discussion in Paris, and several notices were translated for the
New-York papers. The eggs were discovered in Madagascar. M. Isodore
Geoffrey St. Hilliare, in a recent report to the _Academie des
Sciences_, furnished further details; and three eggs and some bones
belonging to a gigantic bird, which have been presented to the Museum of
Natural History in Paris, would seem to leave no room for doubt. Fairy
tales are daily thrown into shade by the authentic records of science.
This discovery appears to have been stumbled on curiously enough. The
captain of a merchant vessel trading to Madagascar noticed one day a
native who was using for domestic purposes a vase which much resembled
an enormous egg, and on questioning him was informed that many such were
to be found in the interior of the island. The largest of these eggs
would hold two gallons. The volume equals that of 135 hen's eggs. Some
doubts were at first entertained as to the nature of the animal to which
the fossil bones belonged; but M. St Hilliare--a competent judge in such
matters--has pronounced them to be those of a bird to which he has given
the name of _Epiornis_.
* * * * *
The sum of L1000 has been placed by the British Government at the
disposal of the _Royal Institution_, for scientific purposes.
* * * * *
In the PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (first meeting in March), M. Leverrier
submitted a communication from Mr. W. C. Bond, entitled Observations on
the Comet of Faye, made at the Observatory of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Every thing is prized that comes from that quarter. M. Boussingault, the
scientific agriculturist, read an extract from his memoir on the
extraction of oxygen gas from atmospheric air. His undertaking was to
extract, in a state of purity and in considerable quantity, the oxygen
gas mixed with azote in atmospheric air, and he thinks that he has fully
succeeded, by a process not attended with much difficulty. He details
some unexpected results from his experiments. Cauchy made profound
reports (from committees) respecting the _Researches on Algebraic
Functions_ by M. Puiseux, and the studies of Crystallography by M.
Bravais. Papers on the speed of sound in iron, and on respiration in
plants, and new schemes of atmospheric railroads were submitted.
Attention was given to M. Burg's new observations concerning the
advantageous use to be made of metallic bands in various nervous
disorders in which the ordinary therapeutic expedients are found
ineffectual. M. Peligot mentioned a memoir which he was soon to put
forth as a sequel to the Researches on the nature and properties of the
different Sugars, which he published in 1838. He has succeeded in
extracting, by means of lime, the crystallizable sugar, in large
quantity, contained in molasses. He got twenty-five per cent., by the
agency of lime, carbonic acid, or sulphuric acid. Lime is cheap and
harmless. Other circumstances recommend his series of experiments. A
scientific reporter writes mysteriously of the discovery of a very
simple and easy method of extracting sugar from the beet-root; with an
apparatus which costs very little, any one may make his sugar with as
much facility as he boils his pot.
* * * * *
Of the EXPEDITION TO CENTRAL AFRICA, we learn from the _Athenaeum_ that
letters from Dr. Barth and Dr. Overweg have been received in London by
Chevalier Bunsen, by which it appears that up to October last the
travellers were still detained in the kingdom of Air. A previous
communication gave an account of difficulties and dangers which they had
met with on entering that country; the inhabitants of which had shown
themselves hostile to them, so that their fate seemed entirely to depend
on the protection of the Prince En-Nur, sultan of the Kelves. This
hoped-for protection they have been fortunate enough to secure; though
it appears not to have been sufficient to insure their safety beyond
Tin-Tellus, the residence of the Prince, in consequence of which they
have been obliged to forego the exploration of the country, and to
remain with the Prince. They have however been enabled, while thus
stationary, to collect a good deal of oral information,--especially
respecting the tract of country to the west and southwest of Ghat:
which, instead of being a monotonous desert, proves to be intersected by
many fertile wadys with plenty of water. Among these novel features, not
the least interesting is a lake, between Ghat and Tuat, infested with
crocodiles. At the date of Dr. Barth's letter (2d of October) the
travellers were on the point of setting out on an excursion to Aghades,
the capital of Air; the new sultan having promised them his protection,
and the valiant son-in-law of En-Nur accompanying them on their
journey. The latitude of Tin-Tellus has been found to be 18 deg. 34' N.;
the longitude has not been finally determined. The rainy season lasts
till September, and thunder-storms occur daily in the afternoon between
two and three o'clock, accompanied by a west wind, while at other times
it blows from the east. It seems yet uncertain when the expedition will
be able to start for lake Tchad.
* * * * *
GEN. RADOWITZ, the late Minister of Prussian Affairs in Prussia, and
undeniably one of the most brilliant Germans now living, recently
appeared with great success in the character of a philologist before the
Academy of Useful Sciences at Erfurt. A much larger audience than usual
present, drawn thither by the oratorical reputation of the General, who
was announced to deliver an essay on the Development of the Celtic Race
in England, and especially in Wales. Great was the astonishment, when,
instead of the usual thick manuscript, the General drew forth a single
sheet containing his notes, and proceeded to speak from it for above an
hour. He dwelt with pride on the fact that a German (Dr. Meyer, the
private secretary of Prince Albert) had cast a reconciling light on the
long contest between English and Erse archaeologists. He then said there
had been two Celtic immigrations, an eastern and a western. The latter
was the more ancient and important; its route was through Syria,
Northern Africa, and Spain, to England, where it appeared in three
phases, one under _Alv_, whence the name of the country Albion (_ion_, a
circle, an isolated thing, an island); another under _Edin_, whence
_Edinburgh_, in old documents _Car Edin_ (_Car_ Breton, _Ker_ burgh, as
in Carnaervon, Carmarthen, &c.); and the third under _Pryd_, whence
_Britain_ (_ain--ion_). Such etymologic analyses marked this brilliant
discourse. _Fingal_ he derived from _fin_ fair, and _gal_ a stranger,
and proved the affinity between the _Gauls_ and _Gael_, the later word
meaning vassal, while Gaul comes from _gal_. In the second part of his
essay he demonstrated that the Celts were the inventors of rhyme, and in
the discussion which followed maintained this position against several
distinguished philologists who were present.
* * * * *
MR. CAGNIARD LATOUR has brought to the notice of the Paris Academy of
Sciences a process for making artificial coal, by putting different
woods in a closed tube, and slowly charring them over burning charcoal.
