TEXAS. 



THAI 



reae in tho ensuing twelve months was 264. 

 Of the inmate-, !"."> are white, -II M.-\i- 

 Indians, 1 IV negro ii!>-n, 4 ne-jro women. 



Ml s irvey of tho State was in prog- 



'iiring tlireo yearn preceding July, lsi;i. 



With tin- execution dt' in Hi and conl, little has 



done. in tlio discovery of valuable mineral!. 



A large de;,,,-it nf iron ore is on Jackson Crock 



II-L.V masses of soap-stone 



aro found in t'; maty ; also large v|iM 



of ore, containing a small per rent, of copper. 



Iron ore is also found in Bowie, Davis Marion 



Counties; c<>al is t'oiind in Bastrop, and its ad- 



joining counties, and in many of tho counties 



east of the Trinity Iliver. Some of the beds 



are five feet thick in nearly a horizontal por- 



tion. Gold, silver, copper, and lead, have also 



been found in tho State. 



The session of the Legislature, which com- 

 menced in August, continued about throe 

 months. Some of its acts were of an interesting 

 and an important nature. Provision was made 

 for the protection of the frontier, by authoriz- 

 ing three battalions of rangers, consisting of 15 

 companies each, having 87 privates and Jl 

 officers. Another act requires the master of a 

 vessel to report the names and circumstances 

 of all alien passengers before landing them, and 

 makes him and his owners liable for all charges 

 caused by the indigent passengers. A general 

 apprentice law provides for the binding of 

 minors, with or without the consent of parents, 

 especially all vagrant or indigent minors; an- 

 other act gives a lien on the crop and stock for 

 advances to assist in making tho crop. All 

 contracts for labor, exceeding one month in 

 duration, mast be in writing, and witneased by 

 a justice of tho peace, notary, etc. A stay law 

 extends the time of issuing execution to one 

 year on the first fourth of the judgment, two 

 years on the second fourth, etc. The exemption 

 law protects from execution 200 acres and the 

 homestead, or town property, not exceeding 

 $2,000 in value, etc. Police courts in the sev- 

 eral counties are authorized to collect an 

 amount, equal to one-half the State tax, which 

 is to be applied to the education of indigent 

 white children. A joint resolution was passed 

 declaring that the Federal troops in Texas were 

 not only unnecessary, but a source of much 

 evil ; and as the " people of Texas had returned 

 in good faith to their allegiance to the United 

 States, therefore tho Governor " was requested 

 to use all proper means to obtain tlieir rc- 

 moval. Resolutions were also passed in each 

 House, which approved of tho declaration of 

 principles, etc. of the Philadelplra National 

 Union Convention. Tho whole number of gen- 

 eral laws passed was 191 ; of special laws, *J_ I ; 

 of resolutions, 28. Of the whole number, 101 

 were acts of incorporation, of which 80 were of 

 manufacturing companies. 



The amendment to the Federal Constitution 

 (Art 13) was referred to a committee in tho 

 Legislature, who reported as follows: 



The people of Texas, in convention assembled, 



have already, by their ordinance, acknowledged the 



hiijdviiiiiry <.nh.- I'., iistitutn.ii <,| t 



in ulurli Constitution the above-named 



ia i-mlira. -.'d as part of the same; tbe court* 

 of law so hold and administer aid art 



L'iluturc has no authority in this matter ; any 

 action on the same would be surploaa^ 

 trusive. Tho committr-, tin-ret'.. re, u*k to be ex- 

 cused from the farther consideration of tb MOM; and 

 they lliorcwith respectfully rt-tiu: 'inica- 



ti'in of ttie Honorable the Secretary of th._- 

 States. 



Tin 1 action of the Legislature on various sub- 

 jects was reported to the Pn-idcut by tli 

 ernor, and the former made the "following 

 reply : 



"WABHTHOTOW, D. C., October 30, 1 9M. 



GOVERNOR THROCKMOHTOX : Your telegram of tbe 

 29th inst., just received. I have nothing further to 

 suggest, than urging upon tbe Legislature to make 

 all laws involving civil rights oa complete as possi- 

 ble, so as to extend equal and exact justice to an per- 

 sons, without regard to color, if it has not been done. 

 We should not despair of the Republic. My faith is 

 strong. My confidence is unlimited in the wisdom, 

 prudence, virtue, intelligence, and magnanimity of 

 the great mass of the people ; and that their ultimate 

 decision will be, uninfluenced by passion and pre- 

 judice, engendered by the recent civil war, for the 

 complete restoration of the Union by the admis- 

 sion of loyal Representatives and Senators from 

 all tbe States to the respective Houses of the Con- 

 gress of the United States. 



(Signed) ANDREW JOHNSON. 



On September 8th the town of Brenham was 

 nearly laid in ashes, in consequence of a diffi- 

 culty between some soldiers on one side, and 

 colored persons on the other. 



THALLIUM. M. Herberling has discoveied 

 that with hyyosulphite of soda, the salts of thal- 

 lium form a white precipitate soluble in boiling 

 water, as well as in an excess of hot hyposul- 

 phite ; in the latter case, a double hyposulphite 

 is produced. As is well known, the chlorides 

 form a white precipitate with these salts, which 

 turns violet when exposed to light, like chloride 

 of silver. With alkaline iodides they give an 

 orange precipitate, which turns yellow. Tho 

 precipitate forms less readily in acid liquids, 

 and is less soluble in alcohol than in water, 

 and also less soluble in iodide of potassium. 

 Bichloride of platinum gives a yellow precipi- 

 tate, which passes easily through the filter. At 

 16 0. 1 part dissolves in about 1,600 parts of 

 water. 



Thallium perchlorato is readily prepared by 

 dissolving metallic thallium in aqueous per- 

 chloric acid, or by the donblo decomposition 

 of thallium-sulphate and bariura-perchlorate. 

 From solution the anhydrous salt is easily de- 

 posited in colorless rhombic crystals, which are 

 transparent, bright, well defined, and non- 

 deliquescent. Thallium perchlorate does not 

 lose weight when heated to 200 0., and the 

 temperature may be raised to within a few' de- 

 grees of the boiling point of mercury without 

 decomposing the salt On the further applica- 

 tion of heat, a black mass is formed, and the 

 salt finally volatilizes as thallium-chloride. 



There has been a good deal of controversy M 



