has just been 

 delivered from captivity in Omdurman by 



the English forces : " Karl Neufeld studied 

 medicine at Leipsic University, and went 

 early in life to Egypt, following first his pro- 

 fession as a medical man and subsequently 

 as a merchant. At the beginning of the 

 eighties he had a practice at Keneh, Upper 

 Egypt, where several Germans and also Da- 

 tives of his own home saw him. Subse- 

 quently he set up as a merchant at Assouan. 

 After the fall of Khartoum and the firm 

 establishment of the Mahdi's power at Om- 

 durman, Neufeld seems to have formed a 

 scheme for opening up commercial inter- 

 course with the closed Soudan, for he 

 equipped a caravan with which he proceed- 

 ed to Berber, which was then in the hands of 

 Osman Digna. The latter sent the German, 

 whom he looked upon as a dangerous spy, 

 to the Khalifa Abdullahi. This was in 1886. 

 Neufeld was condemned to death, and was 

 taken to the place of execution. He behaved 

 there so courageously, asking to be executed 

 like a Mohammedan, instead of suffering death 

 by hanging, that the Khalifa was struck and 

 respited him under the gallows. He was 

 taken to the general prison, with heavy chains 

 on his hands and feet, and treated altogether 

 in a most abominable manner. He was kept 

 alive by the women, who took pity on him 

 and fed him, as they had done before him to 

 Slatin. Then an endeavor was made to util- 

 ize his knowledge. He knew nothing about 

 founding cannon, but he managed to manu- 

 facture powder, and he was also ordered to 

 invent a machine for coining money. Owing 

 to the escape of Father Ohrwalder and, later, 

 of Slatin Pasha, his position became worse. 

 He was again manacled and threatened with 

 having his arms and feet hacked off if he 

 should attempt to escape. There were many 

 efforts to liberate him. The Austrian Catho- 

 lic mission, induced by Father Ohrwalder, 

 Slatin Pasha, the British Government, the 

 German, and more especially the Austrian, 

 representatives at Cairo, all endeavored to 

 further the escape of Neufeld. He fre- 

 quently received money, but he refused to 

 escape, as he would not accept liberty with- 

 out his wife — an Abyssinian slave presented 

 to him by the Khalifa — and the two children 

 whom she had borne him. The latter would 

 have been exposed to fearful tortures, and 

 thus Neufeld chose to remain a prisoner. He 

 was active subsequently also as an artist, and 



