MISCELLANEOUS CONTINENTAL NEWS.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1240, 26 February 1878, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS CONTINENTAL NEWS.

[Correspondent "Sydney Morning Herald."] THE TELEPHONIC EXPERIMENTS. Experiments with the telephone are going on all over Europe, and people are asking themselves what will be the next development of the wonder-working fluid, on the threshold of whose domain so many wonders have already been discovered. EXHIBITION NOVELTIES. There is no end to the marvels of all kinds that are to be finished for next year's show. One of the latest novelties announced is the curious self-moving model of the terrestrial globe, just completed by a monk of the Monastery of Raigern, between Braun and Vienna, fourteen metres in diameter, and which, through a combination of wheels, effects a revolution similar to that of the earth, and effected in the same space of time. At the axis of the North Pole there are dials indicating the davs, months, &0.5 above this axis is a smaller globe, reproducing the rotation of the earth round the sun. This most ingenious mechanism has takon ten years to construct, and has only been achieved after many experiments. A map, drawn on the globe itself, shows the geographical details, including the most recent discoveries, routes of steamers, railways, telegraphs, mountain heights, depths of the sea, &c. MADAME PATH. Madame Patti is starring it in Italy, with her beloved Nicolini, with whom she lives openly, while, awaiting the declaration of the nullity of her marriage, which she hopes to obtain from the exponents of French law. The Diva, accompanied by the successor of the Marquis De Caux, her maid, and a servant of the Royal household, arrived at Mendovi a fow days ago, where she visited the Royal villa of Cazotto, which the King wants to sell, and which she thought of purchasing. The place is exceptionally lovely, and the villa charming ; but the roads are so bad that the fair songstress gave up the project and went off to Milan. A NEW POMPEH. A moat interesting archaeological discovery has just been made in Italy, viz., that of a buried town, a new Pompeii, unexpectedly found near Manl'redonia, at the foot of Mount Gavgano. A temple of Diana was first brought to light, and then a portico about twenty metres in length, with columns without capitals, and finally a necropolis covering three and three-quarter acres. A large number of inscriptions have already been collected, and some of them have been sent to. the Museum at Naples. The town thus discovered is the ancient Sipontum, spoken of by Strabo, Polybius, and Livy, atd buried by an earthquake. The houees are

twenty feet below the surface of the soil. The Italian Government has taken measures to continue the excavations on a large scale. Every day some fresh object of interest turns up, the latest being a monument to Pompey . after his victory over the pirates, and a ' great quantity of coins in gold and copper. INCOMBUSTIBLE WRITING PAPEE. Another recent discovery less brilliant than that of the Jewells thus produced, after the pattern of nature, by the patient labour of scientific analysts—is that of the incombustible writing paper, just invented by two in vans of Salamanca, which is warranted to resist the most intense heat. A single sheet will carbonise but will not burn ; while, if a roll of this prepared paper be placed in the fiercest fire, although the outside leaves and the extreme edges may carbonise, the interior will remain unaltered, and the writing or printing will remain perfectly legible. And what is still more curious is that papers already written or printed on may be submitted to the anti-combustion process, without injury to the characters. Paper that cannot burn, and glass that can hardly be broken, are certainly among the most remarkable and useful of the innumerable triumphs of our present inventive age. IMPROVEMENT IN WAR MATERIAL Invention is also, as everybody knows, equally busy in the region of the organised destruction called "War;" and the heavy sums that are tali en every year by the various Government* of the world out of the pockets of their subjects, to pay for "improved" weapons of all kinds, will become heavier as time goes on. For instance, German wealth and industry have been already severely taxed to supply the whole of the artillery of the country with the celebrated Krupp gun, which was thought but a short time ago to be the ne plus ultra of that arm. But it now seems probable that the whole of this vaunted and costly materiel will be superseded, if not at once, very soon, by the later invention of General Uchatins, which is throwing the Krupp guns into the shade. The experiments lately made at Spandau with bronze steel, prepared by the Uchatins' method, have been so successful that the Inspector-General of the German Artillery has determined to adopt it as the sole material to be used in future for the manufacture of cannon. Several siege guns are being manufactured after the new method, the secret of which, having been betrayed by a workman, is now very generally known, so that the other Powers will soon be rivalling one another in the preparation of weapons with which to carry on the battle for supremacy in the next great European struggle, should such a struggle break out. The guns now being made are to have a calibre of 12 centimetres, but will be superior to those of the same bore which are being made on the Uchatins' plan by the Austrian Government, first possessor of the secret; the German guns allowing, with the same bore, the use of -a larger charge of powder. The construction of these new guns is believed in German military circles as being the first step towards the complete substitution of.bronze steel for steel ordnance in the German army. Meanwhile, the experiments that have been made on the range at Steinfeld, near Yienna, with two recently-con-structed bronze-steel guns, of 15 centimetres, are regarded in Austria as perfectly satisfactory. The Austrian War Minister, the President of the Technical Committee, General Uchatins, and a great concourse of artillery officers, were present on the occasion, when excellent practice was made with the new weapons at the 2000 metres range. THE SOCIETY OF MUTUAL AUTOPSY. "As " Death," according to the proverb, "follows closely on the heels of life," and as the dissection of the victims of the former is admittedly of immense importance to those who are still of the domain of the latter, a number of Parisian sawn* have actually formed themselves into a sort of club to which they have given the cheerful and pleasant name of "The Society of Mutual Autopsy," the members pledging themselves, on entering the association, to bequeath their bodies to the latter when they " throw off the mortal coil." Whenever one of the circle departs this life, his colleagues meet at once and carefully dissect his remains; not a tear is shed on the occasion, which is regarded simply from a practical and scientific point of view; the organs whose unhealthiness has been the cause of the decease are carefully preserved, and a scientific account of the same is drawn up and copied into the archives of the society. On the conclusion of this interesting and .instruct! 7e examination of the thrown-off fleshy garment of a deceased comrade, the remaining members wind up the day by dining together in the great dining room of one of the most fashionable of restaurants of this capital. During the dessert, the vase of flowers in the middle of the table is suddenly withdrawn, and there appears in its place a large and handsome box. The President thereupon rises to bis feet, and lifts off with great solemnity the movable cover of the mysterious box, the four sides of which, falling down flat upon the table, reveal to the enraptured vision of the assembled banqueters a collection of glass jars of different sizes, containing the various " preparations " of the remains of their defunct associate, whose will has secured to them these valuable aids to medical inquiry, and furnished them with the occasion of this charming fete. The assembled guests thereupon drink to the memory of their deceased brother, and a succession of toasts are proposed in his honor, and are drunk and spoken to with an amount of enthusiasm and expansion directly proportioned to the interest of the malady to which he has fallen a victim.