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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 41, 16 February 1872, Page 2

France is preparing with a will and energy peculiar to herself to meet the next swarm of invaders that may cross the Rhine. The whole country is being formed into one vast military camp, with a network of fortification,,against which

the Prussians will advance to retire in fragments. A system of fortified defence, called the " concentric," has been set on foot. This .plan is a moat ingenious one. If an invader should take possession of the forts lying nearest the frontiers, he would find on advancing a few miles farther into the country that the number of fortifications in his way would be more than doubled. These would still increase as he proceeded towards the centre of the invaded territory. The resistance would be concentrated, hence the term "concentric" defence. This is the new plan of •the French Kepublic, which Gambetta sees fairly and firmly established in his native land. He has written an elaborate letter to the French press, detailing the advantages of the late elections, and expressing his great satisfaction at their result. He believes now, for the first time, in the stability of the democratic principles of the 4ih of September, and congratulates France on the defeat of the Bourbon and Bonapartist intrigues. The Arithmometer.- A very ingenious calculating machine, invented by M. Thomas, a French gentleman irora Alsace, more than 20 years sgo, but now materially improved, is attracting attention in this country, and one has been privately exhibited in this city. With this apparatus, which externally resembles a musical-box, a number with six places of figures can be multiplied by eight figures in eighteen seconds of time, while the operation of addition, division, and subtraction can be performed with similar rapidity. Square and cube roots, with the proof, can also be calculated, and for large calculations its performance is simply marvellous. Not only does it work accurately itself, but any mistake in the arithmetic of the operator is at once exposed by tbe machine, which is in a manner thrown out of gear, and refuses to work until the error be rectified. For actuaries, surveyors, statisticians, merchants, and other persons who have occa&ion to deal with large calculations, the invention promises to be of the greatest possible use, though its value can only be appreciated by those who deal in decimal calculations. Should the North German Empire adopt a decimal coinage, it will be of the greatest possible use to foreign bankers and money changers ; but it is already in use in a great number of insurance and other offices in this country and in France. At present, we believe, the inventor has only one agent in London, but as the instrument becomes more known, it is probable that this will be extended. — JV. B. Daily Mail. A Machine that can Talk, Laugh, and Sing. — In 1841 Professor Faber exhibited a machine which could utter a great number of sounds and words, but it was by no means perfect. His nephew took up the machine that his uncle had failed in perfecting, and completed it. After exhibiting it before all the crowned heads and scientific societies of Europe, he has brought it to this country, and pave an exhibition of it in private. The machine, which stands on a small table, consists of a complicated arrangement of rubber-tires, reeds, keys, pedals, strings, and wires. The lungs are represented by a small pair of bellows, the glottis by reeds and pipes of different sizes, the lips and tongue by pieces of india-rubber. Beneath the table is a pedal by which the bellows are worked, and on the right-band side a series of keys, on which are marked the letters O, U, I, E, L, R, W, F, S, B, D, and G. With these end some supplementary arrangements, all sounds used in the European languages can be enunciated. There is also an arrangement resembling the key-board of a piano, by which the machine can be made to sing. Every portion of it is open to view, so that no deception is possible. The machine, under the deft hands of Mdme. Faber, enunciated distinctly all the letters of the English and German alphabets, numerous long and most difficult words, such as Constantinople, Politzka, Radetzky, Hurrah, and then darted off into long sentences of English, German, and French, winding up with a laugh of the most, natural kind, followed by hisses, groans, and murmurs. Every word proposed was pronounced at once, and without the slightest hesitation. Of course, some words were more clearly enunciated than others, bnt the majority were given far more clearly than the majority of human beings pronounce them, and even the nasal twang which French people often adopt was closely imitated. In Professor Faber's machine the motions of the mouth and tongue imitate precisely those of human beiDgs. Different keys or tones can be given by proper manipulation of the pedals. Taken ■ altogether, the " talking machine is a wonderful specimen of man's ingenuity. Whether it can be any thing, more is doubtful.- It cannot be applied to any practical purpose, unless, indeed, dumb or weak-nerved and feeblevoiced individuals should choose to purchase them and use them as. mediums through which to address the public. — New York Tifaes.'

" Padded insteps" are announced as fashionable in Boston. All children in New Jersey must be educated, and may be educated free. None of tender years can work in manufactories unless they have been to school one year. High schools are to be established in every Congregation District, and there are fo be State scholarships. The Latest fkom: Amekica. — The San Francisco Bulletin Btates that among the cariosities of the hospital attached to the Gaol in that city is a man whose heart has fallen into his stomach, and yet continues to perform its functions with unswei ving regularity. Placing the hand upon the stomach over the new location of the heart, one can feel the organ throb, Bnd at the distance of several feet the rising and falling of flesh can be seen, as the organ pulsates. The patient suflers little pain in the breast, but ia troubled with a swelling in his left leg. The heart fell while the patient was lifting a barrel of provisions. President Lincoln. — " Clad in black, the ungainly-looking President might be seen, after the hour had come for visitors to be excluded, pacing to and fro past the windows of his apartment, his hands behind him, his head bent forward apon his breast, lost in profound meditation, a picture of sorrow, care, and anxiety. The artist Carpenter, who enjoyed frequent opportunities of observing him in his moments of retirement says, * His was the saddest face in repose I ever knew. His eyes, of a bluish-grey tint, always in deep shadow from tbe upper lids, which were unusually heavy, gave him an expression remarkably expressive and tender, often inexpressibly sad. A peculiar dreaminess sometimes stole over his face.' As is not unfrequently observed of Western men, there were mysterious traits of superstition in his character. A friend once enquiring the cause of a deep depression under which he seemed to be Buffering, • I have seen this evening/ again, he replied, ' what I once saw before, on the eveniug of my nomination at Chicago. As I stood before a mirror,- there were two images of myself — a bright one in front, and one that was very pallid standing behind. It completely unnerved me. The bright one I know is my past, the pale one ray coming life.' And feeling that there is no armour against Destiny, he added, * I do not think I shall live to see the end of my terra ; I try to shake off the vision, but it stili haunts me.' He begau to receive threatening letters soon after his nomination. He kept them by themselves, labelled, " Letters on Assassination.' After bis death, one was found amongst them connected i with the plot which had succeeded. ' I cannot help being in this way,' he said, 'my father was so before me.' He dreamt that he rode through an unfrequented path to a strange house, the surroundings and furnishing of which were vividly impressed on his mind. At the fireside there was sitting a woman whose features he distinctly saw. She was engaged in paring an apple. The woman was to-be his wife. Though a strong-minded man, he could not shake off the vision. It haunted him incessantly, until it compelled him to go down the unfrequented way. He quietly i opened the door of what he recognised to be the house, and saw at. a glance that it was where he had been in his dream ; there was a woman at the Preside engaged in paring an apple, and the rest of his dream came to pass. ' -There will be bad news to-night,' he said on another occasion. * Why, how do you know that, Mr. President ? ' 'I dropped asleep, and saw

in a dream what has often before been the precursor of disaster. I saw a ship sailing very fast.' And that night bad news came ! Perhaps, in the opinion of the supercilious critic, these idle stories are unworthy of the page of history. The materialist philosopher may say, ' Had Lincoln taken the trouble to hold up a candle before his mirror, he might have seen a dozen pale images of it ! ' That is very true. But does not history record that some of the greatest soldiers, statesmen, lawgivers— men who have left ineffaceable marks on the annals of thahuman race — have been influenced by like delusions ?" — Dr. Draper's History of the Rebellion.