The coal varies in character according to the age and hygrometric state
of the woods employed. The wood of young trees is converted into a
glutinous coal; the old wood, of dry fire, into a dry coal. But these
last, if soaked in water before being placed in the tube, give a
glutinous coal like the young wood, and sometimes a brown rosin, similar
to asphaltum.
* * * * *
A scientific Congress has been sitting in Paris. Several men of high
reputation, Mr. Walsh says, took part in its proceedings, which gave
promise of unusual interest. Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, was
prominent as an orator. Recently, he could rally but two votes in the
Academy of Sciences, as a candidate for a vacant seat. The man is not so
much prized, we may believe, as the ornithologist.
* * * * *
M. EOELMEN, the director of the national porcelain manufactory of
Sevres, has succeeded in producing crystalized minerals, resembling very
closely those produced by nature--chiefly precious and rare stones
employed by jewelers. To obtain this result, he has dissolved in boric
acid, alum, zinc, magnesia, oxydes of iron, and chrome, and then
subjecting the solution to evaporation during three days, has obtained
crystals of a mineral substance, equaling in hardness and in beauty and
clearness of color the natural stones. With chrome, M. Eoelmen has made
most brilliant rubies, from two to three millimetres in length, and
about as thick as a grain of corn. If rubies can be artificially made,
secrets which were pursued by the alchemists of old cannot be very far
off.
* * * * *
At a late meeting of the _Liverpool Polytechnic Society_, Captain
PURNELL read a paper in explanation of his plan for preventing vessels
being water-logged at sea. Cisterns are to be provided on each side in
the interior of the vessel, fitted with valves opening by pressure from
within. The water would thus be kept below a certain level, and the ship
be enabled to carry sail.
* * * * *
PROF. HASSENSTEIN, of Gotha, recently illuminated the public square
before the Council House in that city with his new electric sun. The
effect was most brilliant, as if a bevy of full moons had risen
together, and the applause of the beholders, the newspapers assure us,
was unbounded.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE will this year
meet at Cincinnati, on the approaching 5th of May.
_Recent Deaths._
SAMUEL FARMER JARVIS, D.D., one of the most learned men in the Episcopal
Church in the United States, died at Middletown, Connecticut, on the
26th of March. Dr. Jarvis was born in Middletown, where his father
(afterward Bishop Jarvis) was then rector of Christ's Church, on the
20th of January, 1787. His childhood and early youth (we compile from
the Hartford _Calendar_), were passed at Middletown till the Bishop
removed with him to Cheshire, where, in the Academy established by
Bishop Seabury, he completed his preparation for College. He entered at
Yale, in 1802, commenced Bachelor of Arts in 1805, and proceeded Master
in 1808. On the 18th of March, 1810, he was ordained Deacon by his
father, in New Haven; and on the fifth of April, in the year following,
in the same place, was admitted Priest. Immediately after, he became
Rector of St. Michael's and St. James' Churches, on the island of
New-York. In 1819, he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism, in
the General Theological Seminary, with the understanding that he was to
perform also, all the duties of instruction, except those relating to
Ecclesiastical History. For various reasons, in 1820 he resigned this
position, and removing to Boston, became the first Rector of St. Paul's
Church in that city. In 1826, he sailed with his family for Europe, in
different parts of which he remained nine years. Here he chiefly devoted
himself to studies connected with Theology and the History of the
Church. He by no means, however, omitted the proper duties of his
office. His longest and most continuous service was in Siena; on leaving
which place, the congregation presented to him a paten and chalice of
exquisite workmanship, as a testimony of respect for his character, and
of appreciation of his services.
During his residence abroad, he was appointed Professor of Oriental
Languages and Literature in Trinity College, Hartford, and on returning
to the United States in 1835, he established himself at the College;
attending not only to various duties in connection with the College
Classes, but also instructing the students in Theology. Those who were
there under his instruction, will not soon forget the delightful
evenings in his study, when the recitation being over, conversation took
its place, and stores of the most useful and varied learning were opened
to them, with a kindness and unreservedness, which never could have been
surpassed. In 1837, he became Rector of Christ Church, Middletown, and
in this position--having with him during the last year of its
continuance only, an Assistant Minister--he remained till the spring of
1842. He then resigned the Rectorship, and devoted himself to the
especial work to which the Church had called him. Still he evinced the
same readiness as ever to perform at all times and in all places, the
duties of his sacred office; and his missionary labors during this
period, will ever attest his faithfulness to his vows as a priest of
God.
In 1843 Dr. Jarvis went to England, with a view to certain arrangements
in connection with the publication of his Chronological Introduction,
and returned in time for the General Convention of 1844. From this
period, he was steadily engaged in the prosecution of the first volume
of his History: though his attention was frequently called off by other
demands upon his time and knowledge, among which may be particularly
mentioned the compilation of a Harmony of the Gospels, the preparation
of a work on Egypt--neither of which have yet been published--and the
drawing up a reply to Milner's End of Controversy. At the same time, he
was serving the Church as a Trustee of Trinity College, and of the
General Theological Seminary; as the Secretary of the Standing Committee
of the Diocese of Connecticut, and Secretary and Treasurer of the
Christian Knowledge Society; and as a member of Diocesan and General
Conventions. Besides all this, there was a large field of service and
usefulness--the labor and worth of which can only be estimated by one
who should see the correspondence which it entailed--which was opened to
him, by the requests continually made from all quarters, for his
opinions on matters of Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship. His life was
one of constant labor, and labor and trial wrought their work upon him.
Scarcely had his last work (the first volume of his History) been issued
from the press, when aggravated disease came upon him; and after
lingering for some time, with unmurmuring patience and resignation, he
died on the 26th of March, 1851, at the age of sixty-four.
* * * * *
THOMAS BURNSIDE, one of the justices of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania, died in Germantown on the twenty-fifth of March. He was
born in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, July 28th, 1782, and came to this
country, with his father's family, in 1792. In November, 1800, he
commenced the study of the law, with Mr. Robert Porter, in Philadelphia,
and in the early part of 1804 was admitted to the bar, and removed to
Bellefonte. In 1811 he was elected to the state Senate, and was an
active supporter of the administration of Governor Snyder in all its war
measures. In 1815 he was elected to Congress, and served during the
memorable session of 1816. In the summer of the same year he was
appointed by Governor Snyder President Judge of the Luzerne district. He
resigned this post in 1818, and resumed the practice of his profession
at Bellefonte. In 1823 he was again elected to the State Senate, of
which body he was made speaker. In 1826 he was appointed President Judge
of the Seventh Judicial District, which office he held until 1841. He
was then appointed President Judge of the Fourth Judicial District,
comprising the counties of Bucks and Montgomery. On the first of
January, 1845, he was commissioned one of the Judges of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania, an office which he filled at the time of his
death. Judge Burnside was a man of fine social qualities, and few
persons have had more friends.
