1854.] 



THE POMPEIAN COURT AT SYDENHAM PALACE, 



197 



room we have Venus fishing and in an adjoining chamber we see Cu- 

 pid pointing to a maiden (perhaps Dido,) her lover's galley lying in 

 the distance. Round this cornice, alive with azure birds and geese and 

 peacocks, a train of Cupids hurry along with an untied garland that 

 streams behind. Here are a group of winged Loves, carrying between 

 them a wine-jar shaped like a strawberry pottle, — and here is a 

 musical party of the brood of Venus, some seated on couches and 

 others applauding a girl who dances to the sound of a flute, keeping 

 time with castanets. Here is an old man drawing a Cupid from a cage 

 full of his rainbow-winged kinsmen, half butterflies, half seraphs ; — 

 and here is Venus driving a biga or small car. 



The roof above the fountain is supported by Fames or winged an- 

 gelic figures, — the four above the tablinum, or state room, leading to 

 the inner court, being gilt. In this open hall in Roman houses were 

 preserved the statues of deceased ancestors, archives, &c. It served 

 as a sort of state reception-room. In many houses the whole of the 

 fountain court was surrounded by statues. Over this opening coloured 

 awnings were frequently drawn, and in small houses vines were 

 sometimes trained, for air and shade are necessaries of life in a south- 

 ern climate. Rich hangings supplied the place of doors, except to the 

 chief entrance and the bed-chambers. In this particular truth has 

 been necessarily laid aside for convenience, for two doorways have 

 been introduced in addition to the two which should really exist, and 

 doors will not be put to the bed-chambers where they would only hide 

 the decorations. 



The rooms are chiefly lit from the two courts, but the sleeping 

 apartments have two windows of the modern size, — two others are lit 

 from the street (probably also for the sake of the public eye,) — and 

 two others are lit by alcove openings in the ceiling. 



Against the wall of the outer court stands, in a niche, like that of an 

 Italian Madonna, the altar of the guardian Lares, — deities probably 

 of the Etruscan origin. To these incense was burnt and offerings 

 made on certain days, — and indeed, in the latter ages of a universal 

 scepticism, and with the exception of the worship of Isis, the Pusey- 

 ism or fashionable religion of the day, these rites constituted almost 

 all the ritual of the rich. In the kitchen we find the same twin deities 

 represented by the figures of two snakes approaching an altar. Em- 

 blematical paintings of fruit and silver-gilt drinking cups indicate the 

 dining-room. 



In such a villa as is here represented, clad in festive robes of purple 

 and crowned with flowers, Cicero may have sat and boasted of Cati- 

 line's flight from the senate house, — or the perfumed Csesar, with his 

 wounds still fresh from the last campaign, may have eulogized the ad- 

 mirable oysters or sneered at the stupid slaves of Britain. Here may 

 have feasted the men who conquered the world only to live at peace 

 on snails, thrushes, flamingoes' tongues, the brains of nightingales, and 

 -the udders of sows. In such places and with such surroundings, 

 feasted those gorgeous diners who, as we are told, had at one dinner 

 alone 2,000 different dishes of fish and 7,000 fowls, and who spent 

 hundreds of pounds on a single made dish. Here voluptuaries may 

 have melted emeralds in vinegar or frothed the rich wine of Lesbos 

 -with Arabian ointments. Into such luxurious nooks and corners of 

 the Roman world, men weary of the Imperial capital, with its jostling 

 crowds of vagabond Jews, noisy gladiators, Egyptian jugglers, 

 Spanish dancing-girls, Syrian fortune-tellers, Moorish slaves, and 

 Illyrian litter-bearers, may have retreated for a season of repose : 

 seated or reclining in such luxurious bowers, some of the masters of 

 mankind may have looked up dreamily at the clear blue sky, smiling 

 ,as the sea-breeze wafted the fragrance of the violets from the inner 

 garden, which crept round them as Jf Venus herself was passing 

 near unseen, or listened in silence to the unceasing splash of the 

 fountain or the song of the female slave at the loom. 



A casual glance will show how easily a city of such houses as these 

 would be destroyed by an eruption. They were, in fact, open bowls, 

 into which the lava could be poured by old Vulcan like a stream of 

 wine.— rAthenwum. 



