O. MISCELLANEOUS. 667 



upon it semi-annually. It is further provided that such de- 

 posit shall be forever held inviolable and irrevocable, and 

 that the rate of interest five per cent. shall not be reduced 

 nor increased. The original deposit may be increased by 

 additional deposits of not less than five hundred dollars at 

 each donation. 



A subsequent clause of the bill provides that all moneys 

 received under this act shall be applied from time to time 

 by the United States Treasurer in the purchase and cancella- 

 tion of the interest-bearing debt of the United States. The 

 fund thus received is to be entitled "The United States Five 

 per Centum Annuity Fund of Charitable Donations and Be- 

 quests." 



Should this movement become a law, it will furnish a long- 

 desired opportunity for investing sums of money for the pur- 

 poses mentioned, with the assurance that the principal can 

 never be embezzled or wasted, the government of the United 

 States being responsible for its safe keeping. Senate JBill, 

 1554. 



CUSTOM-HOUSE VALUE OF THE POUND. 



Congress at its last session passed an act to establish the 

 custom-house value of the pound sterling at four dollars 

 eighty-six cents and six and a half mills, in all payments to 

 the Treasury, whether made here or in foreign countries, and 

 provided that all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this 

 should be repealed. 



MEECHANT MAKINE OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1872. 



The annual report of the Cliief of the Bureau of Statistics 

 of the Treasury Department for the year ending June 30, 

 1872, gives the following recapitulation of the merchant ma- 

 rine of the United States : 



No. Tons. 



Sailing-vessels 17,049 2,14G,585 



Steam vessels 3,625 1,048,205 



Unrigged vessels 9,174 955,242 



Grand total 29,848 4,150,032 



PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF PAEIS. 



According to Nature^ the physicists of Paris have lately 

 met and established a society which proposes to commence 