* * * * *
ISAAC HILL, Governor of New Hampshire, United States senator, &c., was
born at Cambridge, the part now called Somerville, Mass., April 6th,
1788. He was a descendant of Abraham Hill of Charlestown, who was
admitted _freeman_ 1640, and died at Malden, February 13, 1670, leaving
two sons, Isaac and Abraham. From the latter of these, and fifth in
descent, was Isaac, the father of Governor Hill. His mother was Hannah
Russell, a descendant of the Cambridge family of that name, "ever
distinguished in the annals of Massachusetts."[M] His ancestors were
stanch patriots, on both sides, and served with credit in the old French
and Indian wars, and his immediate predecessors were among the earliest
and the most efficient of the "Sons of Liberty," well known for their
undaunted spirit in encouraging resistance to the arbitrary and
oppressive acts which occasioned the Revolution.
The circumstances in which the war and other calamities had placed his
family were extremely unfavorable to the enjoyment of any educational
privileges, and he was debarred from most opportunities of acquiring
even the rudiments of that culture now common and free to all. But he
struggled manfully with these difficulties, the sharp discipline of
Necessity giving to him an early training well calculated to impress his
character with the seal of manliness and self-reliance. His intellectual
constitution was early accustomed to the keen atmosphere of wholesome
severity; and it nerved and braced him for the warfare of his subsequent
career. In it, too, we may find the origin of his peculiar traits as a
writer and a politician. He wrote in a vigorous but not polished style,
and all his productions were more forcible than elegant. But their very
bareness and sinewy proportions opened their way to the hearts of the
people whom he addressed. His prejudices were their prejudices, and in
the most earnest expression of his own strongest feeling and passion he
found the echo from the multitude of the democracy of his adopted state.
His childhood and early youth thus formed, his next step was in the
learning his trade, or acquiring his profession: for if any occupation
in life combines more elements of professional knowledge than another,
it is that of a printer-editor.
Though not an indented apprentice, he served his _seven years' time_
with faithfulness, and acquired those habits of patient, persevering
industry which characterized his whole subsequent career. The
printing-office has been the college and university to many of the most
distinguished of our citizens: and that which he founded at Concord has
been the _Alma Mater_ of a series of graduates, of whom old Dartmouth
might justly be proud, could she enroll them among her Alumni. Although
the paper published by Mr. Cushing, with whom young Hill learned his
profession, was strongly federal, he retained the strong democratic
prejudices of his father's house, which he afterwards so zealously
advocated in more responsible positions.
He went to Concord, N. H, on the 5th April 1809, the day before he
attained his majority. He bought an establishment of six months'
standing, from which had been issued the _American Patriot_, a
democratic paper, but not conducted with any great efficiency, and
therefore not considered as yet "a useful auxiliary in the cause of
republicanism." On the 18th of April, 1809, was issued the first number
of the _New Hampshire Patriot_, a paper destined to exert an immense
influence in that state from that time to the present. The press on
which it was printed was the identical old _Ramage_ press on which had
been struck off the first numbers of the old _Connecticut Courant_,
forty-five years before, that is, in 1764. The first number of the paper
is before us. It bears for its motto the following sentiment of Madison,
"Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights of others, it shall
be our true glory to cultivate peace by observing justice." Among the
selections is a portion of the famous speech of William B. Giles, in the
Senate, February 13th, 1809, in support of the resolution for a repeal
of the Embargo, and substituting non-intercourse with the aggressing
belligerents, offered by him on the 8th of the same month. In the next
number of the paper the editor expresses the opinion that "the man, who,
after reading this lucid exposition of British aggressions, can blame
his own government--can accuse the administration of a want of
forbearance, and a wish to provoke a war with England without cause,
must be wilfully blind or perversely foolish." This recalls at once the
circumstances of the time, shortly after the beginning of Madison's
administration, and during the Embargo. Democracy was odious in New
England, where the prostration of her commercial interests, the ruin of
many and serious injury of all her citizens, had rendered the
administration exceedingly unpopular. The _Patriot_, however, steadily
defended the administration and the war which followed. Probably there
will always exist a difference of opinion with respect to the necessity
or expediency of the war of 1812; but public opinion has given its
sanction to what is now known as the "Second War of Independence." Since
that time its advocates have been steadily supported by the country, and
among them the subject of this sketch, who always referred with peculiar
pride to that portion of his career--"the dark and portentous period
which preceded the war."
Mr. Hill continued to edit the Patriot until 1829, a period of twenty
years; during which time he was twice chosen clerk of the State Senate,
once Representative from the town of Concord, and State Senator four
times. In 1828, he was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, but
was not elected. In 1829, he received the appointment of Second
Comptroller of the Treasury Department from General Jackson, and
discharged the duties of that office until April, 1830, when his
nomination was rejected by the Senate of the United States. The light in
which his rejection was regarded in New Hampshire, may be inferred from
the fact that its result was his triumphant election to represent that
State in the body which had rejected him. He continued in the Senate
until 1836, when he was elected Governor of the State of New Hampshire
by a very large majority. He was twice reelected, in 1837 and 1838.
In 1840, he was appointed Sub Treasurer at Boston, which he held until
removed, in March, 1841, by the Harrison administration.
About this time the policy of the radical party in New Hampshire, to
which Mr. Hill had always adhered, became tainted with an ultraism,
which he could not approve. He opposed their hostility to railroad and
other corporations, with the same vigor which had always characterized
his career. He was subjected to the proscription of the party, and
formally "read out" of the church of the New Hampshire Democracy. He
established a new paper, "Hill's New Hampshire Patriot," in which he
revived his old reputation as an editor and political writer. The
importance of the great internal improvements which he advocated, to the
prosperity of the State, brought back the party from their wanderings
into abstractions, and with this return to the old ways, came also the
acknowledgment of the political orthodoxy of Mr. Hill. The new paper was
united with the old Patriot--and one of his sons associated in the
establishment.