Dr. Chukch's Breech-loading; Cannon. — A final trial was made 

 .on Friday of two cannons that have been prepared to be sent to Wool- 

 wich. They were fired 50 times with heavy charges of powder and 

 ball with perfect success. No defect in any respect could be pointed 

 out by the best judges. Upon this plan heavy ship guns can be 

 loaded and fired and brought into position by two men five times in a 

 minute, and a field-piece eight times in a minute. The gun heats 

 very little. — Birmingham Journal. 



Manufacture of Gold Pens. 



The Gold for pens is rolled into thin strips, about the thirty-second 

 part of an inch in thickness. In this state it is black on the surface, 

 and looks like brass. The first operation is cutting it into stubbs — 

 short pieces pointed and angular at one end, and cut square off at the 

 other, this is done in a die ; the stubbs are then run through a machine, 

 and each point is indented for the reception of the real pen points. 

 The next operation is pointing the stubbs. The substance used for 

 points is rhodium, a hard brittle metal like steel, unoxidizable. It is 

 to this metal we wish to direct particular attention. 



There are various qualities of it, some worth twelve, twenty, thirty, 

 and forty dollars per ounce, and even $120 has been paid for a 

 superior quality. It is found in the ores of platinum associated with 

 irridiuni, osmiun, and palladium. Irridium is used by some for the 

 points of gold pens, but rhodium is the clearest and best. All of this 

 metal used in the United States comes from the Peruvian or Russian 

 mines, but we have been assured that there is plenty of it in California. 

 It is also found there pure, associated with sands, and requiring no 

 chemical manipulation for its separation, as in the platina ores of the 

 Ural. Our gold seekers in California should direct their attention to 

 this metal, as it is far more valuable than gold. It is of a white 

 glassy steel color, and in minute roundish particles like sand ; the 

 round globular particles are the best for pen points ; in fact, out of 

 one ounce of this metal perhaps not one-seventieth of the granules can 

 be used, the rest are rejected. A fine particle of rhodium is soldered 

 on the indented point of each stub of gold. The solder is mostly com- 

 posed of gold, for, unless it is gold, ink soon corrodes it, and the 

 rhodium point soon drops off. This is the case with poor pens made 

 by indifferent makers. 



After ths pen is pointed, it is rolled between rollers with indents in 

 them to save the points until the stub is drawn out to its proper length 

 and correct thickness. The rolling also makes the gold elastic. Many 

 suppose that gold pens can be re-pointed, but such is not the case, for 

 the heat employed to solder on the point renders the gold as plastic as 

 a piece of tin ; the heat changes the relative position of the crystals 

 of the metal — thrusts them out as it were — and the gold requires rolling 

 or hammering afterwards to give it elasticity — the spring so requisite 

 for pens. This is the reason why old pens cannot be re-pointed. 

 Some makers do not hammer their pens after being rolled ; they are 

 never so good. After being rolled they are cut to the proper form in 

 a finish die, then stamped with the name of the maker, and afterwards 

 turned up to the rounding quill form. After this the point is slit with 

 a thin copper disc revolving at a great velocity ; the great speed 

 makes the soft metal disc cut the hard metal rhodium ; the gold is 

 slit with another machine ; therefore to make a slit in each pen it has 

 to undergo two operations. The point is next ground on a copper 

 wheel revolving at a great velocity. This is a very delicate operation, 

 and a good artist gets high wages. After this the pens are " stoned 

 out," that is, they are ground down on the inside and out by fine 

 Water of Ayr stones, by hand on a bench alongside of a tub of water, 

 the stones are long, thin, roundish slips, and the pens have to be oper- 

 ated so as to make one part more thin than another, to give them the 

 proper spring. They are then polished on swift revolving copper 

 rollers, and afterwards finished with fine powder and soft chamois skin, 

 Thus, to make a gold pen, it undergoes twelve operations. Inferior 

 pens can be made with less labor, but they soon develope their true 

 characteristics. 



The Railways of tlie World* 



The number of miles of railway now in operation upon the surface 

 of the globe is 34,776, of which 16,180 are in the Eastern Hemisphere, 

 and 18,590 are in the Western ; and which are distributed as follows : — 



Miles. 



In the United States 17,317 



In the British Provinces. 823 



In the Island of Cuba.... 359 



In Panama 31 



In South America 60 



In Great Britain 6,976 



In Germany 5,340 



In France 2,480 



Miles. 



In Belgium 532 



In Russia 422 



In Sweden 75 



In Italy 170 



In Spain 60 



In Africa 25 



In India 100 



