[For the history of Prince Rupert's Drops our correspondent is
referred to our 100th Number, p. 234. These philosophical toys,
which exhibit in the most perfect manner the effects of expansion
and contraction in melted glass, are made by letting drops of
melted glass fall into cold water. Each drop assumes an oval form
with a tail or neck resembling a retort; and possesses this
singular property, that if a small portion of the tail is broken
off the whole bursts into powder with an explosion, and a
considerable shock is communicated to the hand that grasps it.]
_"Worse than a Crime."_--Who first remarked, with reference to the
murder of the Duc D'Enghien by Napoleon, "It was worse than a crime, it
was a blunder?"