During the latter years of his life, he also published and edited the
Farmer's Monthly Visiter, an agricultural paper. It was commenced
January 15, 1839, and has been continued to the present time. It was
devoted to the farming and producing interests, and its volumes contain
much valuable matter; of which Gov. Hill's own personal sketches and
reminiscences form no small portion.
During the latter years of his life he suffered much from the disease
which finally conquered his vigorous constitution. He bore little active
part in political affairs--but took a lively interest in the success of
the compromise measures--to which he referred in his last hours, as, in
his opinion, most important in their bearing on the safety of the Union.
He made great efforts to promote their passage, and probably did some
service in the cause of the Union, to which he was ardently devoted. He
recognized the compromises of the Constitution, with unwavering fidelity
to its spirit. We regret our inability to give in this place some
extracts from a letter of Daniel Webster, addressed to one of Mr. Hill's
sons, upon the occasion of his death, which reflects equal honor upon
the writer and its subject, in its recognition of the services to which
we have referred.
The present occasion affords no opportunity to review more particularly
the events of Mr. Hill's political career of public service. It is to be
hoped that some one may hereafter prepare the history of his life and
times--which involves an important part of the political history of New
Hampshire, and a corresponding connection with that of the whole
country.
We quote the following concluding paragraph of the notice in the New
Hampshire Patriot of the 27th March, written by the present editor, Mr.
Butterfield:
"We have thus hastily and imperfectly noticed the prominent events in
Governor Hill's life. Few men in this country have exerted so great an
influence over the people of their States as he has over those of New
Hampshire. He possessed great native talent, indomitable energy,
industry and perseverance. As a political editor he had few equals, and
his reputation in that field extended throughout the country. As a son,
a husband, a brother, and a father, he has left a reputation honorable
to himself, and which will cause his memory to be cherished. Although
afflicted for many years with a painful disease, exerting at times an
unfavorable influence upon his equanimity, yet we believe the "sober
second thought" of those who reflect upon his past history and services
and trials, will accord with what we have said of his estimable private
character, and his naturally kind and amiable disposition. And now that
his spirit has gone to another, and, we trust, a better world, the
unkindness engendered by political and personal differences will be
forgotten, the faults and errors of the dead will be forgiven, and our
thoughts will rest only upon his many private virtues and eminent public
services."
The last illness of Mr. Hill was of about five weeks duration. He died
of catarrhal consumption, in the city of Washington, Saturday, the 22d
of March, 1851, at four o'clock, P. M. His remains were removed to
Concord, New Hampshire, where his funeral took place on the 27th of
March.
[We have made free use in the preceding notice of C. P. Bradley's sketch
(1835), and various articles in newspapers of the day.]
* * * * *
DAVID DAGGETT, LL. D., son of Thomas Daggett, of Attleborough,
Massachusetts, was born in that town on the last day of the year 1764.
He entered Yale College at fourteen, and graduated there with
distinction in 1783. Pursuing his legal studies in New Haven, while he
held the rectorship of the Hopkins Grammar School, he was admitted to
the bar in 1785. For sixty-five years his life was identified with the
history and prosperity of New Haven and of Connecticut. Besides the
municipal offices which he held, including that of Mayor of New Haven,
he was long a Professor of Yale College, in the Law School of which he
was especially eminent. His last public station was that of Chief
Justice of the State, from the duties of which he retired at the age of
seventy, through the jealous wisdom of the constitution of Connecticut.
His connection with the law school, however, continued till within a
very few years, when his health became gradually impaired through the
advance of age, though for the last year he enjoyed an unusual exemption
from his infirmities. About the end of March his family became
apprehensive of a change for the worse, and on Saturday, April 12th, he
died, at the advanced age of eighty-six years.
* * * * *
MAJOR JAMES REES, born in Philadelphia in 1766, died at Geneva,
New-York, on the 24th of March. He was in his youth a confidential
cleric to Robert Morris, the financier; during the Whiskey Insurrection
in Pennsylvania, he was a Deputy Quarter-Master General under
Washington, and he held the same office under Wilkinson and under Izard,
in the war of 1812.
* * * * *
MORDECAI M. NOAH, who for nearly half a century had been eminent as a
politician and a journalist, and who was one of the most distinguished
Jews of the present age, died in New-York on the 2nd of March. He was
born in Philadelphia on the 19th of July, 1785, and at an early age was
apprenticed to a carver and gilder in that city; but a love of
literature and affairs induced the abandonment of that vocation for the
more congenial one to which he devoted the chief part of his life. His
editorial career commenced in Charleston, S. C., and some interesting
passages of his history there are given in the first volume of Thomas's
_Reminiscences_. In 1811 Mr. Madison appointed him consul at Riga, but
he declined the place. In 1813 he was appointed by Mr. Monroe consul to
Tunis, with a mission to Algiers. On the voyage his vessel was captured
by a British frigate and taken to Plymouth. His diplomatic position
exempted him from imprisonment, but he was detained several weeks, and
did not reach his destination until February, 1814. Having accomplished
the object of his mission, he crossed the Pyrenees, and visited Paris.
After a brief residence in that city, he proceeded to Tunis, where he
remained until recalled, in 1816. In 1819 he published a book of
_Travels_, containing the result of his observations in Europe and
Northern Africa, during a three years' residence in those countries. He
now became one of the editors and proprietors of the _National
Advocate_, in which he published the _Essays on Domestic Economy_,
signed "Howard," which were subsequently printed in a volume. The next
paper with which he was connected was the _Enquirer_, afterwards Courier
& Enquirer, in the management of which he was associated with Colonel
Webb. The several papers of which he was at various times editor or
proprietor, or both, were the _National Advocate_, _Enquirer_, _Courier
& Enquirer_, _Evening Star_, _Sun_, _Morning Star_, and _Weekly
Messenger_. His most successful journal was the _Evening Star_, but he
was eminently popular at all times as an editorial writer, and was very
fortunate when he had, as in the _Evening Star_, or the _Sunday Times_,
judicious business partners. Soon after his return from Africa occurred
his celebrated attempt to assemble all the Jews of the world on this
continent, and build a new Jerusalem at Grand Island, in the Niagara
River.
In 1821 he was elected sheriff of the city and county of New-York.
