MISCELLANEOUS.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 871, 12 May 1871, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

In London, before a new customer is permitted to open an account "with any bank of standing, lie must be formally introduced. A self-confidont Colonial capitalist walked into the London and Westminster Bank, and presenting an Australian back draft for Llo,ooo at the counter, requested that the amount should be put to his credit. " Hare you had an account with thia bank before, sir?" blandly inquired a middle-aged clerk, to which the Colonist replied in the negative. "It is our invariable rule, sir, to require an introduction before opening an account with a new customer," continued the official. "I should think that a deposit of that amount was sufficient introduction," confidently retorted the now indignant Australian. But it was no use. To his astonishment the depositor of LIO,OOO didn't find himself rushed after, nor of such consequence as he had previously imagined, and he was obliged to go through the preliminary formality of an introduction from the London manager of the Victoria bank he used to deal with before the "Westminster would let him pay in his LIO,OOO, The San Francisco News Letter- thus, describes a terrific storm experienced at San Francisco : — "Monday and Tuesday last, the 20th and 21st of February, 1871, will long be memorable as the date of the most remarkable storm that has been experienced in San Francisco since the American occupation. The afternoon of Monday was gloomy and lowering, por- ' tending some extraordinary commotion of the elements. Soon after dark a few large rain drops, the avant couriers of the coming tempest, began to fall. By nine o'clock it was pouring heavily. But there was nothing extraordinary or out of the regular course of an orthodox Californian • winter thus far. It was not until after ten o'clock that things began to grow ' abnormal.' Then, indeed, the windows of heaven were opened and the floods came, and vast sheets of water descended in a furious deluge. Then awoke the' tempest in all its might, and careered shrieking and howling over the city, driving blinding volleys of wind-scourged rain into the faces of belated pedes, trians, banging doors and shutters, rattling windows, ruthlessly tearing down awnings and signs and outhouses, and the feeble woodwork of illconstructed buildings. Even the stoutest houses trembled and shook as the great p houlder of the hurricance pressed against them, as if in fierce struggle for their

overthrow. Then burst over the affrighted town a sound to which Califomian ears are unaccustomed. At about twelve o clock the fury of the storm culminated. The driving rain changed to volleys of hail; the long howl of the wind was intensified into a series of hysterical shrieks ; the thunder rolled and reverberated majestically from one end to the other of the peninsula, and vivid flashes of sheet lightning illuminated the wild scene at brief intervals of every ten seconds. It was the universal verdict that San Francisco nad never witnessed such a storm as this. A brick building in process of erection was blown down ; a mass of brick was precipitated upon a humbler dwelling adjoining it, crushing through the roof, instantly killing two women and two children, and wounding several other persons. Of course the gale dealt roughly with the shipping in the bay ; but the actual damage was not serious." In former times secret correspondence was conducted by writing with milk, diluted with sulphuric acid, or a solution of cobalt, which, colorless under ordinary circumstances, becomes visible by heating the paper. At the present time, however a very different class of fluids is used, especially the dilute saline solutions, which are known to the receiver of the letter alone. Without being specially skilled in chemistry, the receiver needs only to know the particular solution m which the paper has been moistened to have it in his power to bring the invisible characters to light. Thus, should the letter be written with a solution of sugar of lead, one of sulphide of potassium will have the desired effect. Or, if nitrate of silver be used, the paper must be dipped in a solution of ammonia. In either case a black letter is the result. Any colorless solution, however, which, when mixed with another equally colorless, produces a colored deposit, may bo employed for this purpose. The number of substances therefore available is very great, in the mony possible combinations of the kind. The whole subject has recently received renewed attention in Germany and England since the introduction of the " correspondence cards," as it is hoped to secure the privacy of an ordinary letter by writing upon them with sympathetic xulc A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette inside Paris states :— " Paris has been very much astonished to learn that one of its pet heroes, Sergeant Hoff, was in reality a Bavarian lieutenant, who was playing the part of a spy. For a long time Hoff was the object of universal admiration. General Trochu conferred the Legion of Honor on him for having slain over thirty Prussians. General Schmidtz gave him an official bulletin, and he was interviewed by journalists. Hoff generally used to go out alone at night and bring back helmets and muskets in proof of the amount of business he had performed. In looking back at some notes, I find that when that wily gentleman went out with a party he generally advanced alone, and the Prussian post was soon heard scampering off. On the 2nd of December,' Hoff, much to the grief of his comrades, disappeared, and the Government was greatly blamed for having allowed such a valuable man to go into action like a common mortal. In some quarters it was considered that Hoff should have replaced Trochu. When it was supposed that he had fallen, a subscription was raised for his disconsolate ' widow,' which was carried to that lady with the greatest respect by four officers (reminding one of Monsieur Malbrook's funeral.) To the astonishment of the military deputation, the first exclamation of the bereaved one on seeing men in uniform enter her apartment was, 'I didn't know he was a Prussian till the other day.' Tableau !"