During his term of office the yellow fever broke out, and he opened the
doors of the prisons and let go all who were confined for debt--an act
of generous humanity which cost him several thousand dollars. He was
admitted to the bar of this city in 1823, and to the bar of the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1829. In 1829 he was also appointed, by
President dent Jackson, Surveyor of the Port of New-York, which office
he shortly afterward resigned. In the political contest of 1840, he took
part against Mr. Van Buren, whom he had long regarded with distrust, and
voted for General Harrison. In 1841 he was appointed by Governor Seward,
Judge of the Court of Sessions. He was probably the only Hebrew who
occupied a judicial station in Christendom. During the same year he was
made Supreme Court Commissioner. When a change in the organization of
the Court of Sessions took place he resigned his seat on the bench, and
soon returned to his old profession. In 1843 he became one of the
editors and proprietors of the _Sunday Times_, with which he was
connected when he died.
Major Noah was a very rapid and an industrious writer. Besides his
_Travels in England, France, Spain, and the Barbary States, in the Years
1813, 1814, and 1815_, and the _Howard Papers on Domestic Economy_, he
published several orations and addresses on political, religious and
antiquarian subjects; edited _The Book of Jasher_, and wrote numerous
successful plays, of which an account may be found in Dunlap's _History
of the Stage_. The most prominent of them were, _She would be a Soldier,
or the Plains of Chippewa_; _Ali Pacha, or the Signet Ring_; _Marion, or
the Hero of Lake George_; _Nathalie, or the Frontier Maid_; _Yusef
Caramali, or the Siege of Tripoli_; _The Castle of Sorrento_, _The Siege
of Daramatta_, _The Grecian Captive_, and _Ambition._ He for a long time
contemplated writing _Memoirs of his Times_, and he published in the
_Evening Star_ many interesting reminiscences intended to form part of
such work.
Major Noah was a man of remarkable generosity of character, and in all
periods of his life was liberal of his means, to Christians as well as
to Jews: holding the place of President in the Hebrew Benevolent
Society, and being frequently selected as adviser in other temporary or
permanent associations for the relief of distress. As a politician he
was perhaps not the most scrupulous in the world, but there was rarely
if ever any bitterness in his controversies. In religion he was sincere
and earnest, and the Hebrews in America we believe uniformly held his
character in respect
* * * * *
JOHN S. SKINNER, who was for a long time editor of the _Turf Register_
at Baltimore, and who more recently conducted the very able magazine
_The Plow, the Loom, and the Anvil_, died from an accident, in
Baltimore, on the 28th of March, aged about sixty years. He had held the
appointment of Post-Master at Baltimore for a period of twenty years,
though removed from it fifteen years ago, and he was afterward Assistant
Post-Master General. Intending to hurry out from the Baltimore
Post-Office--which he had entered for some business with his
successor--into the street, he inadvertently opened a door leading to
the basement of the building, and before he could recover himself,
plunged head foremost down the flight of steps. His skull was fractured,
and he survived in a state of insensibility for a few hours only.
* * * * *
BREVET-MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE M. BROOKE, of the United States Army, died
at San Antonio, Texas, on the ninth of March. General Brooke entered the
army, from Virginia, on the third of May, 1808, as First Lieutenant in
the Fourth Infantry. He had received four brevets during his military
life, and at the time of his death he was in command of the Eighth
Military Department, (Texas,) and engaged in planning an expedition
against the Indians.
* * * * *
FERDINAND GOTTHELF HAND, Professor of Greek Literature at the University
of Jena, died on the 14th March, at the age of sixty-five. He is best
known for his work on the _AEsthetik der Foukunst_. He had filled his
professorship since 1817.
* * * * *
M. JACOBI died on the nineteenth of February at Berlin. He was well
known to the scientific world by his electro-chemical researches.
* * * * *
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED, the great Danish naturalist, died at Copenhagen
on the seventeenth of March, aged seventy-four. He was the son of an
apothecary of Rudkjobing, in the province of Larzeland. Fourteen days
before his death he gave a scientific lecture at the University of
Copenhagen, where he was Professor of Natural Science. He was nearly of
the same age with Thorwaldsen and Oehlenschlager. His last work, _Der
Geist in der Natur_, was not long since the subject of remark in these
pages. His fame as the discoverer of electro-magnetism, (which discovery
he made, after laborious researches, on the fifth of June 1821,) and as
a profound and genial thinker, will be immortal.
At Rudkjobing he received his early education with his brother Anders
Sandoee Oersted, a distinguished senator of Denmark, and for some years
one of the ministers of state. Christian Oersted was sent to Copenhagen
to study medicine. After completing his course of pharmacy, he directed
his powers to the study of natural philosophy, and greatly distinguished
himself in that science, of which he subsequently became University
Professor. His grand discovery of electro-magnetism led to the
subsequent development of the electric telegraph. In 1807 he wrote his
work reviving the hypothesis of the identity of magnetism and
electricity, in which he arrived at the conclusion--that "in galvanism
the force is more latent than in electricity, and still more so in
magnetism than in galvanism; it is necessary, therefore, to try whether
electricity, in its latent state, will not affect the magnetic needle."
No experiment appears, however, to have been made to determine the
question until 1820, when Oersted placed a magnetic needle within the
influence of a wire connecting the extremities with a voltaic battery.
The voltaic current was now, for the first time, observed to produce a
deviation of the magnetic needle in different directions, and in
different degrees, according to the relative situation of the wire and
needle. By subsequent experiment Oersted proved that the wire became,
during the time the battery was in action, magnetic, and that it
affected a magnetic needle through glass, and every other non-conducting
body, but that it had no action on a needle similarly suspended, that
was not magnetic. To Professor Oersted is also due the important
discovery, that electro-magnetic effects do not depend upon the
intensity of the electricity, but solely on its quantity. By these
discoveries an entirely new branch of science was established, and all
the great advances which have been made in our knowledge of the laws
which regulate the magnetic forces in their action upon matter, are to
be referred to the discovery by Oersted, that by an electric current
magnetism could be induced. He promulgated a theory of light, in which
he referred luminous phenomena to electricity in motion; it has not,
however, been favorably received.
One of the most important observations first made by him, and since then
confirmed by others, was, that a body falling from a height not only
fell a little to the east of the true perpendicular--which is, no doubt,
due to the earth's motion--but that it fell to the _south_ of that line;
the cause of this is at present unexplained. It is, no doubt, connected
with some great phenomena of gravitation which yet remain to be
discovered. At the meeting of the British Association at Southampton,
Professor Oersted communicated to the Chemical Section some curious
examples of the influence of time in determining chemical change, as
shown in the action of mercury upon glass in hermetically sealed
vessels. The character of Professor Oersted's mind was essentially
searching and minute; thus he observed results which escaped detection
in the hands of those who took more general and enlarged views of
natural phenomena. To this was due the discovery of electro-magnetism,
which will for ever connect his name with the history of inductive
science. As Director of the Polytechnic Institution of Copenhagen, of
which he was the founder, and of the Society for the Diffusion of
Natural Sciences, and as Perpetual Secretary of the Royal Academy of
Sciences since 1815, his labors were unceasing and of great benefit to
his country. He was for many years attached to the Military College of
Cadets of Copenhagen, and only resigned when he could be succeeded by
one of his own pupils. His manners and demeanor were extremely modest
and unobtrusive. The British Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal
for his discovery in electro-magnetism, and the Academy of Sciences of
Paris presented him with their Gold Medal. Both Societies elected him a
Foreign Member.
* * * * *
HENRI DELATOUCHE, who died early in March at Aulnay, France, was born
February 3d, 1785. His first work was _Fragoletta_, a book treating in
an original way the revolution of Naples in 1799; it was the fruit of a
long sojourn in Italy, a genuine production of genius, in which the
chapters devoted to antique art are especially remarkable. During the
Hundred Days he was the secretary of Marshal Brune, and was made
sub-prefect of Toulon. The downfall of Napoleon deprived him of office,
and restored him to literature and general politics. During the
Restoration he gained great applause by his eloquent and successful
defence of his father, who was tried before a political court, and but
for his son would have been one of the victims of that bloody period. He
was prominent in the agitation of public questions through that time,
and through the ten first years of Louis Philippe. He was intimate with
B. Constant Chateaubriand, Madame Recamier, Gros, Gerard, Armand Carrel,
Godfrey Cavaignac, Beranger, and George Sand. He was one of the editors
of the _National_, and the chief writer of the brilliant and effective
_Figaro_. His books were _Fragoletta_, _Aymar_, _France et Marie_,
_Lettres de Clement XIV. et de Carlo Bertinazzi_, _Les Adieux_. Though
he adopted the form of romance, the purpose of his writings was
historical and didactic. In the latter part of his life he made
preparations to write a _Histoire des Conjurations pour la Liberte_, but
did not accomplish it. He was a man of noble character and remarkable
genius. His conversation was brilliant and fascinating. Since Diderot,
it is said that France has produced no talker to be compared with him.
George Sand frequently compares him to Rousseau. Like that philosopher,
toward the close of his life he manifested a passionate love of nature
and solitude. He spent his time laboring in his garden, and living in
the most frugal manner. The aged and manly poet was beloved of the
neighboring peasants, as well as by the friends he had left behind him
in the great world; and though he had often criticised his
contemporaries with extreme severity, sometimes even with injustice, he
left no enemies.
* * * * *
Among the persons lately deceased who are worthy of mention is Madame DE
SERMETZY, who died at her country seat, near the French city of Lyons,
at the age of eighty-one years. Had circumstances favored the
development of her genius, she would have acquired a name among the
sculptors of the time. She left behind her a number of works in terra
cotta. A Psyche of life-size is said to be full of expression and grace;
a Plato is remarkable for anatomical correctness and manly force. Both
are in the Academy at St. Pierre. She also modelled a Sappho, a Lesbia,
and some dozen busts. Of smaller works, statuettes and groups, she has
left some two hundred in terra cotta, among them a St Augustine, said to
be admirable for expression and nobleness. The churches constantly
received from her gifts of beautiful angels and madonnas. A few years
before her death she modelled a madonna of the size of life, which is
one of her best works. Want of means alone prevented her from executing
her productions in marble. She was also familiar with the literature,
not only of her own nation, but of the Latin, Spanish, Italian, and
English languages, which she spoke with fluency and correctness, a rare
accomplishment for a French woman. During the Empire and the Restoration
she was intimate with Madame Recamier and Madame de Stael, and for
penetration and readiness of mind and charm of manners was not unworthy
to be named with these remarkable women.
* * * * *
MARSHAL DODE DE LA BRUNIERE, one of the soldiers of Napoleon, who raised
him to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and employed him in many
important services, died at Paris on the 28th February, aged
seventy-seven. He served in the campaign of Egypt as a lieutenant of
engineers. After the siege of Saragossa he was made a colonel. He
participated in all the great battles of the empire, and was finally
made a peer of France and a marshal by Louis Philippe, after having
directed the construction of the gigantic fortifications around Paris.
He was a frank, affable, and kind-hearted man.
* * * * *
M. MAILLAU, one of the most productive of Paris dramatists, died in that
city March, twelfth, aged forty-five. He was born in Guadaloupe, and
began life in France as a lawyer, but soon abandoned that profession to
write for the stage. He wrote a large number of dramas, some of which
were very successful. The last one, called _La Revolution Francaise_,
has run a hundred and fifty nights, and is still performing. He was an
excellent fellow, and nobody's enemy but his own.
* * * * *
DR. HENRY DE BRESLAU, senior of the Faculty of Medicine in the
University of Munich, died lately. He was second medical officer on the
staff of Napoleon, under Larrey, and followed the French army in the
Russian campaign. He was made prisoner on the field of Waterloo. France,
Bavaria, Saxony, Greece, and Portugal, had recognized his scientific
eminence by severally enrolling his name among their orders of chivalry.
* * * * *
COMMISSIONER LIN, whose seizure and destruction of the opium in 1839 led
to the war with China, died suddenly on the eighteenth of November last,
while on his way to the insurrectionary district of Quan-si.
* * * * *
JOHN LOUIS YANOSKI was born at Lons-le-Saulnier, France, March 9, 1813,
and died at Paris early in February last. Though not known much out of
his own country, few literary men have possessed more admirable and
substantial qualities. He was feeble in bodily powers, but endowed with
indefatigable ardor in the pursuit of intellectual objects, and a mind
at once penetrating and judicious. He was educated in the College of
Versailles. In 1836 he became a tutor in history at the University at
Paris. Subsequently he was selected by Thierry to assist in the
preparation of his history of the Tiers-Etat, and spent four years in
working upon it. At the same time he labored assiduously in other
directions. In 1839 he gained two prizes from the Academy of Moral and
Political Sciences, one for a memoir on the organization of the national
forces from the twelfth century to the reign of Charles VII; the other
for an essay on the abolition of slavery in antiquity. In 1841 the
Academy selected him to prepare, under the direction of M. Mignet, a
view of the progress of the moral and political sciences, a work which
was not completed when he died. In 1840 he was made professor of history
in Stanislas College; in 1842 Michelet chose him for his substitute at
the College of France, but in that capacity he gave but a single
lecture, being seized while speaking with hemorrhage of the lungs, from
which he did not recover for several months. Notwithstanding the labors
required by all these occupations he found time to write for Didot's
_Univers Pittoresque_ a history of Carthage from the second Punic war to
the Vandal invasion, a history of the Vandal rule and the Byzantine
restoration, another of the African Church, and one of the Church of
Ancient Syria. He also furnished many important articles to the
Encyclopedic Dictionary, wrote often for the _National_ newspaper, and
for two years was chief editor of the _Nouvelle Revue Encyclopedique_.
He was a republican in sentiment, and a character of exceeding nobleness
and energy.
* * * * *
COLONEL COUNT D'HOZIER, a distinguished French officer, who was
compromised in the affair of Georges Cadoudal, died early in March, in
Paris, aged seventy-seven. On the occasion of the conspiracy referred
to, he was sentenced to death, but obtained his pardon through the
interference of the Empress Josephine, and as a commutation of his
punishment was imprisoned until the year 1814 in the prison of the
Chateau d'If--the scene of the confinement of Dumas' hero, the Comte de
Montechristo.
* * * * *
M. GEORGE BRENTANO, the oldest banker at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, died a
few weeks ago, aged eighty-eight. He was brother of two persons well
known in the world of letters, M. Clement Brentano and the Countess
Bettina d'Arnim, the correspondent of Goethe.
* * * * *
FREDERIC XAVIER FERNBACH, the inventor of that mode of encaustic
painting which is called by his name, died at Munich on the 27th
February. A history of his experiments and inventions was published many
years ago.
* * * * *
M. JULES MARTIEN, author of a volume on _Christianity in America_, died
in Paris on the twenty-first of March.
FOOTNOTES:
[M] Farmer's Genealogical Register: Articles _Hill-Russell_.
"OTSEGO HALL," THE RESIDENCE OF J. FENIMORE COOPER.
[Illustration]
In the delightful home which in the above engraving is reflected with
equal spirit and fidelity, our great novelist has composed the larger
portion of those admirable tales and histories that display his own
capacities, and the characteristics and tendencies of our people.
Here also was written the beautiful work by Mr. COOPER'S daughter,
entitled "Rural Hours." Could any thing tempt to such authorship more
strongly than a residence thus quiet, and surrounded with birds, and
flowers, and trees, and all the picturesque varieties of land and water
which render Cooperstown a paradise to the lover of nature?
In the last _International_ we sketched the career of Mr. Cooper, and
gave an account of his writings, and an estimate of their value. What we
add here shall relate to the work which entitles his daughter to share
his eminence. "Rural Hours" is one of the most charming contributions
literature has ever received from the hand of a woman. Though in the
simple form of a diary, it is scarcely less than Thomson's "Seasons" a
poem; yet while seeming continually to reflect the most poetical phases
of nature and of rural life--so delicate is the appreciation of natural
beauty, and so pure and unaffected and exquisitely graceful the style of
composition--it has throughout even a Flemish truth and particularity of
detail. If we were called upon to name a literary performance that is
more than any other American in its whole character, we cannot now think
of one that would sooner receive this praise. A record of real
observations during the daily walks of many years in a secluded town, or
of the changes which the seasons brought with their various gifts and
forces into domestic experience, it is a series of pictures which could
no more have been made in another country than so many paintings on
canvas of scenes by Otsego lake. The leaves are blown over by Otsego
airs, or if the eye grows heavy and the pages are unturned it is for
slumberous spells that attach to delineations of the sunshine and
silence of Otsego's August noons. And the views Miss Cooper gives us of
the characters and occupations of the agricultural population in that
part of the country, who wear curiously interblended the old English and
Dutch habits with here and there a sign of the French, and the
republican freedom which in three generations has taken the tone of
nature, are as distinctive as the descriptions of changes which the
maple assumes in the autumn, or of the harvest of Indian corn, or a deer
hunt in the snow. Upon a careless reading of "Rural Hours" we might
fancy that Miss Cooper was less familiar than perhaps should be for such
a task with botany and other sciences, but a closer study of the book
reveals the most minute and comprehensive knowledge, so interfused that
it is without technical forms only, and never deficient in precision.
The style is everywhere not only delightfully free, while artistically
finished, but it is remarkably pure, so that there is in the literature
of this country not a specimen of more genuine English. In this respect
the work of one of the most highly and variously educated women of our
time, to whom the languages of the politest nations were through all her
youth familiar in their courts, may be well compared with the
compositions which "literary ladies" with Phrase Books make half French
or half Italian.
GEORGE W. DEWEY.
[Illustration]
Of our younger and minor poets no one has more natural grace and
tenderness than GEORGE W. DEWEY. The son of a painter, and himself the
Secretary of the Philadelphia Art Union, it may be supposed that he is
well instructed in the principles upon which effect depends; but while
native genius, as it is called, is of little value without art, no man
was ever made a poet by art alone, and it is impossible to read "Blind
Louise," "A Memory," or "A Blighted May," without perceiving that Mr.
Dewey's commission has both the sign and the countersign, in due form,
so that his right to the title of poet is in every respect
unquestionable. He has not written much, but whatever he has given to
the public is written well, and all his compositions have the signs of a
genuineness that never fails to please. There is no collection of his
poems, but from the journals to which he contributes we have selected
the following specimens:
A MEMORY.
It was a bright October day--
Ah, well do I remember!
One rose yet bore the bloom of May,
Down toward the dark December.
One rose that near the lattice grew,
With fragrance floating round it:
Incarnardined, it blooms anew
In dreams of her who found it.
Pale, withered rose, bereft and shorn
Of all thy primal glory,
All leafless now, thy piercing thorn
Reveals a sadder story.
It was a dreary winter day;
Too well do I remember!
They bore her frozen form away,
And gave her to December!
There were no perfumes on the air,
No bridal blossoms round her,
Save one pale lily in her hair
To tell how pure Death found her.
The thistle on the summer air
Hath shed its iris glory,
And thrice the willows weeping there
Have told the seasons' story,
Since she, who bore the blush of May,
Down towards the dark December
Pass'd like the thorn-tree's bloom away,
A pale, reluctant ember.
BLIND LOUISE.
She knew that she was growing blind--
Forsaw the dreary night
That soon would fall, without a star,
Upon her fading sight:
Yet never did she make complaint,
But pray'd each day might bring
A beauty to her waning eyes--
The loveliness of Spring!
She dreaded that eclipse which might
Perpetually inclose
Sad memories of a leafless world--
A spectral realm of snows.
She'd rather that the verdure left
An evergreen to shine
Within her heart, as summer leaves
Its memory on the pine.
She had her wish: for when the sun
O'erhung his eastern towers,
And shed his benediction on
A world of May-time flowers--
We found her seated, as of old,
In her accustom'd place,
A midnight in her sightless eyes,
And morn upon her face!
A BLIGHTED MAY.
Call not this the month of roses--
There are none to bud and bloom;
Morning light, alas! discloses
But the winter of the tomb.
All that should have deck'd a bridal
Rest upon the bier--how idle!
Dying in their own perfume.
Every bower is now forsaken--
There's no bird to charm the air!
From the bough of youth is shaken
Every hope that blossom'd there;
And my soul doth now inrobe her
In the leaves of sere October
Under branches swaying bare.
When the midnight falls beside me,
Like the gloom which in me lies,
To the stars my feelings guide me,
Seeking there thy sainted eyes;
Stars whose rays seem ever bringing
Down the soothing air, the singing
Of thy soul in paradise.
Oh, that I might stand and listen
To that music ending never,
While those tranquil stars should glisten
On my life's o'erfrozen river,
Standing thus, for ever seeming
Lost in what the world calls dreaming,
Dreaming, love, of thee, forever!
THE SHADY SIDE.
I sat and gazed upon thee, ROSE,
Across the pebbled way,
And thought the very wealth of mirth
Was thine that winter day;
For while I saw the truant rays
Within thy window glide,
Remember'd beams reflected came
Upon the shady side.
I sat and gazed upon thee, ROSE,
And thought the transient beams
Were leaving on thy braided brow
The trace of golden dreams;
Those dreams, which like the ferry-barge
On youth's beguiling tide,
Will leave us when we reach old age,
Upon the shady side.
Ah! yes, methought while thus I gazed
Across the noisy way,
The stream of life between us flow'd
That cheerful winter day;
And that the bark whereon I cross'd
The river's rapid tide,
Had left me in the quietness
Upon the shady side.
Then somewhat of a sorrow, ROSE,
Came crowding on my heart,
Revealing how that current sweeps
The fondest ones apart;
But while you stood to bless me there,
In beauty, like a bride,
I felt my own contentedness,
Though on the shady side.
The crowd and noise divide us, ROSE,
But there will come a day
When you, with light and timid feet,
Must cross the busy way;
And when you sit, as I do now,
To happy thoughts allied,
May some bright angel shed her light
Upon the shady side!
_Ladies' Fashions for the Early Summer._
[Illustration]
_Costume for a Young Girl._--In the above engraving the largest figure
has boots of pale violet cachmere and morocco; trowsers of worked
cambric; and dress of a pale chocolate cachmere, trimmed with narrow
silk fringe, the double robings on each side of the front as well as the
cape, on the half-high corsage, ornamented with a double row of narrow
silk fringe, this trimming repeated round the lower part of the loose
sleeve; the chemisette of plaited cambric, headed with a broad frill of
embroidery; full under sleeves of cambric, with a row of embroidery
round the wrist; open bonnet of pink satin, a row of white lace
encircling the interior next the face. The second miss has button gaiter
boots of chocolate cachmere; trowsers and undersleeves of white
embroidered cambric; frock of plaided cachmere; _paletot_ of purple
velvet; hat of a round shape, of white satin, the low crown adorned with
a long white ostrich feather.
_The Boy's Dress_ is made to correspond as nearly as may be with that of
the youngest girl--embroidered pantalettes, and under sleeves trimmed
with pointed lace.
[Illustration]
_Ladies' Morning Promenade Costume._--A high dress of black satin, the
body fitting perfectly tight; has a small jacket cut on the _biais_,
with row of black velvet laid on a little distance from the edge; the
sleeves are rather large, and have a broad cuff turned back, which is
trimmed to correspond with the jacket; the skirt is long and full; the
dress is ornamented up the front in its whole length by rich fancy silk
trimmings, graduating in size from the bottom of the skirt to the waist,
and again increasing to the throat. _Capote_ of plum-colored satin;
sometimes plain, sometimes with a bunch of hearts-ease, intermixed with
ribbon, placed low on the left side, the same flowers, but somewhat
smaller, ornamenting the interior.
_Evening Dress_ of white _tulle_, worn over a _jape_ of rich pink satin;
the waist and point of a moderate length; the sleeves and front of the
corsage covered with fullings of _tulle_, clasped at equal distances by
narrow bands of green satin; the skirt extremely full, and looped up on
each side; the trimming, which reaches from the waist on each side the
point to the bottom of the skirt, composed of loops of green satin
ribbon edged with gold. Magnificent ribbons or beautiful flowers
accompany the light trimmings which ornament the lighter evening
dresses. A young lady is never more beautiful than when dressed in one
of those robes, so rich in their simplicity, and distinguished by their
embroideries, form, and trimmings. A robe of tarlatane, trimmed with
seven flounces, deeply scalloped and worked with straw colored silk, is
much in vogue. The same trimming, proportionably narrow, covers the
berthe and sleeves. When worked with white silk, this dress is still
more stylish. White or black lace canezous, worn with low-bodied silk
dresses, are very much admired. They are open over the chest, and more
or less worn with basques or straight trimmings round the waist, with
half long sleeves, fastened up on the front, for the arm, by a ribbon
bow.
_Dress Hats_ are principally made of _tulle_ or gauze _lisse_--those of
the latter texture, made in white, of folds with rows of white gauze
ribbon.